Boeing offer 25% pay rise to ward off shutdown and strikes
According to the BBC, beleaguered airline manufacturer, Boeing, is offering staff a pay rise worth 25% over the next four years, to stave off the threat of strikes. If ratified by members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) union, it will be the first full labour agreement between the firm and the unions for more than 16 years. The current contract between Boeing and the unions was first reached in 2008 following an eight-week strike. The two sides agreed to extend it in 2014 and it is now due to expire later this week. Boeing workers in the Seattle and Portland region are set to vote on the deal on today. If the deal is rejected, however, a second ballot will need to be approved by two-thirds of union members for any strike to go ahead. Aside from the pay rise, the deal offers workers improved healthcare and retirement benefits, and 12 weeks of paid parental leave. It also includes a commitment from Boeing to build its next commercial plane in the Seattle area if the project is started during the lifetime of the contract. Although the preliminary deal did not match the union’s initial target of a 40% pay rise, negotiators have still praised it and advised members to accept it. “We can honestly say that this proposal is the best contract we’ve negotiated in our history,” the IAM said in a statement.
Ex-Twitter employee wins his $600,000 ‘resignation’ case
A former Twitter (X) employee who was sacked because his non-response to an email asking for the support of the senior team was deemed to constitute his ‘resignation,’ has won his case against his unlawful termination. Former employee, Gary Rooney, received an email from Elon Musk in 2022 asking staff to click a link if they agreed to his terms. Rooney, who was the director of ‘source to pay’ at Twitter’s European headquarters in Dublin, did not click the link. Twitter’s HR interpreted this as his resignation and accepted the voluntary separation offer. Rooney, however, contested this decision and took his case to Ireland’s Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). The WRC awarded Rooney €550,131 ($607,802) for lost wages since January 2023 and future pay loss. Rooney’s solicitor, Barry Kenny, stated that the ruling showed his client was unfairly dismissed despite his excellent employment record. He emphasized that no company, including one led by Musk, should treat employees in such a manner in Ireland. The compensation reflects the severity of the case.
Bank of America increases minimum wage
The Bank of America has announced it has raised the minimum wage of its hourly staff to $24 per hour. The rise is part of the bank’s commitment to reach $25 per hour by 2025, and this latest move means that since 2018, pay has increased by an extra $9 per hour, when pay was $15 per hour. With the increase to $24, starting salary for full-time US employees at the bank will have gone up by nearly $20,000 since 2017. As a further investment in its employees, 97% of Bank of America employees have received awards beyond regular compensation, mostly in the form of Bank of America restricted common stock. More than $4.8 billion has been awarded since the program was introduced in 2017. Commenting on the minimum pay rise news, Sheri Bronstein, chief human resources officer at Bank of America said: “Providing a competitive minimum wage is core to being a great place to work — and I am proud that Bank of America is leading by example.” With the increase, the minimum annualized salary for full-time employees in the US will rise to nearly $50,000. The increase applies to all full-time and part-time hourly positions in the US.
UPS defends policies to protect workers in the heat
The United Parcel Service has hit back at criticisms from the UPS Teamsters union that it does not take worker protection seriously enough – particularly heat protection. The union claims the parcel delivery provider has not yet honored promises it made under the union contract is signed last year, claiming it is “dangerously behind schedule.” Promises include having air conditioning in vehicles purchased after January 1, 2024, and having cooling devices in 28,000 UPS package delivery services by the end of the contract in 2028. “From coast to coast, UPS Teamsters are reminding the company of its legal obligations to workers — and its moral responsibility to working families. It’s time for UPS to deliver the trucks in Texas and across the nation!,” the union said in a statement. Their call came after a UPS Teamsters regular package car driver from McKinney, Texas, crashed in August after reportedly passing out from the extreme heat. In the same month, another UPS driver in Bell County, Texas, died, with co-workers alleging that it was heat-related, according to The Guardian. In a response to The Guardian though, UPS said it invests $409 million every year on safety training, and that it has added more cooling devices on its vehicles and in its facilities. “We provide employees with specialized cooling gear, access to ice and water, and encourage our people to take extra time to cool down anytime they need,” it said.
Tech companies overwhelmingly back Trump – but their staff do not
With less than two months to go before Americans go to the polls, a major difference of opinion is opening up around the political persuasions of leadership and employees in tech companies. According to data compiled by political watchdog, OpenSecrets, rank-and-file workers at firms such as Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon are overwhelmingly pro-Harris – donating vast sums of their own money to Democrat cause. Meanwhile, tech billionaires themselves – like Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk and venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, are rallying behind Trump. The data reveals that employees at Alphabet and its subsidiaries, including Google, have donated $2.16 million to Harris’s campaign, nearly 40 times the amount Trump has received from the same group. Amazon and Microsoft employees and their family members have contributed $1 million and $1.1 million, respectively, to Harris, while Trump’s campaign has garnered only $116,000 from Amazon workers and $88,000 from Microsoft employees. Meta employees have donated $835,000 to Harris compared to $25,000 to Trump, while Apple employees have given $861,000 to Harris and $44,000 to Trump. Reports claim: “the political divide within the tech industry is becoming increasingly evident.” It adds: “Their [staffs’] bosses’ support for Donald Trump reflects broader tensions over the future direction of US business and technology policies.”
Nearly half of workers too overwhelmed to do their jobs properly
Startling new data reveals nearly half (44%) of workers are overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information they need to digest/use to do their job properly. The finding – which comes from a poll of more than 1,000 workers in the retail, food service, fitness and hospitality sectors – also found that 83% of workers feel overwhelmed ‘to some degree’ by the amount of information they need to do their job properly, while one in five frontline workers feel so overwhelmed by information at their job, they’ve considered quitting. According to the data, many pin the source of their work-related stress on not knowing certain skills as part of their job role (43%). More than half (55%) also admitted they’re more likely to make a mistake if they’re feeling stressed by their job. Adding to their stress, three in four say they struggle on some level to stay updated on what information is needed for their job. On the plus-side though, the near-constant need from employees to stay up to date has meant that 69% of workers polled believe their current role has given them skills to be used in the future for their longer-term career.
Hiring rates pick up in August
After sluggish hiring in July, new data shows hiring rates in August rebounded somewhat, helping offset fears the labor market might be cooling. Newly released data from the Labor Department revealed employers added 142,000 new jobs in August, which was significantly better than the 89,000 added in July. The result was that unemployment actually went down a fraction – from 4.3% to 4.2%. Although this sounds like good news though, Business Standard suggests America’s labor market is now in an “unusual place.” It says: “Jobholders are mostly secure, with layoffs low, historically speaking. Yet with the pace of hiring having weakened, landing a job has become harder.” It also has to be noted, that in the past three months, hiring has averaged only 116,000 per month, which is down sharply from an average of 211,000 a month that was recorded only a year ago. Business Standard adds that the “mixed report on the job market raises the question of how large a cut the Fed will announce after it meets September 17-18.” For context, the 4.2% unemployment rates is still the highest it has been for nearly three years.