Top News  Shutterstock Nearly 6,000 employees at an Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) warehouse just outside of Birmingham, Alabama, called BHM1, began a vote this week to unionize their facility, marking the first such significant effort by Amazon workers in the U.S. The retail giant has been fighting hard against the endeavor with anti-union posters, a dedicated website launch and holding mandatory meetings during work hours, but a group of more than 70 investors has written a letter asking the company to stop interfering with the vote and remain neutral. They have cited worker rights to unionize, FT reports, as well as possible negative effects on Amazon's reputation among customers.
Do they have enough influence? The shareholders, including the comptrollers for the state of New York and New York City and BMO Global Asset Management, only hold a collective $20B in shares of Amazon, which itself has a market capitalization of $1.7T. However, many of them have a political presence that might be more far-reaching than the size of their investments. Besides a growing call that workers should have representation, issues surrounding Amazon like tax payments, government subsidies and antitrust concerns are becoming hot topics across the country. Amazon also has one of the quickest growing workforces in the U.S., hiring more than 500,000 people since the pandemic began a year ago.
Backdrop: Some of the motivations for the union go back to common criticisms of working conditions at the e-commerce behemoth, like how often employees have to carry out certain tasks and the length of breaks. Other complaints cover disciplinary actions, lack of communication and inexperienced managers. The reason why an attempt is being made in Alabama is due to the state's "right-to-work" law, which means a union only has to win over 50% backing of the returned vote to be unionized.
If the effort succeeds, it would give workers the power to negotiate a contract that could lock in heavy changes to wages and working conditions. Workers at BHM1 are able to cast mail-in ballots through March 29, though the motion could also inspire other Amazon warehouses to organize. In a statement, Amazon said it "respects our employees' right to join or not join a labor union, but we don't believe this group represents the majority of our employees' views. We encourage anyone to compare our overall pay, benefits, and workplace environment to any other company with similar jobs."
   | | Top News Shutterstock Nearly 6,000 employees at an Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) warehouse just outside of Birmingham, Alabama, called BHM1, began a vote this week to unionize their facility, marking the first such significant effort by Amazon workers in the U.S. The retail giant has been fighting hard against the endeavor with anti-union posters, a dedicated website launch and holding mandatory meetings during work hours, but a group of more than 70 investors has written a letter asking the company to stop interfering with the vote and remain neutral. They have cited worker rights to unionize, FT reports, as well as possible negative effects on Amazon's reputation among customers.
Do they have enough influence? The shareholders, including the comptrollers for the state of New York and New York City and BMO Global Asset Management, only hold a collective $20B in shares of Amazon, which itself has a market capitalization of $1.7T. However, many of them have a political presence that might be more far-reaching than the size of their investments. Besides a growing call that workers should have representation, issues surrounding Amazon like tax payments, government subsidies and antitrust concerns are becoming hot topics across the country. Amazon also has one of the quickest growing workforces in the U.S., hiring more than 500,000 people since the pandemic began a year ago.
Backdrop: Some of the motivations for the union go back to common criticisms of working conditions at the e-commerce behemoth, like how often employees have to carry out certain tasks and the length of breaks. Other complaints cover disciplinary actions, lack of communication and inexperienced managers. The reason why an attempt is being made in Alabama is due to the state's "right-to-work" law, which means a union only has to win over 50% backing of the returned vote to be unionized.
If the effort succeeds, it would give workers the power to negotiate a contract that could lock in heavy changes to wages and working conditions. Workers at BHM1 are able to cast mail-in ballots through March 29, though the motion could also inspire other Amazon warehouses to organize. In a statement, Amazon said it "respects our employees' right to join or not join a labor union, but we don't believe this group represents the majority of our employees' views. We encourage anyone to compare our overall pay, benefits, and workplace environment to any other company with similar jobs."
| |
| Tech Some choppy trading ensued following Twitter's (TWTR) Q4 results on Tuesday, though shares closed at $61.92, up 3.5% in after-hours trading. Revenues rose nearly 28% to a record $1.29B in the fourth quarter, with "better than expected performance across all major products and geographies," said CFO Ned Segal. Net income jumped to $222M from a year-ago income of $119M, while total ad revenue was up 31% year over year.
Fine print: Monetizable user growth (a.k.a the eyeballs that see ads on Twitter) slowed for a second straight quarter, a statistic Twitter blamed on policy enforcement changes introduced before the U.S. presidential election. It further projected low-double digit growth throughout the rest of 2021, down from recent figures that saw users spend more time online due to the pandemic.
Twitter also noted that despite "the unusual circumstances" in Q1 (suspension of President Trump?), the increase in "average absolute mDAU" through the end of January was above the average of the last four years. "We are a platform that is obviously much larger than any one topic or any one account," Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey declared on an earnings call, adding that 80% of its audience is outside the U.S. Twitter expects to see mDAU growth of approximately 20% Y/Y in the first quarter.
| |
| Sponsored By Yieldstreet  Hedge Funds shouldn't be the only ones having all the fun in alternative investments. Access alternative investment opportunities vetted by Yieldstreet's experts across numerous asset classes such as Art, Commercial, Legal, Real Estate, and more. In 2020, 4% of opportunities reviewed passed our selective process to make it to the platform. Imagine what a passive income portfolio could do for you. Investments start at just $1k. Get your piece of the action today. | |
| Trending Colin Kaepernick is taking his activism to the wide world of SPACs, or blank check companies which raise money through an IPO so that they can buy or merge with another firm. He'll serve as co-chair of Mission Advancement Corp., which will focus on racial justice and diversity issues and seek to raise up to $287.5M. The SPAC is specifically targeting consumer businesses with an enterprise value of more than $1B that "delivers a significant impact financially, culturally and socially."
"Todays' consumers live in a highly connected and digital world and they often interact with brands across multiple media channels. Consumers respond to brands that build an emotional connection, as when they are buying a product, in many ways, they are buying 'a story,' reads an SEC filing. "In this environment, businesses can no longer afford to be faceless entities."
Bigger picture: Mission Advancement will be co-chaired by Jahm Najafi, who runs the private equity firm Najafi Companies and is a minority owner in the NBA's Phoenix Suns. Together, they lead a board that is 100% Black, Indigenous and people of color, and is majority female. Directors include Google marketing executive Attica Jaques, former Apple executive Omar Johnson and Birchbox CEO and co-founder Katia Beauchamp.
Bit of history:NEKE After Kaepernick's NFL career ended in 2016, he took his activism to the corporate world. He has been a prominent endorser for Nike (NKE) and struck a partnership with Disney (DIS) to produce content surrounding the social issues. He has also worked with global brands like Netflix (NFLX), Beats by Dre (AAPL), Medium, Electronic Arts (EA), Audible (AMZN) and Ben & Jerry's (UL). | |
| Covid People may need to get vaccinated against COVID-19 annually over the next several years, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) CEO Alex Gorsky told CNBC, meaning the jabs could become like seasonal flu shots. Other public health officials and infectious disease experts have said there is a high likelihood that Covid-19 will become an endemic disease, meaning it'll always be present in the population, but circulating at lower rates, while others think we may have to "live with the virus forever."
Quote: "Unfortunately, as [the virus] spreads it can also mutate," Gorsky declared. "Every time it mutates, it's almost like another click of the dial so to speak where we can see another variant, another mutation that can have an impact on its ability to fend off antibodies or to have a different kind of response not only to a therapeutic but also to a vaccine."
Backdrop: Last week, Johnson & Johnson became the third vaccine maker to apply for emergency use authorization from the FDA. The jab is being hailed as a game changer due to its single-dose regimen and ability to be stored at 36-46 degrees Fahrenheit for at least three months. J&J's candidate is 72% effective in the U.S. and 66% effective overall at preventing moderate to severe COVID-19, 28 days after vaccination, and 85% effective in preventing severe forms of COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the number of Americans willing to get a COVID vaccine is increasing, according to a new study from the CDC. As of September 2020, only 39.4% of adult Americans said they were absolutely certain or very likely to get vaccinated, but that number increased to over 49% by December as drugs were granted emergency authorization by the FDA. | |
| Sponsored By Yieldstreet  | |
| What else is happening... Playboy returns to Wall Street via SPAC deal.
Electric vehicle maker Rivian aims for IPO in 2021.
Mortgage demand drops with interest rates at three-month high.
Chesapeake Energy (CHKAQ) exits Chapter 11; trading begins today.
Fidelity moves beyond mutual fund roots with actively managed ETFs. | |
|
|---|
| |
|
|
EmoticonEmoticon