BossFeed Briefing for January 25, 2021. Last Wednesday the state reported that two restaurants defying the public health order banning indoor dining have racked up $780,000 in fines so far. Last Thursday was National Squirrel Appreciation Day, which is a good time to remember the WA billionaires who’ve long been squirrelling away their wealth to shelter it from taxes. Today marks the start to ESD commissioner Suzi Levine’s last week on the job, following her announcement that she’s taking an undisclosed role with the Biden administration. This Sunday is the 43rd anniversary of the official end to the United Farm Workers of America grape boycotts.
Three things to know this week:
The Spokane Spokesman-Review ran an article last week on the unsafe reopening bill being considered in the state legislature (SB 5114), writing that hospitality workers support the effort to reopen indoor dining. The article quoted plenty of business lobbyists and not a single hospitality worker—meanwhile, restaurant workers are speaking for themselves about the bill and their safety.
Amazon opened a pop-up vaccination clinic in Seattle yesterday with a goal of vaccinating 2,000 people. Previously, 20,000 frontline Amazon workers had contracted the coronavirus as of October, the last time the company released data.
The Biden administration’s proposed COVID relief plan would provide another round of direct stimulus checks, add additional unemployment benefits for millions of jobless workers, and raise the federal minimum wage to $15/hr. Senator Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) did not announce his own plan but told reporters that Biden’s plan is a “non-starter”.
Two things to ask:
Who knew it was so easy? With the private space business booming, one Forbes columnist is highlighting how achievable it can be these days to become a “space millionaire”. The article says anyone with some skill, some ambition, and some “personal capital” can become a millionaire who sells private space adventures to millionaires.
And how does that make you feel? A wristband that tells your boss if you are unhappy just hit the market. It’s called the MoodBeam and it comes with two buttons the wearer can hit—one for happy, one for sad—to send data on their mood to a workplace dashboard monitored by managers.
And one thing that's worth a closer look:
In Washington State, only 28% of unemployed workers actually get unemployment benefits, according to a New York Times report on the failure of unemployment systems across the country. Nationally speaking, this performance is about average—and for workers facing loss of their jobs, it’s utterly unacceptable. Though many workers are excluded from unemployment benefits by law—including undocumented immigrants, many people who work part-time, and many gig workers—the fact that 72% of jobless workers aren't recieving benefits is fundamentally the result of a system designed to find reasons to reject claims rather than reasons to pay benefits. This latest New York Times report is further confirmation of what unemployed workers in WA have been saying for months: that deep structural issues and an adversarial design prevent the system from promptly paying benefits to people who lose work, with disastrous consequences for economic security and public health both here in WA and nationwide.
Read this far?
Consider yourself briefed, boss.
Let us know what you think about this week's look at the world of work, wages, and inequality!