BossFeed Briefing for March 1, 2021. Last Tuesday, Jeff Bezos became the richest human on earth once more after Elon Musk lost $15 Billion in a single day on the stock market. Last Wednesday, a new analysis from Americans for Tax Fairness showed that the 664 billionaires in the United States now have a combined wealth of $4.2 Trillion. Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the Nisqually earthquake, which rocked Western WA with a magnitude of 6.8 on the Richter scale. This Thursday, our bill to ensure that funds from the Office of Civil Legal Aid are accessible to all WA residents regardless of immigration status (HB 1072) is scheduled for a hearing before the WA Senate Law & Justice Committee. This Saturday is the 91st anniversary of mass demonstrations by hundreds of thousands of unemployed workers across major US cities as workers called for financial relief during the Great Depression.
Three things to know this week:
The WA House has passed a bill banning for-profit detention centers (HB 1090). If approved by the Senate, the legislation would eventually result in the closure of the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, which is operated by the private prison company GEO Group and where more than 1500 undocumented people are detained.
Corporate lawyers who become judges are far more likely to side with corporations than workers in employment cases, according to a new study. Seven in ten judges on federal district courts were previously corporate lawyers or prosecutors.
A 250-foot superyacht named “Go” was caught on video going nowhere as it crashed into a wooden dock at a yacht club. No humans were injured in the accident, though possible damage to the egos of wealthy yachters is still under investigation.
Two things to ask:
Wait, what did he say he does for work again? Local venture capitalist Matt McIlwain has penned an op-ed opposing the proposed capital gains tax on big profits from the sale of stocks and bonds, which is exactly how he himself has gotten rich. He argues that we should aspire to an economy more like Texas & Florida..
What did the Hamburglar know and when did he know it? McDonald’s Inc. has a secret intelligence team it uses to spy on workers involved with the national Fight for 15 minimum wage campaign and other labor organizing efforts. According to leaked internal documents, the team is charged with collecting “strategic intelligence” on how paying workers more money so they can make ends meet will somehow “attack the brand”.
And one thing that's worth a closer look:
Almost exactly one year since this crisis took hold, tens of thousands of unemployed workers are still being left behind by our state’s unemployment system failure, reports the Seattle Times. One impacted worker is Dennis Friscia, who filed for PUA benefits after he stopped delivering food for DoorDash when COVID hit because he’s 68 years old and at high-risk. ESD halted Dennis’ benefits in December for reasons which remain unclear, and since then he’s been threatened with collections, faced months-long delays, and had to drain his savings—which is why he’s now returning to work despite the risk to his health. This is a government failure on all fronts when it comes to ensuring economic security for workers like Dennis: our state needs to pay benefits promptly to people who lose work, and must also require that jobs like DoorDash pay at least minimum wage after expenses.
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!