BossFeed Briefing for November 6th, 2023
Tomorrow is election day, tomorrow is election day, tomorrow…is election day. Don’t forget to go vote if you haven’t already. So far the turnout is not great. We all gained an hour yesterday so we should be more on top of things this week, right?
THREE THINGS TO KNOW THIS WEEK:
All pain and no gain: Amazon warehouse workers in a new national study say “injury and pain at Amazon are far more widespread” than previously thought. 69% of Amazon warehouse workers said they took unpaid time off to recover from injuries & pain from their job, and half of those have done so 3+ times.
Bootstraps are not a thing, but cash might work: Universal basic income has been a success everywhere it’s been tried so far, improving people’s financial stress and mental health almost immediately, while reducing homelessness and increasing employment.
That tracks: Human rights expert at the UN says US companies like Walmart and Doordash trap workers in poverty. Among the listed concerns were the stagnant US minimum wage, wage theft, and the plight of undocumented workers.
TWO THINGS TO ASK:
Where did he go? Workers at Honey Hole in Capitol Hill cannot find the owner. Evan Bramer took over the sandwich shop earlier this year and hasn’t done much better than his predecessors in terms of treating workers well, but the absconding completely thing is… new.
Son of the year award? Speaking of Amazon, Bezos is being applauded for leaving Seattle to be closer to his aging parents. A strange coincidence is that his new home state, Florida, has no capital gains tax. It’s definitely a move for his parents though. Gotta hand it to that PR team. So long, Jeff.
AND ONE THING THAT'S WORTH A CLOSER LOOK:
What would happen if big business got their way with city council elections tomorrow? The Stranger asked, and our worker organizer Joelle Craft filled them in. All those worker protections we’ve been championing through city council the last few years have happened in spite of opposition from the council members who betray their working class constituents and side with corporate interests. We sound like a broken record, we know, but we cannot stress enough how important it is to keep our elected officials accountable to workers with our votes. Here’s our slate of candidates that workers trust to have our backs.
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!