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Whole Foods workers at a Philadelphia store voted this week to unionize, becoming the first store at the Amazon-owned grocery chain to do so. But then the Trump administration dealt a blow to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), ousting two officials in a move that labor experts say violates the lawand will hamper worker rights, including around bargaining union contracts. President Trump fired both the NLRBs general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, who was a Biden appointee, and Democratic board member Gwynne Wilcox. Wilcoxs firing is unprecedented and illegal, experts say; it marks the first time in 90 years that a president has fired a board member, and violates a statute that says board members can be removed for neglect of duty or malfeasance in office, but for no other cause. Because of existing vacancies, Wilcoxs termination leaves the board with just two members. (The board is meant to have five members when fully staffed.) That means its short of the quorum needed to decide any casesand so the NLRBs powers to protect workers are, essentially, halted. What this says is [the Trump administration] is okay with effectively denying workers in this country protection for their right to collectively bargain, says Sharon Block, executive director of the Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School. With a board down to just two members, it can’t function. And if it can’t function, then the rights of American workers can’t function. Voting to unionize is just one step of the process. Bargaining a contract is another. Under the National Labor Relations Act, companies must bargain in good faith, but theres little teeth to that lawand no monetary fines. Because of these weak labor laws, bargaining can take years. A 2018 study found that 63% of unions failed to reach a first contract within one year of winning their election; after two years, 43% of unions still had no contract. This has played out in recent prominent union efforts. Starbucks workers, who first unionized in December 2021, still dont have a contract. Amazon warehouse workers first unionized in April 2022 also still do not have a contract. Throughout those processes, there have been multiple NLRB cases and complaintswhether concerning the fact that Amazon has been illegally refusing to bargain or that Starbucks illegally denied pay and benefits to union workers, and so on. Now those complaints will have nowhere to be heard. Labor advocates have been calling for stronger laws to help workers for years, pointing out that the current remedies are weak. But now, companies know that theres nobody to even find that they failed to bargain in good faith, Block says of the fact that the board is down to two members. Though the fact that Whole Foods workers elected to unionize is notable; Whole Foods is owned by Amazon, which already has shown with its warehouse employees the ability to slow down the process so it takes years. This doesnt bode well for Whole Foods workers in terms of them quickly securing a contract. Trumps firing of Wilcox makes that even less likely. Its up to Whole Foods whether they will abide by the outcome of the election or not, Block says. “The law is effectively sitting on the sidelines.” There is some work that the board can still do, she notes; the acting general counsel could issue complaints, and there could be investigations. But none of those activities can lead to the ultimate decision of, has the law been violated or not or who won the election, she says. All those ultimate decisions are entrusted to the board, so if you dont have a majority, everything is just sort of preliminary. . . . Decisions can’t be made, so ultimately, rights cant be vindicated. Block doesnt want to underestimate Whole Foods workersbut admits they face a challenge. These are workers who are obviously very determined and brave that they stood up to a company that’s been clear that it doesnt want their workers to have a union. So that doesn’t mean that [the workers] can’t keep making noise, she says. But they’ve lost an important ally, an ally that Congress expected to be there to stand with workers. (When asked for comment, the United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents Whole Foods, pointed only to a release congratulating Whole Foods workers on their union victory.) Its a challenge all workers now face. Though companies have long drawn out the bargaining process, and even have long violated labor laws generally, this move shows that those bad actions will just be exacerbated under the Trump administration. Theres nothing to stop unions from continuing to communicate with the public, Block notesand public support for and interest in unions has been growing. But when it comes to any pressure on companies to abide by labor law, theres nothing pushing them on the other side right now.
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E-Commerce
Mondays memo from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) pausing federal grants and loans set off a scramble in Washington and across the nation as administrators and individuals tried to figure out how the order would affect funding, from the SBA to Medicaid to the Pell grant program. (It also drew a flurry of lawsuits.) An addendum issued Tuesday has offered a bit more information, but things are still hardly crystal clear. The original memo, from acting director Matthew J. Vaeth, ordered federal agencies to temporarily pause all activities related to obligations or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance and conduct a comprehensive analysis of their grant and loan programs. Specifically, those analyses were to ensure the programs fell in line with Donald Trumps executive orders banning federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, limiting clean energy spending, and more. Slated to go into effect Tuesday at 5 p.m. ET, the new rules have baffled both federal organizations and private companies that work with them. In an attempt to clarify things, the OMB put out another memo Tuesday, saying the pause was not across the board. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, in her first briefing, also attempted to explain the freeze, but didnt provide much more clarity other than to reiterate that the ban would not impact individual benefits. Its still unclear how many programs will be affected and for how long, but heres where things stand with some of the largest programs. SBA loans The Tuesday memo clarified that the freeze is not an across-the-board action and was expressly limited to programs, projects, and activities impacted by the Presidents Executive Orders. Funds for small businesses, it read, will not be paused. (The Small Business Administration did not reply to Fast Companys request for comment about the memo.) Student loans Student loans, including Pell grants, are also safe, the second memo said. Any program that provides direct benefits to Americans is explicitly excluded from the pause and exempted from this review process. Leavitt echoed this in her press conference, saying, Individuals who receive direct assistance, you will not be impacted by this freeze. Medicaid But with Medicaid, things have been a little more murky. Tuesdays OMB memo said Medicaid would continue without pause. But Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), on BlueSky Tuesday, said his staff had confirmed reports that Medicaid portals, which tie into the Federal Payment Management System (FMPS), were down in all 50 states after the funding freeze. (A search of select state portals shows them to be operational, but some have reported they are currently locked out of the FMPS.) That followed a report from the Chicago Sun-Times that Illinois had been cut off from the portal used to request and manage Medicaid spending. The FMPS website, Tuesday afternoon, had an alert at the top of its webpage: Due to Executive Orders regarding potentially unallowable grant payments, PMS is taking additional measures to process payments. Reviews of applicable programs and payments will result in delays and/or rejections of payments. (The Head Start preschool program for low-income children also uses FMPS to access funds.)Leavitt later posted on X, referring to the portal problems as an outage. The White House is aware of the Medicaid website portal outage, she posted. We have confirmed no payments have been affectedthey are still being processed and sent. We expect the portal will be back online shortly. SNAP benefits The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as food stamps), which helps low-income adults purchase food is another mandatory program that OMB said would not be affected by the freeze. Social Security and Medicare OMB, in its original memo, went out of its way to note that Social Security and Medicare payments would not be impacted by the order. Rental assistance Mondays clarifying memo said funds for rental assistance will not be paused. Countless other disbursements, such as health grants distributed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), developers expecting federal grants, and programs from the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health, Justice and Human Services, and more are still in question.
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E-Commerce
Brothers Jake Paul and Logan Paul made social media announcements Tuesday that suggested their next fight will be against each other and aired on HBO Max. Calling it the moment you’ve waited a decade for, the posts featured a head-to-head shot of the brothers with a March 27 date and the HBO Max logo. Further details were not included in the posts. Jake Paul, 28, and Logan Paul, 29, are both YouTube stars who know how to create a buzz. Their exhibitions have drawn the interest of the biggest names in combat sports. Jake Paul defeated Mike Tyson in November in an eight-round unanimous decision. Logan Paul went the distance in an exhibition against Floyd Mayweather in 2021. An HBO Max fight would be a first for the Pauls, who have had their bouts aired on other platforms including DAZN, Showtime, Fanmio, ESPN+ and Netflix. Jake Paul and Tyson, the former heavyweight champion, broke records. Promoters said in November that the Tyson-Paul fight was the highest-grossing combat sports event ever in Texas, pulling in $18.1 million. BetMGM said the bout was by far its most-bet boxing or mixed-martial arts fight, taking three times the number of bets and four times the money of any combat sport in its history. Logan Paul is a part-time performer for World Wrestling Entertainment. He has been wildly successful in WWE, having claimed the United States Championship and participated in several premium live events. The fight with his brother would be just weeks before WrestleMania, the biggest event on the pro wrestling calendar. Its unclear whether a fight between Logan Paul and former UFC champion Conor McGregor will happen. McGregor said in December that he was in preliminary agreements with the family of billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani to fight Logan Paul in India.
Category:
E-Commerce
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