Smiley and discreet: The sociologist marrying Brazil's Lula

AFP / May 19, 2022,

Brazilian former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva marries 

sociologist Rosangela Silva, in Sao Paulo.

RIO DE JANEIRO: Rosangela da Silva is a smiley, politically active member of Brazil's Workers' Party, but the new wife of presidential hopeful Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva remains discreet when it comes to her private life.

Sociologist Da Silva and Lula, Brazil's president from 2003 to 2010, were due to be married in a ceremony on Wednesday evening, the details of which were kept top-secret.
Pictures of the couple kissing and cuddling regularly go viral on social media but Da Silva will be brought into a new limelight if veteran socialist Lula returns to the presidency in elections later this year and makes her Brazil's first lady.

"I'm in love as if I were 20 years old, as if it were my first girlfriend," said Lula, 76, about his 55-year-old partner, nicknamed "Janja," who is credited with giving the political icon a new lease on life.

Lula was left distraught when his wife of more than 30 years, with whom he had four children, Marisa Leticia, died in 2017.

He had also lost his first wife, Maria de Lourdes, to hepatitis, in 1971.

"When you lose your wife, you think, well, my life has no more meaning. Then suddenly this person appears who makes you feel like you want to live again," Lula said in a recent interview with Time magazine.

"We will get married calmly and I will have a happy campaign," said the former metal worker and trade unionist who is set for a fiery election battle against far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in October.

Born in Sao Paulo, Da Silva has a degree in sociology from Parana University in the southern city of Curitiba, where Lula was jailed between April 2018 and November 2019 on controversial corruption charges.

She joined the Workers' Party (PT) in 1983, two years after it was co-founded by Lula. She then worked for almost 20 years in the state energy company Itaipu Binacional.

Brazilian media say the couple have known each other for decades but Lula's press service insists their amorous relationship began only at the end of 2017, during an event with left-wing artists.

The relationship was only made public in May 2019, more than a year after Lula was incarcerated.
"Lula is in love and the first thing he will want to do when he leaves prison is get married," one of his lawyers said following a prison visit.

Even so, it has taken him two and a half years since his liberation to tie the knot, at a private ceremony for 200 guests in Sao Paulo that is shrouded in secrecy.

During Lula's incarceration, Da Silva would often tweet about the pain of their forced separation.
"All I want is to be able to wrap my arms around you and cuddle you forever," she wrote on the day Lula turned 74.

In November 2019, just after his liberation, they shared a kiss in front of masses of supporters outside the prison in Curitiba that had been his home for 18 months.

"I want to introduce you to someone I have already spoken about but whom some of you don't know: my future spouse," said an emotional Lula.

Since Lula's corruption conviction was annulled by the Supreme Court and he was again eligible to stand for election, Da Silva has accompanied him on his many trips, including to Mexico and Europe.
Lula has suggested that, as first lady, Da Silva could play a role in food security programs, in a country where the Covid-19 pandemic has led to increased hunger.

Although highly active on social media for the Lula campaign, Da Silva is very discreet when it comes to her personal life, of which little is known.

According to Veja magazine, she was married for more than 10 years before her relationship with Lula, although she does not have any children.

Da Silva "is very politicized, she has a good political mind and is very feminist," Lula said in September, during an interview with rapper Mano Brown's podcast.

Moth last seen 110 years ago found at Detroit airport


A species of moth, last seen in 1912, was discovered inside a passenger's bag at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Photo courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection

May 18 (UPI) -- A species of moth, not seen since 1912, was found inside a passenger's luggage at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection found larvae and pupae from the moth last September inside a bag arriving from the Philippines.

Customs and Border Protection said Monday the passenger claimed the seeds were for medicinal tea. Upon closer inspection, agriculture specialists discovered exit holes in the pods and confiscated them.

While in quarantine, the pupae hatched to reveal what etymologists called "very flashy" moths with raised patches of black bristles, indicating the moths are members of the Pyralidae family.

A Smithsonian Institution expert later identified the moth as "Salma brachyscopalis Hampson" and determined the moth was last seen more than a century ago, according to Kris Grogan, a spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection.

The Smithsonian etymologist also confirmed it was the first time larvae or pupae associated with this species of moth had been collected.

The moths found at the airport were "disposed of via steam sterilization," said Grogan.

"Agriculture specialists play a vital role at our nation's ports of entry by preventing the introduction of harmful exotic plant pests and foreign animal diseases into the United States," said Port Director Robert Larkin. "This discovery is a testament to their important mission of identifying foreign pests and protecting America's natural resources."

New NOAA study finds increase in Atlantic hurricanes linked to cleaner air

By Allison Finch, Accuweather.com

Researchers examined how particulate air pollution, or aerosols, and climate change have affected tropical cyclones across the planet over the past 40 years in a new study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that was recently published in the journal Science Advances, and the results are surprising.

"Air pollution is a big environmental risk to human health, and we have made great strides in reducing health risks by reducing particulate air pollution," said Hiroyuki Murakami, a physical scientist at NOAA's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory and study author. "But reducing air pollution does not always decrease the risk of hazards from tropical cyclones."

Dr. Boris Quennehen, Lead Atmospheric Scientist at Plume Labs, a company acquired by AccuWeather earlier this year, said particulate matter (PM), also known as aerosols, is a mix of fine dust and tiny liquid droplets.

"Particulate matter can come from natural sources, like fine sand, wildfires, volcanic eruptions and sea salt for example, or from human activities, usually involving some kind of incomplete combustion -- a fire or explosion," said Quennehen

RELATED 116-year-old 'ghost tracks' unearthed following pesky coastal storm

From 1980 to 2020, Europe and North America have reduced particulate air pollution from automotive, and energy industries. This has resulted in an estimated 50 drop in the concentration of particulate air pollution from North America and Europe, which, as noted by the study from NOAA, has had a significant impact on water temperatures in the tropical Atlantic Ocean basin and the development of tropical cyclones.

"Particulate matter and water temperatures are linked, in this case, by the 'parasol effect.' The PM parasol effect means that a part of the sunlight is reflected [or] trapped by particles and thus can't reach the surface as it would have if particles weren't there," said Quennehen, who was not involved in the new study. "Less sunlight reaching the surface means less energy and thus lower temperature. Less particulate matter means less reflection, thus warmer waters."

Warm water temperatures above 80 degrees F are one of the key ingredients in the formation of a tropical cyclone. So, thanks in part to the aforementioned parasol effect, water temperatures in the tropical Atlantic Ocean basin are warming, which is creating ideal breeding grounds for tropical development.

"A warming Atlantic Ocean has been a key ingredient to a 33 percent increase in the number of tropical cyclones during this 40-year period," said Murakami.

Moreover, there has been an increase in temperature in the middle to high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere from the decreased amount of pollution, according to the study. This has resulted in a steady poleward movement of the jet stream from the tropics toward the Arctic, which has led to weaker winds in the upper troposphere in the tropical Atlantic Ocean basin.

While the troposphere is the lowest region of the atmosphere, wind speeds gradually strengthen and sometimes change direction from the lower troposphere, which is closest to the surface of the Earth, to the upper troposphere, which is about 10-12 miles from the surface of the Earth in the tropical Atlantic basin. This difference between wind speed and direction and height is defined as wind shear.

The weaker winds in the upper troposphere led to an environment with little to no wind shear, which is another key ingredient in tropical cyclone development.

Low wind shear and warm ocean waters are two of the three main ingredients needed to form and sustain a tropical cyclone, and the decreased air pollution from North America and Europe over the past 40 years has led to an environment in which these ingredients can flourish, the study said.

On the other side of the world, in the western North Pacific, where strong tropical cyclones are referred to as typhoons, quite the opposite is occurring. According to this new research, the increase in air pollution in the western North Pacific has been one of the several factors that has contributed to a 14 percent decrease in tropical cyclones during the past 40 years. Some of the other factors include natural variability and increased greenhouse gasses.

Therefore, the opposite is occurring in the western North Pacific. As Quennehen described above, more air pollution that exists in the atmosphere reduces the amount of sunlight that will reach the surface, resulting in lower temperatures.

In East Asia, the increased amount of air pollution has made the land temperature cooler, which has reduced the contrast between the land and ocean temperatures. Without this contrast, the monsoon winds become weaker.

A monsoon is defined as the change in wind direction that can trigger persistent rainfall or long-duration dry weather. In the summer, the westerly Indian monsoon winds converge with trade winds in the western Pacific Ocean, creating tropical cyclones. However, with weaker monsoon winds, a lower number of tropical cyclones have formed over the last four decades, according to Murakami's research.

Over the 40-year period Murakami examined, there has been a 40 percent increase in the amount of pollution filling the air over the western North Pacific, which has corresponded to a 14 percent decrease in the formation of tropical cyclones, or typhoons as they're called in that part of the world.

Without considering other factors, it might seem as easy as adding more particles, or air pollution, to the atmosphere will help reduce the number of tropical cyclones, but such a concept is not practical, according to Quennehen.

"Adding more particles in the atmosphere is not a viable solution for the Earth and humankind," said Quennehen. "More particles means more heath impacts but also ocean acidification which may lead to the extinction of many marine species."

Murakami suggested that there will be a need for careful policymaking in the future.

"This study indicates that decreasing air pollution leads to an increased risk of tropical cyclones, which is happening in the North Atlantic, and could also happen, if air pollution is rapidly reduced, in Asia," said Murakami. "The ironic result suggests the necessity of careful policy decision-making in the future that considers the pros and cons of the multiple impacts."

Murakami predicts in the next decade, increased greenhouse gases will significantly influence tropical cyclones compared to human-caused particulate air pollution.

2 senators reach deal on help for veterans exposed to toxic burning pits


Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., right, and Sen, Jon Tester, D-Mont., listen during a confirmation hearing on January 27, 2021. The senators announced a deal Wednesday to help veterans who were exposed to toxic dump pits while on service. 

File Photo by Sarah Silbiger/UPI | License Photo

May 18 (UPI) -- Congress moved closer to addressing concerns over the exposure of military members to toxic burning pits after leaders on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee announced Wednesday a bipartisan deal to help them.

Committee members Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., and Jerry Moran, R-Kan., announced in a joint statement the legislation would expand the VA healthcare eligibility to post-9/11 combat veterans.

The bill is named after the late Sgt. 1st Class Heath Robinson, who died in 2020 after being exposed to toxic pits during his military service while deployed to Kosovo and Iraq with the Ohio National Guard.

"This bipartisan legislation is the most comprehensive toxic exposure package the Senate has ever delivered to veterans in this country's history," the senators said. "For far too long, our nation's veterans have been living with chronic illnesses as a result of exposures during their time in uniform.

"Today, we're taking necessary steps to right this wrong with our proposal that'll provide veterans and their families with the healthcare and benefits they have earned and deserve."

Along with the expansion of VA healthcare to 3.5 million eligible veterans, it also creates a framework for the establishment of future presumptions of service connection related to toxic exposure; adds 23 burn pit and toxic exposure-related conditions to VA's list of service presumptions, including hypertension; and expands presumptions related to Agent Orange exposure.

"In addition to providing historic relief to all generations of toxic-exposed veterans, this legislation will improve claims processing to meet the immediate and future needs of every veteran it serves," the senators said.

"Together, we will continue working until Congress delivers on its commitment to passing long-lasting solutions and comprehensive reforms for those who served our country."

Veterans were regularly exposed to open-air burn pits at U.S. military bases during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where dangerous materials ranging from electronics and vehicles to human waste were regularly doused in jet fuel and set on fire.

President Joe Biden, who backs the new legislation, has said he believes his late son Beau Biden's brain cancer was linked to his exposure to burn pits while deployed in Iraq in 2008.

Women wait longer for hospital emergency room care than men, study finds

Women experience longer wait times than men in U.S. hospital emergency rooms, according to a new study. 

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo


May 18 (UPI) -- Women wait longer for care than men in hospital emergency rooms, a study published Wednesday found.

On average, women patients coming into the emergency room wait 12 minutes longer to be evaluated and treated, data published Wednesday by JAMA Surgery showed.

Men wait an average of 2 hours, 52 minutes for care, while women wait an average of 3 hours, 4 minutes, the researchers said.

Women also have to wait about three minutes longer than men to be "triaged," or evaluated and prioritized for care in the ER. On average, they wait 52 minutes to be triaged, compared to 49 minutes for men, the data showed.

The "results of this ... study suggest that female patients were found to have a significantly longer [ER] lengths of stay after a traumatic event," the researchers from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago wrote.

In addition, they "were less likely to be discharged home or to a home equivalent than male patients," they said.

Previous studies have found that women of all races and ethnicities, as well as people of color, have longer wait times than White men in hospital ERs when seeking treatment for chest pain.

These longer wait times could increase the risk for death among those affected, depending on the nature of their health emergency, research suggests.

Researchers have attributed these longer wait times to bias among healthcare workers, and say they perpetuate inequities in treatment quality.

The findings of this study are based on an analysis of data for more than 28,000 U.S. adults treated for serious injuries such as broken bones and/or head trauma in hospital ERs over a three-year period.

Just under 30% of the patients included in the study were women, though the women patients generally had more serious injuries than the men, the data showed.

Once treated in the ER, women were 28% more likely than men to be discharged to a nursing home or long-term care facility, as opposed to home, compared with men, the researchers said.

"These findings suggest potential gaps of care that may be excellent targets for quality improvement of existing processes of assessment and triage and discharge planning," they wrote.

Study: HPV 'herd immunity' now helping vaccinated, unvaccinated women

By HealthDay News

Vaccination against HPV has reached a point of "herd immunity" that is benefiting both vaccinated and unvaccinated women, a new study says. File Photo by Photographee.eu/Shutterstock
Vaccination against the virus that causes most cervical cancers has spurred a widespread reduction of infections among young Americans -- including those who are unvaccinated, a new government study finds.

The study, by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, looked at the impact of the nation's HPV vaccination program, which began in 2006.

HPV, or human papillomavirus, is a sexually transmitted infection that can cause genital warts. While that disease is usually minor, certain HPV infections can become persistent and eventually cause cancer.

In the United States, almost all cases of cervical cancer are caused by persistent infection with certain HPV strains those strains can also cause cancers of the vagina, penis, anus or throat.

RELATED One dose of HPV vaccine may prevent cervical cancer

So the HPV vaccine, which protects against major cancer-causing strains, is considered an anti-cancer vaccine.

The new study found that by 2018, the vaccine had cut the prevalence of cancer-causing HPV strains by 90% among vaccinated females between 14 and 24 years of age. There was also a 74% reduction among their unvaccinated counterparts -- pointing to a "herd" effect.

That refers to protection afforded to the whole population when there is a sharp reduction in circulation of a virus.

RELATED Prevalence of STDs among U.S. teens underscores importance of testing

"The decline among unvaccinated females suggests strong herd effects, or indirect protection, from the vaccination program," lead researcher Dr. Hannah Rosenblum said in a journal news release.

Experts stressed, however, that does not mean kids can go unvaccinated and rely on herd protection.

Herd effects only exist when a large portion of the population is vaccinated, said Dr. Rebecca Perkins, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Boston University School of Medicine.

RELATED Many teens don't realize oral sex carries STD risks, poll finds

Instead, she said, the findings offer more reason for parents to get their kids vaccinated against HPV on schedule.

"All of the news on the HPV vaccine is good," said Perkins, who co-wrote an editorial published with the study this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine. "It's one of the best things you can do for your child's health."

Other research, she noted, has shown early signs that the protection against HPV is translating into a "near elimination" of cervical cancer before the age of 30.

Since 2006, the CDC and other groups have recommended that all girls receive the HPV vaccine, starting at age 11, and that older girls and young women up to age 26 receive "catch-up" shots if they missed the earlier window. The advice was later extended to boys and young men.

These latest findings come from a periodic federal health survey, with data from the pre-vaccine (2003 to 2006) and post-vaccine (2007 to 2018) eras.

By 2018, the CDC found, the prevalence of HPV strains targeted by the vaccine had been slashed 90% among girls and women aged 14 to 24, compared to the pre-vaccine era.

There was also a sharp drop among young females who remained unvaccinated: Between 2015 and 2018, just under 5% tested positive for an HPV strain included in the vaccine, compared to 20% in the pre-vaccine era.

While catch-up shots are an option, vaccinating preteens -- before they become sexually active and exposed to HPV -- is key to making the vaccine program as effective as possible, said Dr. Ina Park.

Park, who was not involved in the study, is a professor at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, and an adviser to the American Sexual Health Association.

She agreed that the signs of herd protection are welcome, but should not be misinterpreted.

"We can't let our guard down," Park said. "We still need to get as many preteens vaccinated as possible."

Before the pandemic, HPV vaccination rates in the United States had been improving. In 2020, 75% of teenagers younger than 18 had gotten at least one dose of the two- to three-shot regimen, according to the CDC.

But that rate still falls short of those for other preteen vaccinations, Park said. Plus, the pandemic has caused many kids to fall behind on vaccinations of all kinds, including the HPV shot.

Rosenblum stressed that "since this could threaten strides made in the previous decade, all efforts are needed to ensure that children and adolescents receive routinely recommended vaccinations."

Both Park and Perkins said that the HPV vaccine not only provides lasting protection against infections, but has proven to be safe: More than 270 million doses have been given worldwide, according to the American Cancer Society, and the vaccine has not been linked to any serious side effects.

"I really feel this vaccine is a home run for cancer prevention," Park said.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has information for parents on HPV vaccination.

Copyright © 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Largest volcano eruption in 140 years sent exceptional pressure waves around Earth

Shari Kulha - 

MAY 18, 2022

© Provided by National PostA boat at sea had this view of the smoke rising from the eruption. The Tongan volcano has created a substantial new island since it roared to life in December, spewing huge volumes of rock and dense ash that killed nearby vegetation.

Rumblings began on Dec. 18, 2021 under the small South Pacific islands of Hunga Tonga and Hunga Ha’apai in the Kingdom of Tonga, and continued for several weeks. On Jan. 15, an underwater volcano exploded upwards with a force not seen since 1883 and at 10 times the magnitude of Mount St. Helens.

An umbrella cloud developed at approximately 30 km above sea level, with a much higher central transient “overshoot.”

The two Hunga islands had been formed by ancient eruptions, and after one in 2015, ash and magma settled to fill the space between the two. But after January’s violent explosion, the newer central part submerged, leaving the uninhabited Hunga Ha’apai and Hunga Tonga separate again.

The main island of Tonga was devastated by the ensuing tsunami.

None of the above is atypical of a large volcanic event, but thanks to advances over the decades, ground-based and space-borne instruments allowed researchers to observe in greater detail an eruption’s unseen results.

Lamb waves are pressure waves of atmospheric fluid that result from volcanic eruptions and nuclear tests, and can last from minutes to several hours. With January’s eruption, scientists observed that these seismoacoustic waves circled the planet in one direction four times and back again three times — mirroring that of Indonesia’s 1883 Krakatau eruption. Equally strikingly, a wave also travelled at between roughly 550 kps and 1,600 kps to an altitude of about 450 km.

“This atmospheric-waves event was unprecedented in the modern geophysical record,” lead author Robin Matoza, an associate professor at University of California Santa Barbara’s department of Earth Science, said in a release .

Matoza led a team of 76 scientists from 17 countries to study the atmospheric waves .


© NOAAThe Hunga eruption seen from the GOES-17 satellite of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Nine hours after the explosion, booms were heard as far off as Alaska — 10,000 kilometres away — compelling some to believe there was a link to the eruption. But the scientists believe those booms could not have originated in Hunga. “I heard the sounds,” said co-author David Fee at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute in the release, “but at the time definitely did not think it was from a volcanic eruption in the South Pacific.”


Robin Matoza

“While there’s still much to learn, it’s clear that standard sound models cannot explain how audible sounds propagated over such extreme distances. We interpreted that they were generated somewhere along the path by nonlinear effects,” Matoza said.

“We have more than a century of advances in instrumentation technology and global sensor density,” he said. “So the 2022 Hunga event provided an unparalleled global dataset for an explosion event of this size.”

‘Catastrophic damage’ to Tonga’s outlying islands from volcanic eruption and tsunami

Undersea volcano erupts off Tonga, tsunami warning issued

“The atmospheric waves were recorded globally across a wide frequency band, and by studying this remarkable dataset we will better understand acoustic and atmospheric wave generation, propagation and recording,” Fee said.

“This has implications for monitoring nuclear explosions, volcanoes, earthquakes and a variety of other phenomena,” he continued. “Our hope is that we will be better able to monitor volcanic eruptions and tsunamis by understanding the atmospheric waves from this eruption.”

Trudeau says Tory ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric only tough on Black, Indigenous Canadians

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Wednesday that policies the Conservatives claimed were “tough on crime” were “really just tough on Black Canadians and Indigenous Canadians."


Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rises during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 11, 2022. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Amanda Connolly - May 18,2022

He made the comment during a heated exchange in question period that saw Conservatives accuse the Liberals of planning to "make it allowable for criminals to get house arrest" by repealing policies that broadened the use of mandatory minimum sentences.

"He's going after law-abiding Canadians but going soft on gangsters," said Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs before asking: "Will he scrap Bill C-5?"

Trudeau said the government is repealing "failed" Conservative policies.

"They claim to be tough on crime but really they're just tough on Black Canadians and Indigenous people," Trudeau said before being drowned out by shouts.

"Our criminal justice reform legislation turns the page on failed Conservative party policies," he repeated afterwards. "What we need is a system that doesn't target people because of systemic discrimination."

HARPER'S LAW

Liberals move to axe mandatory minimums for some drug, gun offences

Stubbs called that response "shameful," but also said that Trudeau "wants to make it easier for them [offenders] to stay home among their victims."

Her caucus colleague, Pierre Paul-Hus, also made similar claims, arguing in French that the bill "will only help street gangs continue their shootings."

Trudeau said nothing in the bill prevents or changes the requirements for police to charge people, or for prosecutors to pursue convictions in court. He said repealing the policies will address "the over-representation of Black Canadians and Indigenous Canadians in the criminal justice system."

Bill C-5 seeks to "repeal certain mandatory minimum penalties, allow for a greater use of conditional sentences and establish diversion measures for simple drug possession offences."

It targets a number of changes made under the former Conservative government that expanded the use of mandatory minimum sentences to dozens of additional criminal offences.

HARPER'S LAW

Mandatory minimums for gun crimes unconstitutional: Supreme Court

Mandatory minimums have been clearly shown to disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous and racialized Canadians, according to the Research and Statistics Division of Justice Canada.

Data published in 2017 looked at incarcerations over a 10-year period from 2006/2007 to 2016/2017 — which coincides with the date former prime minister Stephen Harper took office in January 2006, and the first full year following the Liberal win in October 2015.

According to the data set, during that time period "the proportion of Indigenous offenders increased most dramatically, from 20 per cent of admissions in 2007/08 to 25 per cent in 2016/2017."

"Over the ten year study period, Black and other visible minority offenders were much more likely to be admitted with a conviction for an offence punishable by an MMP," the research stated, using the acronym for "mandatory minimum penalties."

Of the offences where the individual was behind bars for a mandatory minimum, 75 per cent of those cases were drug offences, with 89 per cent of the drug offences being for trafficking.

Five per cent of the admissions were for robbery with a firearm.

A previous Liberal bill seeking to repeal the policies died when the government called the election.

Justice Minister David Lametti re-introduced the legislation in December 2021.

At least 12 dead, several hurt after wall collapses at India salt factory

By Ashley Williams

May 18 (UPI) -- A wall collapsed at a salt factory in western India on Wednesday, killing at least a dozen workers there and injuring several others, officials said.

The factory is located in the Morbi district, located about 280 miles northwest of Mumbai. Workers at the plant package salt for shipment.

Authorities said there were 12 dead and 13 injured, although none of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening. Some of those who were injured were buried beneath wall debris and stacks of salt bags.

Lawmaker Brijesh Merja said rescuers dug through the debris after the collapse looking for more dead or injured.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called Wednesday's collapse a "heart-rending tragedy."

"May the injured recover soon," he said in a tweet.

Modi's office said the government will provide aid funding for the relatives of dead and injured victims.

The cause of the wall collapse is under investigation.

Talks stall as public service union seeks 13.5 per cent wage increase over three years

Kathryn May, Policy Options - 

© Provided by Ottawa Citizen

“Just like all workers in Canada, our members are already feeling the pinch, and the worst is likely still to come,” said PSAC President Chris Aylward on demands from his members in the latest labour talks with the federal government.

Canada’s largest federal union is walking away from contract negotiations over the government’s refusal to offer raises that keep up with the soaring cost of living.

The Public Service Alliance of Canada, which represents 120,000 public servants , has been sabre-rattling about a possible strike for weeks, but it officially declared an impasse Wednesday. The union is seeking conciliation to help reach a settlement.

The big issue is wages. The union is seeking a 13.5 per cent raise over three years – at 4.5 per cent a year – compared with Treasury Board’s offer of less than eight per cent over four years. The two sides have also hit snags over the future of work and anti-racism provisions PSAC wants embedded in all contracts.

“Just like all workers in Canada, our members are already feeling the pinch, and the worst is likely still to come,” said PSAC President Chris Aylward. “As Canada’s largest employer, Prime Minister Trudeau’s government needs to lead by example by making sure workers don’t fall behind.”

This is the first round of bargaining in years with rising inflation. Canada’s inflation rate rose to 6.7 per cent in March. Public servants, who delivered the government’s COVID-19 response while many worked from home, want bigger raises, more rights around remote work and the right to disconnect so employees aren’t obliged to check emails and calls after work hours.

“This government can’t expect the workers who have been getting us through the pandemic to shoulder the costs of Canada’s recovery,” said Aylward.

“Groceries, gas and utilities are becoming unaffordable. Now more than ever, workers need fair wages and good working conditions to help keep up with rising costs.”

PSAC, the largest of the 17 federal unions, is the first at the bargaining table in this round of negotiations and its agreement typically sets the precedent for the rest. It is representing four large bargaining groups of workers . The government and union have negotiated for a year and held 28 days of talks.

If an agreement can’t be reached through conciliation, PSAC said the union will be “forced to continue to escalate actions across the country, up to and including taking strike action.”

A strike, however, is months away, and PSAC’s last big strike was in 2004. The conciliation request goes to the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board . The board could recommend setting up a Public Interest Commission to conciliate the dispute. This three-member panel includes labour and management nominees, and could take months to hold hearings and write a report, which is non-binding.

As employers grapple with labour shortages, workers and unions are flexing their muscles. The dynamics of this round of bargaining could also be affected by the Liberal deal with the labour-friendly NDP and a strategic review to find $6 billion in savings. Much of those savings are expected to come from reduced real estate costs by shifting the public service to a hybrid workforce.

The pandemic made remote work – once called telework – a big issue for federal unions. It cuts across departments, each of which are responsible for deciding where their employees work, and many of those employees want to keep working from home. Some departments are mandating two or three days in the office; others are offering full-time remote work.

At the same time, some public servants want to return to the office. Others, like prison guards, ships’ crews or border guards, don’t have the option to work from home. Departments are already braced for an internal talent war as workers look for departments that will let them work where they want.

PSAC wants to negotiate a process to avoid arbitrary management decisions on where employees work and ensure consistency on how access to remote work is managed across the public service.

Along with that, PSAC is seeking a better work-life balance for remote workers with “right to disconnect” provisions that give workers the right to say no to calls and texts after hours. Contracts already deal with overtime when employees are called back to work. The union wants protections so workers aren’t penalized for exercising the right to disconnect.

PSAC also wants to ensure public servants receive anti-racism training and education about Indigenous history as recommended by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The government does provide training, but PSAC wants it enshrined in collective agreements to ensure more take-up. Other demands include better job security and eliminating the privatization of public services.

This article was produced with support from the Accenture Fellowship on the Future of the Public Service. Read more of Kathryn’s columns here .

This article first appeared on Policy Options and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

CANADA

Workers increasingly disgruntled with their jobs say they're just in it for the money

Victoria Wells - Posthaste- May 18, 2022

Some workers in Canada are growing increasingly disgruntled with their jobs amid a desire for higher salaries and better working conditions, such as flexibility, according to research released this morning.

Overall job satisfaction levels have dropped three per cent since 2021, and fallen 24 per cent since the pandemic began, said The Great Workplace Study, conducted by Léger for Hamster, an office supply distributing company. As inflation climbs and the costs of everyday items rise, a good salary is becoming more important, and workers think their paycheques aren’t measuring up. Canadians are 10 per cent less satisfied with their salaries now than they were this time last year.

Workplace conditions, such as vacation time, flexible schedules, and benefits, also appear to need improvement. Satisfaction in that category dropped six per cent since 2021.

But perhaps most worrisome for employers is that people say they are less engaged with their jobs.

“Fewer workers are willing to go the extra mile or give their best to their job and to their employer,” the survey said.

Commitment to work has fallen a “significant” six points from last year, the study said, a finding that could spell trouble for organizations already struggling to retain staff amid a tight labour market.

Indeed, people say they are looking at their jobs as a means to an end, and three-quarters admit they’re only there for the paycheque. That compares to 36 per cent who say they find meaning or fulfilment in their work.

Such low levels of engagement come at the worst possible time for employers desperate to keep staff from leaving amid labour shortages. As it stands, one in five workers said they are thinking of seeking out new opportunities.

Hamster said workers have become emboldened over the past two years and don’t think twice about quitting if it means they can find what they’re looking for somewhere else.

“(Canadian workers) know that they now have increased bargaining power. If they feel their conditions could be better with another employer, many would no longer hesitate to change jobs,” the survey said.

Topping employee wish lists are “fair and equitable” wage hikes, good benefits, and flexible work hours. Employers should take notice and then do what they can to meet their staff’s needs, Hamster said.

“Labour shortages are biting Canada and the various industries across the country are facing major challenges in acquiring and retaining talent,” Denis Mathieu, president and general manager of Novexco Inc., which owns Hamster, said in a release.

“It is crucial for employers to adopt a human approach and truly understand the aspirations and needs of their employees in order to better respond to them.”

CFL, CFLPA reach tentative agreement on new CBA

The second strike in CFL history is over. The CFL and CFL Players' Association tentatively reached a new collective bargaining agreement Wednesday night that is subject to ratification. The new CBA is for a seven-year term, according to TSN Football Insider Dave Naylor.

The Canadian Press with TSN.ca 

TORONTO — The second strike in CFL history is over.

The CFL confirmed Wednesday night that it and the CFL Players' Association reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement. 

The new CBA is for a seven-year term, according to TSN Football Insider Dave Naylor.

The contract must still be ratified by both the CFL board of governors as well as the CFLPA membership but the expectation is players will report to their teams Thursday and go through a walkthrough.

Naylor also reports that the settlement allows players to make some gains on the health-and-safety front, getting additional coverage span for rehab from injuries and that the Union gained small annual increases in percentage of league revenue applied to revenue sharing during final five years of the deal.

Monday's preseason game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Saskatchewan Roughriders will be moved with an announcement expected on Thursday.

The new deal is set to expire at least 30 days prior to the start of future training camps, rather than the day before like the past agreement did.

The new contract comes four days after players with seven of the league's nine teams opted against the start of training camp hours after the previous agreement expired.

Talks between the league and union broke off Saturday.

The previous deal, originally signed in 2019 and amended for a shortened '21 campaign, expired at midnight ET on Saturday, putting the players on the seven squads in a legal strike position at 12:01 a.m. ET on Sunday.

Players with the Edmonton Elks and Calgary Stampeders both reported to camp because they weren't in a legal strike position, according to provincial labour laws.

But the tentative agreement comes just before the Elks and Stampeders players would've been in a legal strike position. On Wednesday, the CFL confirmed the players in Alberta would've been eligible to walk off the job at 2:25 p.m. ET on Thursday.

CFL players have gone on strike once, in 1974, but the situation was settled before the start of the regular season.

The regular season kicks off June 9 with the Montreal Alouettes in Calgary to face the Stampeders.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 18, 2022.

Manitoba civil service union fought wage freeze, wins retroactive pay hikes

WINNIPEG — Some 11,000 Manitoba civil servants have won retroactive pay raises after fighting government demands for a wage freeze.

An arbitration board has awarded annual pay hikes of between 0.5 per cent and two per cent going back to 2019, plus interest.

The Progressive Conservative government tried to impose a two-year wage freeze on new contracts across the public sector starting in 2017, with small hikes in years three and four.

The Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union went to court and won the right to arbitration for its members, and the arbitration board handed down its ruling Wednesday.

A bill to enact the wage freeze was a key factor in former premier Brian Pallister's plan to balance the budget, but his replacement, Heather Stefanson, is in the process of repealing the bill.

Union president Kyle Ross says the court battle was worth the effort.

"We knew that the only path to a fair settlement was through the interest arbitration process," Ross said in a written statement Wednesday night.

"Going that route and fighting the wage freezes has paid off — civil service members will get wage increases in every year of this four-year contract."

The collective agreement expires next year, and Ross says that means the two sides will be back at the bargaining table soon to work toward a new deal.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 18, 2022

Experts see parallels between 1970s inflation crisis and today

CALGARY — Winnipeg's Barry Prentice was in his 20s when the spiralling inflation of the 1970s followed by double-digit interest rates in the early 1980s put home ownership completely out of reach for him and many of his friends.

© Provided by The Canadian PressExperts see parallels between 1970s inflation crisis and today

"I couldn't even consider it (buying a house). My brother did, and his mortgage rate was something like 18 or 20 per cent," said Prentice. "What I remember is that it was a time of great anxiety, a time of great uncertainty."

Now a professor of supply chain management at the University of Manitoba, Prentice has been watching with growing unease what he calls the "eerie" similarities in economic conditions between now and then.

"There is a lot of resemblance between now and the 1970s," he said. "Nobody then had ever seen this before, and there was no clear path to where it would lead to."

For the baby boomers who lived through it, the inflation crisis of the 1970s — followed by sky-high interest rates that peaked at 21 per cent in August of 1981 and then triggered a recession — is burned into the memory.

THIS WAS THE REASON FOR THE CRASH IN THE ALBERTA/TEXAS OIL INDUSTRY IN THE EIGHTIES (NOT THE NEP NOR PETROCANADA / PETRO-CANADA)

But from generation X on down, the majority of the Canadian population has up until now remained unfamiliar with significant inflation as well as the interest rate actions taken by central banks to try to combat it.

That's changing though, as the price of everything from fuel to food to manufactured goods has increased in the wake of supply chain pressures related to the global pandemic and the war in Ukraine. On Wednesday, Statistics Canada said its consumer price index for April 2022 rose 6.8 per cent compared with a year ago, a fresh three-decade high.

And last month, the Bank of Canada raised its key interest rate target by half a percentage point to one per cent, prompting Canada's big commercial banks to raise their prime rates in return. The central bank also warned more interest rate hikes are coming as it works to try to bring inflation back to its target of two per cent.

Bank of Montreal chief economist Doug Porter said it's highly unlikely Canadians are in for a double-digit, '80s-style interest rate shock any time soon. But he cautioned that inflation is spreading rapidly and broadly, and the worst could be yet to come.

"I think there’s a risk that everyone is severely underestimating how much of an issue we have on our hands here, and how high interest rates may need to go," Porter said in an interview.

Part of what makes a comparison between the 1970s and now so "disturbing," said Porter, is what was behind the inflation crisis. At that time, rising inflation was driven by surging energy prices (caused by the OPEC oil embargo of 1973, which led to spiking gasoline prices and shortages across North America) as well as a boom in the price of agricultural commodities.

"Clearly there were some differences between then and now," Porter said. "But the speed we saw in the run-up to inflation, and the direct causes, are eerily similar to today.”

From mid-70s until the early-80s, the average annual rate of inflation in Canada topped eight per cent, said Charles St-Arnaud, chief economist for Alberta Central, the central banking facility for the province's credit unions.

He added that in February of 1974, year-over-year food inflation in Canada peaked at 18 per cent. (That's compared to the latest 2022 Statistics Canada figures, which peg the inflation rate of food costs in this country at 8.8 per cent in April.)

Central banks had no choice but to hike interest rates to combat that type of extreme increase in the cost of living, but it took double-digit rate hikes — and the resulting economic crash they caused — to finally put a stop to runaway inflation, St-Arnaud said.

“The recession of the early ‘80s was what I would call a monetary recession, but it was necessary to reduce the inflationary pressures," he said.

But St-Arnaud added the Bank of Canada may not have to increase rates to 20 per cent to be effective this time around.

"We have an economy that’s way more sensitive to interest rates now than it was in the '80s, because households have never been so indebted," he said, adding the consumer debt-to-disposable income ratio in Canada is at a record high.

"With interest rates increasing fast, suddenly there’s a lot of households who will need to shift their budgets and move discretionary spending toward debt repayment.”

Still, both Porter and St-Arnaud caution the Bank of Canada is walking a fine line as it attempts to engineer a soft landing for the economy and avoid a wide-scale recession.

"The margin of error is low," St-Arnaud said. "Because a lot of what is driving inflation right now is out of their (central banks') control."

“I think the goal this time is to try to cut inflation off at the pass before it can become really embedded," Porter said. "But it’s going to be a challenge.”

For his part, Prentice believes we are headed directly toward "stagflation," a term meaning persistently high inflation coupled with a slowdown in economic growth.

While it won't be a pleasant ride, Prentice said, it's important to remember that those who lived through the economic turmoil of the 1970s and 1980s made it out the other side.

"We did survive," he said. "We made it to here. So I'm optimistic we'll survive this too."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 18, 2022.

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

UN urges Ukraine grain release, World Bank pledges extra $12 bn



Wed, May 18, 2022

The UN warned Wednesday that a growing global food crisis could last years if it goes unchecked, as the World Bank announced an additional $12 billion in funding to mitigate its "devastating effects."

Food insecurity is soaring due to warming temperatures, the coronavirus pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has led to critical shortages of grains and fertilizer.

At a major United Nations meeting in New York on global food security, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the war "threatens to tip tens of millions of people over the edge into food insecurity."

He said what could follow would be "malnutrition, mass hunger and famine, in a crisis that could last for years," as he and others urged Russia to release Ukrainian grain exports.

Russia and Ukraine alone produce 30 percent of the global wheat supply.

Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and international economic sanctions on Russia have disrupted supplies of fertilizer, wheat and other commodities from both countries, pushing up prices for food and fuel, especially in developing nations.

Before the invasion in February, Ukraine was seen as the world's bread basket, exporting 4.5 million tonnes of agricultural produce per month through its ports -- 12 percent of the planet's wheat, 15 percent of its corn and half of its sunflower oil.

But with the ports of Odessa, Chornomorsk and others cut off from the world by Russian warships, the supply can only travel on congested land routes that are far less efficient.

"Let's be clear: there is no effective solution to the food crisis without reintegrating Ukraine's food production," Guterres said.

"Russia must permit the safe and secure export of grain stored in Ukrainian ports."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who chaired the summit, and World Food Programme head David Beasley echoed the call.

"The world is on fire. We have solutions. We need to act and we need to act now," implored Beasley.

Russia is the world's top supplier of key fertilizers and gas.

The fertilizers are not subject to the Western sanctions, but sales have been disrupted by measures taken against the Russian financial system while Moscow has also restricted exports, diplomats say.

Guterres also said Russian food and fertilizers "must have full and unrestricted access to world markets."

- Ukraine only 'latest shock' -

Food insecurity had begun to spike even before Moscow, which was not invited to Wednesday's UN meet, invaded its neighbor on February 24.

In just two years, the number of severely food insecure people has doubled -- from 135 million pre-pandemic to 276 million today, according to the UN.

More than half a million people are living in famine conditions, an increase of more than 500 percent since 2016, the world body says.

The World Bank's announcement will bring total available funding for projects over the next 15 months to $30 billion.

The new funding will help boost food and fertilizer production, facilitate greater trade and support vulnerable households and producers, the World Bank said.

The bank previously announced $18.7 billion in funding for projects linked to "food and nutrition security issues" for Africa and the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, and South Asia.

Washington welcomed the decision, which is part of a joint action plan by multilateral lenders and regional development banks to address the food crisis.

The Treasury Department described Russia's war as "the latest global shock that is exacerbating the sharp increase in both acute and chronic food insecurity in recent years" as it applauded institutions for working swiftly to address the issues.

India over the weekend banned wheat exports, which sent prices for the grain soaring.

The ban was announced Saturday in the face of falling production caused primarily by an extreme heatwave.

"Countries should make concerted efforts to increase the supply of energy and fertilizer, help farmers increase plantings and crop yields, and remove policies that block exports and imports, divert food to biofuel, or encourage unnecessary storage," said World Bank President David Malpass.

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Octopuses torture and eat themselves after mating. Science finally knows why.



Stephanie Pappas - 
© Provided by Live Science

Many animal species die after they reproduce. But in octopus mothers, this decline is particularly alarming: In most species, as an octopus mother's eggs get close to hatching, she stops eating. She then leaves her protective huddle over her brood and becomes bent on self-destruction. She might beat herself against a rock, tear at her own skin, even eat pieces of her own arms.

Now, researchers have discovered the chemicals that seem to control this fatal frenzy. After an octopus lays eggs, she undergoes changes in the production and use of cholesterol in her body, which in turn increases her production of steroid hormones — a biochemical shift that will doom her. Some of the changes may hint at processes that explain longevity in invertebrates more generally, said Z. Yan Wang, an assistant professor of psychology and biology at the University of Washington.

"Now that we have these pathways, we're really interested to link them to individual behaviors, or even individual differences in how animals express these behaviors," Wang told Live Science.
Programmed to die

Even as an English-major undergraduate student, Wang was intrigued by female reproduction, she said. When she transitioned into graduate school in science, she kept that interest, and was struck by the dramatic deaths of octopus mothers after they laid their eggs. No one knows the purpose of the behavior. Theories include the idea that the dramatic death displays draw predators away from eggs, or that the mother's body releases nutrients into the water that nurture the eggs. Most likely, Wang said, the die-off protects the babies from the older generation. Octopuses are cannibals, she said, and if older octopuses stuck around, they might end up eating all of each other's young.

Related: How do octopuses change color?

A 1977 study by Brandeis University psychologist Jerome Wodinsky found the mechanism behind this self-destruction lay in the optic glands, a set of glands near the octopus's eyes that is roughly equivalent to the pituitary gland in humans. If the nerves to the optic gland were cut, Wodinsky found, the mother octopus would abandon her eggs, start eating again and live for another four to six months. That's an impressive life extension for creatures that live only about a year.

But no one knew what the optic gland was doing to control this cascade of self-injury.

"From the very beginning, I was really keen to do the experiments that we outlined in the paper we just published, which is essentially juicing the optic gland and then identifying the components of that juice," Wang said.

Wang and her colleagues analyzed the chemicals produced in the optic glands of California two-spot octopuses (Octopus bimaculoides) after they laid eggs. In 2018, a genetic analysis of the same species showed that after egg-laying, the genes in the optic glands that produce steroid hormones (which are built, in part, with cholesterol components) started going into overdrive. With that study as a guidepost, the scientists focused on the steroids and related chemicals produced by the optic glands in the two-spot octopuses.



Fatal changes

They found three separate chemical shifts that occurred around the time the octopus mother laid her eggs. The first was a rise in pregnenolone and progesterone, two hormones associated with reproduction in a host of creatures (in humans, progesterone rises during ovulation and during early pregnancy). The second shifts were more surprising. The octopus mothers began to produce higher levels of a building block of cholesterol called 7-dehydrocholesterol, or 7-DHC. Humans produce 7-DHC in the process of making cholesterol too, but they don't keep any in their systems for long; the compound is toxic. In fact, infants born with the genetic disorder Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome can't clear 7-DHC. The result is intellectual disability, behavioral problems including self-harm, and physical abnormalities like extra fingers and toes, and cleft palate.

Finally, the optic glands also began producing more components for bile acids, which are acids made by the liver in humans and other animals. Octopuses don't have the same kind of bile acids as mammals, but they do, apparently, make the building blocks for those bile acids.

"It suggests that it is a brand new class of signaling molecules in the octopus," Wang said.

The bile acid components are intriguing, Wang said, because a similar set of acids has been shown to control the life span of the worm Caenorhabditis elegans, which is commonly used in scientific research because of its simplicity. It may be that the bile acid components are important for controlling longevity across invertebrate species, Wang said.

Octopuses are hard to study in captivity because they require a lot of space and perfect conditions for them to grow to sexual maturity and breed. Wang and other octopus researchers have now worked out a way to keep the lesser Pacific striped octopus (Octopus chierchiae) alive and breeding in the lab. Unlike most other octopus species, Pacific striped octopuses can mate multiple times and brood multiple clutches of eggs. They don't self-destruct as their eggs get ready to hatch, making them perfect specimens for studying the origin of the morbid behavior.

"I'm really, really excited to study the dynamics of the optic gland in that species," Wang said.

The researchers published their findings May 12 in the journal Current Biology.

Originally published on Live Science.

A majority of young Americans without student debt support Biden canceling it for everyone else, new poll finds

asheffey@businessinsider.com (Ayelet Sheffey) -

A Student Borrower Protection Center poll found the majority of young people support student-loan relief.

That's even among Republicans, and those without student debt balances.

Biden noted a decision on loan forgiveness will be made in coming weeks.

Student-loan forgiveness is popular among young likely voters — even those who never had debt balances themselves.

On Wednesday, the Student Borrower Protection Center, in partnership with Data for Progress, released a poll provided exclusively to Insider that found 71% of likely voters aged 18-34 support student-debt cancellation, and 66% of them with no student debt still support relief. The polling was conducted from March 17 to May 3 among 664 respondents.

"Younger voters put Joe Biden in the White House on the promise of broad relief from the crushing burden of student debt," Mike Pierce, executive director of Student Borrower Protection Center which advocates for debt relief, said in a statement. "As the country recovers from a devastating pandemic and economic crisis, younger voters across the political spectrum are clear in their expectations for the Biden-Harris administration: building back better means canceling student debt for all borrowers."

The support for some or all cancellation of student debt was also among 56% of Republicans, 66% of independents, and 84% of Democrats. These results come as the conversation surrounding potential student-loan relief is picking up, with Biden recently saying a decision on forgiveness will be made in the coming weeks. While he noted he is not considering $50,000 in forgiveness — an amount many progressive lawmakers were hoping for — it's looking likely at least his $10,000 forgiveness campaign pledge will be fulfilled.

While many Republican lawmakers have argued forgiving student debt would hurt the economy and be unfair to those who already paid it off, Wednesday's poll results suggest otherwise. It also echoes a notion New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez expressed earlier this month, in which she noted loan forgiveness is beneficial for everyone, even those without debt.

"Maybe student loan forgiveness doesn't impact you," Ocasio-Cortez wrote in an Instagram story. "That doesn't make it bad. I am sure there are certainly other things that student loan borrowers' taxes pay for. We can do good things and reject the scarcity mindset that says doing something good for someone else comes at the cost of something for ourselves."

Still, midterm elections are approaching and Democratic lawmakers have warned Biden that if he does not act on student debt, he's likely to lose the support of young voters. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren told The Atlantic in January that canceling student debt "would persuade a lot of young people that this president is in the fight for them."

For now, the over 4o million federal student-loan borrowers are waiting to hear what relief they will get before payments are set to resume after August 31. It might be broad forgiveness, but Education Secretary Miguel Cardona recently told MSNBC that "at some point, people are going to have to start paying what they can afford to pay."

New York State agency files unfair labor complaint against Amazon

A state agency in New York has filed a complaint against Amazon over unfair labor practices, Gov. Kathy Hochul, pictured, announced Wednesday. 

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

May 18 (UPI) -- A state agency in New York has filed a complaint against Amazon over unfair labor practices, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday.

The New York State Division of Human Rights filed the complaint, accusing Amazon of discriminating against pregnant workers and workers with disabilities.

The complaint alleges Amazon denied pregnant women and workers with disabilities "reasonable accommodations," instead forcing them to take an unpaid leave of absence.

New York State law requires all employers to "reasonably accommodate" workers with disabilities or pregnancy-related conditions.

The complaint accuses the multinational tech company's managers of "overriding" decisions made by so-called "Accommodation Consultants," requiring pregnant employees to continue heavy lifting.

Amazon operates 23 worksites with over 39,000 workers across New York State. Its "Accommodation Consultants" evaluate requests for amended duties based on things like pregnancy, on a case-by-case basis.

The complaint points to an example of one pregnant worker being told by one of the consultants that she shouldn't have to lift anything over 25 pounds, only to have that overruled by a manager.

The complaint lays out another case where a worker requested and then was denied a modified work schedule related to a documented disability.

"My administration will hold any employer accountable, regardless of how big or small, if they do not treat their workers with the dignity and respect they deserve," Hochul said in a statement.

"New York has the strongest worker protections in the nation and was one of the first to have protections for workers who are pregnant and those with disabilities. Working men and women are the backbone of New York and we will continue to take a stand against any injustice they face."

This is not the first time the company's labor practices have been in the news.

In early May, ​​a labor union that successfully organized an Amazon.com facility in New York City in April, failed to do the same thing at a second workplace in nearby Staten Island.