IMPERIAL IS CANADIAN FOR EXXON

After massive writedown, Imperial Oil says no big projects in coming years

© Provided by Financial Post The Imperial Oil Strathcona Refinery in Alberta.

CALGARY – Imperial Oil Ltd. president and CEO Brad Corson told investors not to expect the company to announce major new projects in the coming years as the impact of a tough 2020 will continue to reverberate for some time.

“No one is sad to see 2020 behind us. The year presented us with some extreme challenges and as a result, we unfortunately experienced an earnings loss for the year,” Corson said on an investor call Tuesday, in which the company announced a $1.1-billion loss for the fourth quarter, down from net earnings of $271 million a year earlier.

The entirety of that loss came from a $1.1-billion non-cash charge stemming from the company’s decision not to develop a large swath of unconventional natural gas assets in Canada. That decision was first disclosed in Nov. 2020 when parent company Exxon Mobil Corp. announced a broader US$20-billion writedown across its portfolio.

Exxon, which controls nearly 70 per cent of Imperial, also reported Tuesday a net annual loss of US$22.4 billion for 2020, on the writedown and losses in oil production and refining, compared with a full-year profit of US$14.34 billion in 2019.

Corson said Imperial would focus on “only the most attractive portions of its unconventional portfolio.” He also noted that in the coming years, the company would not build large, new projects and instead focus on “smaller, select growth opportunities.”

“For the next few years, we want to continue to focus on our existing assets.” Corson said. “We’re being very conscious about not progressing major new greenfield projects. We think that’s prudent in this environment.”

© Imperial Oil Imperial Oil Ltd posted a loss of $1.15 billion, or $1.56 per share, for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31.

Imperial stopped work on its $2.6-billion Aspen oilsands project in late 2019 amid a dispute about oil production quotas in Alberta. That project now appears to be stalled for a long time.

“Market conditions continued to reflect considerable uncertainty throughout 2020 as consumer and business activity has exhibited some degree of recovery, but remained lower when compared with prior periods as a result of the pandemic,” the company said in a statement.

Despite the actions taken by key oil-producing countries to reduce oversupply, “unfavourable economic impact appears increasingly likely to persist to some extent well into 2021,” Imperial added.

Despite the muted outlook, the Calgary-based company ramped up its highest production level in 30 years in the latest quarter.

Imperial has been working to debottleneck that led to its massive Kearl facility pumping out 284,000 bpd in the fourth quarter, compared to an outage-hit third quarter that saw output from the mine at 189,000 bpd. Imperial’s overall production in the fourth quarter is up to 460,000 barrels of oil per day, up roughly 16 per cent from the same period a year earlier.

“We expect the Street to be encouraged by the continued improvement in performance at Kearl, providing added comfort in the 2021 outlook and the longer-term goal of reaching sustained rates of 280,000 bpd,” Raymond James analyst Chris Cox wrote in a Tuesday research note, adding that Imperial’s results were better than analysts expected.

Shares in Imperial fell nearly 4 per cent to $24.21 at close on Tuesday. By comparison, parent company Exxon Mobil, which lost a quarter of its value in the past 12 months, closed up roughly 1.6 per cent, to US$45.63 on the New York Stock Exchange.

© Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images files Exxon controls nearly 70 per cent of Imperial.

“The (Exxon) turnaround story will take some time,” said Biraj Borkhataria, analyst with RBC Capital Markets, noting that the company is not yet covering its dividend and capital spending with cash from operations.

But with oil prices recovering, Exxon can start to cover its dividend and begin paying down the US$68 billion in debt on its balance sheet, analysts said.

U.S. oil crude prices rose 2.3 per cent on Tuesday to US$54.76, after hitting a session high of US$55.26, the highest in a year.

Shares in Exxon, have also traded up this week following a Wall Street Journal report that the international oil giant previously held talks with rival super major Chevron Corp. over a potential merger.

A combination of the two companies would result in an oil giant with a US$350 billion market capitalization and analysts say it could potentially lead to more mergers in an industry that’s dealing with depressed share prices and looking to reduce costs.

Analysts say a potential merger between Exxon and Chevron might also affect Imperial Oil.

“When we had the last round of super major mergers in the late ‘90s, we also saw mergers here in Canada so companies were chasing the same thing — they were chasing those efficiencies,” said Randy Ollenberger, an analyst with BMO Capital Markets.

At the time, Ollenberger said BP Plc’s US$48.2-billion acquisition of Amoco in 1998 led the combined company to divest Amoco Canada, which was in turn purchased by Imperial Oil.

But a merger today between Exxon and Chevron might lead to Imperial Oil being divested from the combined company.

Burning Questions: Will Canada’s most oil-dependent provinces bounce back next year?
Exxon to cut up to 300 jobs in Canada, including jobs at Imperial Oil
Canadian oil rises as diluent pipeline outage shuts Imperial’s Kearl oilsands site
Why Norway fund’s divestment from the oilsands could trigger a bigger fund exodus

“In the large cap space, there’s just not a lot of companies left to merge up,” Ollenberger said. “For example, if the Exxon/Chevron merger proceeded, would Imperial Oil be a disposition candidate as part of that?”

The Canadian energy industry has been mired in a long-term downturn that has led to a series of mergers in recent years, including Cenovus Energy Inc.’s acquisition of Husky Energy Inc., Suncor Energy Inc.’s purchase of Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. and Canadian Natural Resources Ltd.’s purchase of Devon Energy’s Canadian business and Shell Canada Ltd.’s oilsands business in recent years.

“We do believe that we’re in an M&A cycle and it’s driven by the fact that the market doesn’t want companies to grow their production organically,” said Phil Skolnick, an analyst with Eight Capital in New York.

Skolnick said he’s not convinced U.S. regulators would allow Exxon and Chevron to merge, but it could lead to a wave of oil mergers if it were ever allowed.

A series of mergers by Canadian oilpatch companies in 2020 led to short-term share price bumps for acquirers such as Whitecap Resources Ltd. and Cenovus Energy Inc. but “then it stopped working,” Skolnick said, noting those share-price gains have since reverted back to their pre-deal levels.

With files from Thomson Reuters

• Email: gmorgan@nationalpost.com | Twitter: geoffreymorgan

Exxon is slashing workers and cutting costs after a historic year of loss. Here's everything we know.

© Mark Schiefelbein/Getty; Skye Gould/Business Insider Exxon CEO Darren Woods Mark Schiefelbein/Getty; Skye Gould/Business Insider
Exxon has cut costs and is shrinking its workforce after one of the worst years in the company's history.
Here's everything we know about the cuts, from layoffs to reduced employee benefits.
Do you have information about Exxon? Reach out to this reporter at bjones@businessinsider.com or through the encrypted messaging app Signal at 646-768-1657.
For more stories like this, sign up here for our weekly energy newsletter.

Exxon Mobil suffered a historic blow in 2020, as the pandemic dried up demand for its products at a time when the company's stock was already in decline. For the first time ever, Exxon reported four straight quarters of loss amounting to more than $22 billion for the full year.

Exxon, the nation's largest oil company, devoted much of its attention last year to slashing costs so it could regain its footing. The company reduced its capital budget by almost $12 billion and lowered its operating expenses by $8 billion, partly by cutting workers and employee benefits.

Exxon's market value has fallen about 28% over the last 12 months, and there could be more cuts to come. Here's everything we know so far. © Kena Betancur/VIEWpress/Corbis via Getty Images Kena Betancur/VIEWpress/Corbis via Getty Images
Exxon was restructuring before the pandemic hit

The firm reorganized its downstream division in 2018 and the upstream division in 2019. That year, Exxon also established a new business unit - Global Projects - focused on project development.

When the price of oil crashed, Exxon said those changes helped, but further cuts would be needed.

"I wish I could say we were finished, but we are not," Woods said in an email to employees in October. "We still have some significant headwinds, more work to do and, unfortunately, further reductions are necessary."

Today, Exxon is organized into nine business divisions. It's not clear to what extent the company's core structure changed in response to the spending and workforce cuts, though Exxon formed a new business this year focused on low-emissions technologies after investors pressured the company to do more to address climate change. 

Video: Granholm: Renewable energy a 'massive opportunity' (USA TODAY)

We mapped out those divisions, in addition to seven other core areas of the company, in an exclusive org chart. It includes 138 of Exxon's top employees.

Read more: We mapped out the power structure at Exxon and identified 138 of the oil giant's top employees. Here's our exclusive org chart.

Exxon is trimming its global workforce by 15%, which includes steep cuts in the US and Europe

As Business Insider first reported, Exxon is slashing its global workforce by 15%, or 14,000 people, through 2022, relative to the company's headcount in 2019. The cuts include both contractors and employees. 

Up to 1,900 of the job cuts will be in the US, including at least 723 from the Houston area. Click here for a timeline of the reductions and insight into how Exxon will decide which workers to lay off, as revealed by leaked documents we obtained.

Another 1,600 jobs or so could be cut in Europe. We explain which roles are at risk here, and you can read the letter the firm's CEO, Darren Woods, sent employees following the cuts here.
Exxon also said it would lay off about 300 workers in Canada, starting in December, according to a public press release and an internal memo we obtained. The cuts are involuntary and most of them will take place by February of 2021, per the memo. 

In addition, the company launched a voluntary redundancy program in Australia. It's not clear how many roles the program will impact.

Part of Exxon's approach to shrinking spending is sending jobs overseas to cheap centers of labor, we reported.

© Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

The firm used its employee-ranking process to cut workers in the weeks after oil markets crashed

In April, Exxon quietly made a change to the way it ranks employees, forcing managers to dub a larger chunk of employees as poor performers, putting them at risk of being cut.
Leaked audio from an internal meeting suggests not all employees placed in that category were, in fact, poor performers. That's why workers we spoke to called the change to the ranking system a layoff in disguise.

Exxon's performance-based cuts, initiated this summer, put as much as 10% of the company's workforce at risk of losing their jobs. You can find all the details of the ranking system and the April change here. 

The government of Singapore is probing Exxon's labor practices after employees raised concerns about the company's performance-based cuts. 

Other changes to curb spending

Exxon has said publicly that it began restructuring years before the pandemic drove down the price of oil, in part, to curb spending. In the last few months, however, the firm has made a handful of other changes to cut costs. 

Over the summer the company suspended a handful of employee benefits including its matching program for retirement savings, as Business Insider first reported. 

The company slashed its capital spending budget for 2020 by almost $12 billion, down to $21.4 billion. Next year Exxon plans to spend even less. 

Exxon also lowered its annual operating expenses by $8 billion, the company said Tuesday. $3 billion of that was from "structural reductions," indicating that it's likely tied to workforce cuts. The firm plans to cut an additional $3 billion in structural expenses by 2023.

This story was originally published on November 6. We updated it to include information from the company's fourth-quarter earnings report. 

Read the original article on Business Insider

An industry 'operating on borrowed time’: Energy experts on the increasing risks ahead for Big Oil

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic coincided with a historic demand shock, falling commodity prices, evaporating profits, unprecedented write-downs and tens of thousands of job cuts.

The torrent of bad news prompted the head of the International Energy Agency to suggest it may come to represent the worst year in the history of oil markets.

Speaking via videoconference at the Baker Hughes 2021 annual meeting last week, U.S. energy historian Dan Yergin said: "I think we are still somewhat in a Covid fog and to be absolutely sure about where things are going is not clear."

© Provided by CNBC A general view of Gunvor Petroleum or Rozenburg refinery in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Europe’s largest port covers 105 square kilometers (41 square miles) and stretches over a distance of 40 kilometers (25 miles).

LONDON — Big Oil endured a brutal 12 months by virtually every measure last year and the global oil and gas industry faces significant challenges and uncertainties as it seeks to recover.

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic coincided with a historic demand shock, falling commodity prices, evaporating profits, unprecedented write-downs and tens of thousands of job cuts.

The torrent of bad news prompted the head of the International Energy Agency to suggest it may come to represent the worst year in the history of oil markets.

As oil and gas supermajors seek to reassure investors about a return to profitability in the coming months, energy experts are split on how quickly the industry will transition away from fossil fuels.

"This is an industry that is facing mounting uncertainty," Carroll Muffett, chief executive at the non-profit Center for International Environmental Law, told CNBC via telephone.

"The uncertainties associated with the pandemic are going to continue largely unabated at least through the first half of this year as vaccinations continue to roll-out, but the uncertainties that are arriving from the long-term disconnect between this business model and climate realities, those are only growing — and they are not going to abate," Muffett said.

The latest setback for the oil and gas industry came as S&P Global ratings — one of the most influential rating companies — warned last week that it may cut the credit score on a number of major producers, including ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and Total.

The rating firm said it believes "the energy transition, price volatility, and weaker profitability are increasing risks for oil and gas producers."

The industry faces growing pressure from policymakers around the world, with the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden quickly making tackling the climate emergency a top priority.

'You don't just change that overnight'

"Was 2019 peak oil? That's very likely. Even if 2019 proves not to have been peak oil, this is an industry that is really operating on borrowed time," Muffett said. "That's why you see at least some of the majors starting to recognize that they need to more aggressively build a portfolio beyond oil."

He highlighted that Shell and to some extent BP had both sought to pivot to a strategy less dependent on oil and gas, whereas Exxon had ostensibly decided to stick to a more rigid business model. "You ask which of these companies is more likely to survive and I think the answer is clear."

Exxon was not immediately available to comment when contacted by CNBC on Tuesday. The U.S. oil major is due to report its latest quarterly results and full-year earnings later in the session.

Speaking via videoconference at the Baker Hughes 2021 annual meeting, U.S. energy historian Dan Yergin said: "I think we are still somewhat in a Covid fog and to be absolutely sure about where things are going is not clear."

His outlook for the industry chimes with other major forecasters. The IEA and OPEC both said in their latest respective monthly oil market assessments that 2021 was still clouded by pandemic fears.

Yergin, who is also vice chairman of IHS Markit, said he expected global GDP (gross domestic product) to bounce back to where it was in 2019 by the end of the third quarter, with fuel demand likely to climb back to pre-pandemic levels by 2022.

A rise in Covid infections has led to renewed lockdown measures and travel restrictions, limiting mobility worldwide and hampering an oil demand recovery. It's hoped that a mass rollout of Covid vaccines could help to bring an end to the pandemic that has claimed 2.2 million lives worldwide

.

© Provided by CNBC A Surgutneftegas worker near pumpjacks in Surgut Region of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area - Yugra, in the West Siberian petroleum basin.

"Directionally, it is clear that the world is going towards lower carbon, but I think the scale of it is not fully understood," Yergin said on the topic of energy transition. "In 2019, we had a $87 (trillion) to $88 trillion world economy that depended upon fossil fuels for 80% of its energy. You don't just change that overnight."

Yergin said that while there are different meanings when it comes to energy transition, carbon capture in some form would have to be part of the mix. "Some people just reject that idea, but the numbers just don't work without it," he added.

"So, I think there is a transition, it just takes time. I think oil and gas are going to end up being an important part of it for a long time."

Carbon capture refers to the capturing of planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions in an effort to keep the climate crisis in check. Very little progress on the development of carbon capture technology has been made to date.

The IEA said last year that a substantial rise in the deployment of carbon capture technology would be necessary if countries were to meet net-zero emissions targets.

Biden has since pledged to accelerate the development of the technology.
Renewable energy

"Last year was just dreadful and so even if they just go back … to the middle of the pack, that is a step up," Clark Williams-Derry, energy finance analyst at IEEFA, a non-profit organization, told CNBC via telephone.

His comments referred to the energy sector closing out 2020 in last place on the S&P 500. It has placed at the bottom of the stock market index in five out of the last seven years.

"The energy sector could do better this year than it did last year, who knows," Williams-Derry said. "At the same time, what we are identifying are long-term threats that the supermajors are facing, and the global oil and gas industry are now facing."

© Provided by CNBC A SunPower executive on site at the California Valley Solar Farm near Santa Margarita, Calif., in San Luis Obispo County.

Williams-Derry said that, in addition to the Covid pandemic, the global oil and gas industry was likely to continue to face pressure from renewables. Cheap wind and solar storage are "starting to eat away at their market share and the market dominance of the oil and gas sector."

"Every little bit of renewable installation is just chipping away at the dominance of oil and gas," Williams-Derry said. "In my opinion, we are at the thin end of the wedge where those things are just starting to eat into demand and I think that is going to accelerate. This may not happen over the course of one year or two years, but it is a long-term trend that the oil and gas industry has not had to face before."

The key difference when it comes to the energy industry's latest downturn was that the rising prominence of renewables now provided a genuine alternative to oil and gas, Willams-Derry said.

He added that this may mean an expected bounce back in world economic growth does not occur in lockstep with rising oil and gas demand.

Exclusive: Private equity firm bids for Come-by-Chance refinery, with plans to convert to renewable fuels

By Laura Sanicola

(Reuters) - Private equity firm Cresta Fund Management has offered to buy a majority stake in North Atlantic Refining, owner of the idled Canadian Come-by-Chance refinery, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.

The Dallas-based firm said in a letter dated Jan. 22 it would look to convert the refinery to renewable fuel production. The Newfoundland refinery has been shut since March, one of numerous refineries across the United States and Canada that have halted operations due to coronavirus-induced demand destruction.

Several refiners since then have announced plans to convert their operations to renewable fuels production to remain viable as both nations try to reduce emissions.

Canada's Clean Fuel Standard (CFS) will require carbon-intensity reduction targets set for each fuel starting in 2022 and is projected to increase renewable fuel demand.

Cresta Fund Management declined to comment. North Atlantic Refining could not be reached for comment.

The refinery, operated by North Atlantic Refinery Ltd (NARL) and New York-based investment firm Silverpeak, is actively searching for a new owner.

"We have a track record of successfully acquiring similar businesses and have the market knowledge and resources necessary to smooth the diligence process and ensure a successful transition," the letter said.

In January, the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador agreed to give NARL a total of C$16.6 million ($13 million) to keep the 135,000 barrel-per-day plant idled while the owner seeks a new capital partner.

Come-by-Chance has been looking for a new owner since Irving Oil backed away from a purchase and share agreement in October.

The trading unit of Russia's Lukoil plans to remove crude oil it has stored at Come-by-Chance, Reuters reported last week. Lukoil's Litasco unit is its primary crude supplier.

(Reporting by Laura Sanicola; Editing by Chris Reese)

EU electric vehicle push needs 80 billion euros for chargers: industry group

By Kate Abnett and Nick Carey

© Reuters/David W Cerny FILE PHOTO:

 An electric car is charged by a mobile charging station on a street in Prague

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) - An EU plan for a fifty-fold increase in electric cars this decade to help cut greenhouse gas emissions will require an 80 billion euro ($96.5 billion) investment in charging points to support it, power industry group Eurelectric said on Tuesday.

The European Union has said it needs 30 million or more zero-emission cars on its roads by 2030 as part of efforts to cut emissions by at least 55% this decade versus 1990 levels.

The bloc had about 615,000 such vehicles at the end of 2019, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association.

They are powered by fewer than 250,000 public electric vehicle charging points, which must rise to 3 million by 2030 to meet the green goals, according to a report by Eurelectric - which represents national electricity associations and leading companies - and Ernst & Young (EY).

Expanding the charging infrastructure will require 20 billion euros for public chargers and 60 billion euros for private ones, the report said.

That rollout is currently "well below target", it added, echoing concerns raised by auto industry groups.

The power industry group said by 2030 the EU will have 10.5 million electric vehicles in fleets operated by companies or public authorities. Europe's 63-million-strong vehicle fleets today include only 420,000 electric vehicles.

Surging e-commerce amid the coronavirus pandemic has added fresh impetus to a race to develop electric vans and trucks, as there are relatively few models available today.

Eurelectric also called for the EU to impose mandatory requirements for carmakers to sell zero-emissions vehicles. The EU has used CO2 emissions standards for cars to promote electric vehicle sales in recent years, and later this year will propose tightening those standards to speed the shift to clean transport.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett, Nick Carey; editing by John Stonestreet)

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

German lawmakers turn sights on finance ministers in Wirecard fraud fiasco

By John O'Donnell and Tom Sims

© Reuters/HANNIBAL HANSCHKE FILE PHOTO: 

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz attends a session 

at the lower house of parliament in Berlin

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Fresh from toppling the head of Germany's top financial regulator last week, lawmakers are turning their fire on finance minister Olaf Scholz and his deputy Joerg Kukies.

As their inquiry into the collapse of Wirecard gathers pace, it has put Germany's biggest fraud centre stage in national elections in which Scholz wants to stand for chancellor.

"The focus of the parliamentary inquiry will more and more shift to the role of Scholz and his ministry," Florian Toncar, a lawmaker involved in the investigation said.

The inquiry into the implosion of a payments company which was once worth $28 billion and hailed as a German success story has embarrassed the country's governing centrist coalition.

Scholz and Kukies, who deny responsibility for failings which led to Wirecard's collapse, have responded with reforms to the structure and leadership of financial watchdog BaFin.

They presented further details on Tuesday, including plans to make it more agile in responding to whistleblowers, giving the agency, Scholz said, "more bite". [L8N2K83ND]

But lawmakers are growing impatient, with some such as Danyal Bayaz saying Scholz has been slow to respond.

"The tough questions about political responsibilities only start now," Fabio De Masi, one of the lawmakers driving a parliamentary inquiry into the affair, told Reuters.

Scholz's Social Democrats (SPD) have been in a coalition government with Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) for years and he hopes to succeed her as chancellor in elections later this year following her decision to retire.

But the SPD is struggling with voters, polling a distant third behind the CDU and the Greens, while criticism of Scholz is also emanating from within Merkel's party.

"Consequences for the finance ministry are now overdue," CDU parliamentarian Hans Michelbach said.

KUKIES CONNECTIONS

Kukies' role has also come under close scrutiny and lawmakers have highlighted multiple discussions he held with regulators, Wirecard executives, bankers and others.

The Finance Ministry said these were part of his job.

Lawmakers say they also want to examine a 100 million euro ($121 million) loan to Wirecard by a subsidiary of state bank KfW in September 2018, some two years before its collapse.

One person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that the money was unsecured and that 90% of the loan by KfW's IPEX bank had been written off.

The finance ministry said that the bank's supervisory board, on which Kukies sat, was not involved and learned of the loan only in the middle of last year.

The lawmakers are also calling for details of communications between Kukies and the CEO of Goldman Sachs in Germany, his former employer, De Masi said.

Goldman Sachs declined to comment, referring to Wolfgang Fink's statement that he had no contact with officials on Wirecard.

The Finance Ministry also said there had been no contact.

German lawmakers are not the only ones to see the root cause of BaFin's problems in the finance ministry, a weakness also flagged by European regulators last year.

Hans-Peter Burghof, a professor at the University of Hohenheim, said the ministry had years ago hired many of the agency's top staff. "They lost this spirit of independence."

($1 = 0.8288 euros)

(Additional reporting by Patricia Uhlig in Frankfurt, Christian Kraemer and Michael Nienaber in Berlin; Editing by Alexander Smith)

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Google to spend $3.8 million to settle accusations of hiring, pay biases

By Paresh Dave

 Reuters/Carlo Allegri FILE PHOTO:

 A Google sign is pictured on a Google building

OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Google will spend $3.8 million, including $2.6 million in back pay, to settle allegations that it underpaid women and unfairly passed over women and Asians for job openings, the U.S. Department of Labor said on Monday.

The allegations stemmed from a routine compliance audit several years ago required by Google's status as a supplier of technology to the federal government.

Google said it was pleased to have resolved the matter.

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs had found "preliminary indicators" that Google from 2014 to 2017 at times underpaid 2,783 women in its software engineering group in Mountain View, California, and the Seattle area.

Investigators also found hiring rate differences that disadvantaged women and Asian candidates during the year ended Aug. 31, 2017, for software engineering roles in San Francisco, Sunnyvale, California, and Kirkland, Washington.

The settlement includes $2.6 million in back pay to 5,500 employees and job candidates and calls on Google to review hiring and salary practices.

Google also will set aside $1.25 million for pay adjustments for engineers in Mountain View, Kirkland, Seattle and New York over the next five years, according to the settlement. Any unused funds will be spent on diversity efforts at Google.

The company already conducts annual pay audits, but like other big tech companies, it remains under public scrutiny for a workforce that does not reflect the country's makeup in terms of race and gender.

The company said in a statement, "We believe everyone should be paid based upon the work they do, not who they are, and invest heavily to make our hiring and compensation processes fair and unbiased."

(Reporting by Paresh Dave in Oakland, Calif.; Editing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis)

CANADIAN SUES TYSON FOODS

Lawsuit says Tyson Foods misled shareholders about COVID-19 protocols

By Jonathan Stempel 

l

© Reuters/Ross Courtney FILE PHOTO: 

Fog shrouds the Tyson slaughterhouse in Burbank, Washington

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. meat and poultry processor Tyson Foods Inc was sued on Tuesday for allegedly defrauding shareholders with misleading disclosures about its ability to combat the spread of the coronavirus in its facilities.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, was filed in Brooklyn federal court by Mingxue Guo, who lives in Canada, and seeks unspecified damages for Tyson shareholders from March 13 to Dec. 15, 2020.

It followed a Dec. 15 letter from New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that asked the regulator to investigate Tyson's health and safety disclosures to investors, which include the $229 billion New York City Retirement Systems.

Tyson's share price fell 2.2% on Dec. 15 and 8.5% over five trading days after Stringer accused the company of "flagrantly misrepresenting its poor pandemic response," and called on the SEC to probe Tyson's claims it had been adhering to federal safety guidelines.

Tyson spokesman Gary Mickelson defended the company's handling of the pandemic, saying it has spent more than $500 million on employee safety, including coronavirus tests on thousands of workers a week.

"Our top priority will always be the health and safety of our people," Mickelson said.

Stringer's letter to the SEC cited reports that Tyson had more than three times as many COVID-19 cases--11,087 as of Dec. 3--and twice as many deaths as any other meatpacking company.

Tyson employed about 139,000 people as of Dec. 14 and is based in Springdale, Arkansas.

Other defendants in the lawsuit include Tyson Chief Executive Dean Banks, his predecessor and current Vice Chairman Noel White, and Chief Financial Officer Stewart Glendinning.

The case is Guo v Tyson Foods Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 21-00552.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Sam Holmes)

Trump's new lawyers have Canadian connections — through Mafia boss and Bill Cosby victim


Both U.S. lawyers named as Donald Trump’s defence team for his second impeachment trial have important Canadian connections: one defended Montreal Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto against racketeering murder charges and the other was the prosecutor who declined to pursue sex assault charges against Bill Cosby after the first accusations against the comedian were filed by a Canadian woman.

© Provided by National Post U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he arrives at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., Jan. 20, 2021.

David Schoen is an accomplished civil rights and criminal lawyer based in Alabama known for his fierce advocacy. He certainly was vocal in his defence of Vito Rizzuto, who was the most powerful Mafia boss in Canada when Schoen represented him in a Brooklyn court.

Schoen was handpicked picked in 2006 by the Rizzuto family after interviewing several attorneys; he was the one they liked the best, National Post was told at the time.

)“In my view, there is no need or valid reason whatsoever for Mr. Rizzuto to be incarcerated in a jail in Brooklyn, or anywhere. He is no risk of flight whatsoever and certainly no danger to anyone in any community,” Schoen said before Rizzuto’s trial for three gangland murders. The messy 1981 slayings became a rich part of underworld lore and were recreated in the movie Donnie Brasco, starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp.

After Rizzuto’s guilty plea and sentencing, Schoen continued his strong advocacy. “I think he was penalized very unfairly,” he said. Even after Rizzuto’s death in 2013 Schoen spoke up for his former client, saying: “He was a very honorable man.”

Loyalty is a quality the former U.S. president likely admires.

Schoen did not return a request for an interview prior to deadline, Tuesday. He told his hometown newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, that Trump personally called him about the job.

“I was flattered he asked me, and I’m honored to represent him,” Schoen is quoted as saying. He is not ordinarily placed “in that category” of a Trump supporter. Last year he won a suit to get a candidate for the Party for Socialism and Liberation on the presidential ballot and he is widely lauded for his civil rights work.

© Phil Carpenter/Postmedia Mob boss Vito Rizzuto, during his arrest in Montreal in 2004.

Schoen likely came into Trump’s orbit when he represented Roger Stone, a Republican strategist and longtime friend and advisor to Trump. Stone was convicted in 2019 of witness tampering, obstructing an official proceeding and five counts of making false statements, but was pardoned by Trump as his presidency drew to a close.

Now that Schoen is representing Trump, his connection with another former client is making headlines: Jeffrey Epstein.

Schoen had met with the man accused of underage sex trafficking several times to discuss leading his defence team. They last met for five hours mapping out a legal strategy a few days before Epstein died in jail, ruled a suicide but with lingering questions.

“I think it was homicide, but I don’t know who killed him,” Schoen earlier said in a Discovery Channel documentary.

Trump’s legal team quits 10 days before impeachment trial in clash over defence strategy

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Schoen’s co-lead counsel, Bruce L. Castor, Jr., is a former District Attorney of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where Cosby lived and is best known for declining to prosecute the now-disgraced comedian.

The eventual unmasking of Cosby, who was a towering cultural figure, began in 2005, when a woman in Pickering, Ont., east of Toronto, reported a sexual assault to her local police.

Andrea Constand said Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted her at his home the year before, when she was working at Temple University in Philadelphia, where Cosby was on the school’s Board of Trustees.

Her accusations were looked into by Castor’s office, but charges were not laid. Castor has defended his decision.

© MATT ROURKE This photo combination shows Andrea Constand, left, walking to the courtroom during Bill Cosby’s sexual assault trial on June 6, 2017, at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa.; and Bill Cosby, right, arriving for his sexual assault trial on June 16, 2017, at the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown, Pa.

“My instinct tells me he did molest Andrea Constand and my instinct tells me he was getting away with it for a long time,” Castor told National Post in an interview in 2014.

“I had to make a decision based on what the law requires.”

In 2018, Cosby was eventually convicted of assaulting Constand after dozens of other women came forward with similar accusations.

Castor did not respond for a request for an interview but released a written statement through Trump’s office.

“I consider it a privilege to represent the 45th president. The strength of our constitution is about to be tested like never before in our history,” Castor said. “It will triumph over partisanship yet again.”

Trump said Schoen and Castor bring “national profiles and significant trial experience in high-profile cases,” in a written statement.

Trump’s second impeachment trial begins in the Senate next week on a charge that he unleashed an insurrection when his supporters broke into the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, trying to prevent Joe Biden being officially declared the winner of the presidential election.

• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | Twitter: AD_Humphreys

RACIST MONTEAL COPS
Some Montreal essential workers feel they’re being harassed by police after curfew
Benson Cook 

Some Montreal essential workers feel they’re being harassed by police after curfew

A number of essential workers, allowed to be out after 8 p.m. under the rules of Quebec's nightly curfew, say they feel police are focusing more on stopping them each and every night than nabbing rule-breakers who don't have a legitimate reason to be outside. 

© Global News UberEats logo.

Ride-share and food-delivery services like Uber and DoorDash are considered essential, and drivers for those services are allowed to be out. Uber has issued official documentation to its Quebec employees to be shown if they're stopped by police after curfew.

Gaurav Sharma, a recent immigrant to Canada, has been working for Uber's food-delivery service UberEats since August of 2020. He says even on the nights he's not stopped by police, he sees countless other UberEats drivers stopped.

"Not (just) me, every person," he says of the problem.

While he always has his essential-worker documentation ready when he's stopped, Sharma says that alone isn't always enough to satisfy officers. Many, he says, have inspected his car, or asked him how often he maintains it.

Each stop usually takes approximately 15 minutes, he says, which can create headaches when he's supposed to be en route to pick up or deliver food for customers, work he says has been sparse relative to before the curfew was imposed.

Advocates like Mostafa Henaway of the Immigrant Workers Centre say Sharma's far from alone.

"We're seeing places that are targeted (by police) that are a bit odd, right?" Henaway said. "We know in the first instance of GoodFood, where workers received tickets outside of their workplace, who were working the evening and night shift."

The incident Henaway is referring to took place in the curfew's early days, in January, when several GoodFood employees were reportedly ticketed by police at a bus stop outside the company's facility on Côte-de-Liesse Road in Montreal's west end, despite showing letters from their employer.

Henaway says the problems essential workers face during police stops can be compounded when employers don't properly prepare their workers' curfew paperwork, an issue more common in industries like manufacturing, logistics and food service, where workers are often paid less in wages.

His organization has heard of instances where employers are "not printing them out for workers, they're not adding in workers' names, they're just saying 'here's a letter' in an email to workers."

Additional problems can arise, he says, when police can't verify a person's identity against any essential-worker documentation they provide, a frequent issue for recent immigrants who may not yet have a Quebec health card or driver's licence, as well as those with no immigration status at all, who aren't eligible for Quebec-issued ID cards.

Read more: Quebec curfew making life even harder for undocumented workers doing essential jobs, protesters say

Henaway says his organization is calling for the creation of municipal ID cards that wouldn't require a person to prove their immigration status to get one. A similar program exists in New York City, known as IDNYC.

In a statement sent to Global News by email, Montreal police said they cannot comment on individual cases, but said it's ultimately up to individual workers to prove their right to be out after curfew.

They added, however, that "each situation is assessed on a case-by-case basis and the police are asked to act with judgement and discernment."

Sharma says that if that's the case, though, the essential-worker letter he has from Uber should be enough, and he feels it's often not.

"I feel the police are easily not satisfied with these things," he said.