Tesla's policy requiring workers wear plain black t-shirts, or those with Tesla logos, at work is 'unlawful,' National Labor Relations Board rules

bnguyen@insider.com (Britney Nguyen) - Yesterday 
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The National Labor Relations Board ruled Tesla can't restrict workers from wearing union insignia.

Wearing union insignia is a "critical form of protected communication," an NLRB chairman said.
The NLRB previously ruled that Tesla violated labor laws repeatedly by preventing workers from organizing.

Tesla can't restrict its workers from displaying union insignia, like wearing union t-shirts and buttons, at work, the National Labor Relations Board ruled on Monday.

The majority of the board said it's "unlawful for Tesla to maintain a policy requiring employees to wear a plain black t-shirt or one imprinted with the employer's logo, thus prohibiting employees from substituting a shirt bearing union insignia."

Tesla, the board said, would have to find "special circumstances" to make its employee apparel rules necessary "to maintain production or discipline." The board majority found that Tesla did not have any special circumstances for the rule.

"Wearing union insignia, whether a button or a t-shirt, is a critical form of protected communication," NLRB chairman Lauren McFerran said. "For many decades, employees have used insignia to advocate for their workplace interests – from supporting organizing campaigns, to protesting unfair conditions in the workplace – and the law has always protected them."

Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, do not have a reputation of being pro-union.

The NLRB previously ruled against Tesla in 2021 for violating labor laws by not allowing its workers to organize and talk about working conditions. Tesla was also ordered by the NLRB to rehire a union activist worker it fired in 2017.

The 2021 NLRB decision also ruled that Musk "unlawfully threatened" Tesla workers in a tweet from 2o18, and ordered him to remove the tweet.

In September 2021, Musk criticized a bill from Democratic House lawmakers that would benefit electric-vehicle makers that had unions. He blamed the bill on "Ford/UAW lobbyists," and tweeted that it was "not obvious how this serves American taxpayers."

But in 2022, Musk tweeted an invite to the United Auto Workers Union to come to a Tesla factory and hold a union vote. In a Twitter reply to an article about the invitation, Musk shared a YouTube video saying it "helps explain why former UAW members who work at Tesla are not huge fans of UAW."

After Musk sent a companywide email to Tesla executives in June 2022 saying they had to work in the office at minimum 40 hours a week or resign, he received pushback from Germany's largest trade union, IG Metall. Tesla's factory workers were already being required to work in person through the pandemic.

The union told Reuters that it would support German workers who did not want to return to the office.

Germany debates raising retirement age to 70

An aging population, a dramatic labor shortage and a pension pot shortfall are an explosive mix for German economy and society. Would raising the age of retirement to 70 kill all those birds with one stone?

Germany is debating whether an ageing population can be expected to work longer

Germany is reporting a record number of job vacancies in the first quarter of this year the number jumped to an unprecedented 1.74 million open positions. That number was the highest since reunification 30 years ago.

At the same time, Germany also has a record shortage of young people. According to the Federal Statistics Office in July, only 10% of the population is aged between 15 and 24, compared to 20% over the age of 65.

The country's birth rate is too low to compensate for the age shift. This also means that the state pension pot is under severe pressure.

One proposed solution is to raise the retirement age to 70. The president of the Federation of German Employers' Associations in the Metal and Electrical Engineering Industries Stefan Wolf called for this move at the beginning of August. And at summer vacation time the proposal quickly got picked up by national media.

Trade unions, social groups, and left-wingers reacted with fury, with the socialist Left Party's Dietmar Bartsch, calling the proposal "anti-social bullshit".

Currently, Germany is in the process of gradually raising its retirement age from the previous 65 to 67 for those born after 1967.

Pension system collapse predicted

Economists have been warning since as far back as the 1980s that Germany's pension system is facing imminent collapse.

In response, then Labor Minister Norbert Blüm from the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) famously vowed "The pensions are safe" back in 1986. But is the same true today?

In Germany, pensions are predominantly financed through a so-called "pay-as-you-go" system where the majority of Germans — excluding civil servants and the self-employed — pay into the state retirement fund that is used to finance pensions for those who are already retired.

Employees currently contribute just over 9% of their monthly income to the fund. This figure is matched by their employer.

But this type of system only works on the assumption that there are enough working people paying into the state retirement fund to be able to cover current pension payments.

This is where an aging population becomes a problem.

The current Labor Minister Hubertus Heil from the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) has already rejected the idea of raising the retirement age and dismissed the current discussions as a "phantom debate."

Many senior citizens have such low pensions, they already continue to work beyond retirement age

Mixed bag of proposals

"Raising the retirement age is always a very unpopular measure. That's why it is postponed as much as possible by politicians. But I could imagine that in the mid-2030s when we are stuck in the midst of demographic change, something will happen," says Johannes Rausch of the Munich Center for the Economics of Aging.

Rausch predicts that sooner or later — most likely later — the age of retirement will rise to reflect increasing life expectancy. This way, there would still be enough contributors to finance the system for pensioners, meaning that the contribution rate would have to be raised less and higher pensions could be paid out.

Germany would not be alone in introducing such a measure. The OECD predicts that the average age of retirement for an average person in continual employment will rise to 66.1 years for men and 65.5 years for women.

In countries where the retirement age is already linked to life expectancy, including Denmark, Italy, and Estonia, it is already becoming apparent the age of retirement will rise significantly.

Johannes Geyer, deputy head of Public Economics at the German Institute for Economic Research (Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung), believes that the quantitative effect of raising the retirement age will be nominal.

"It is a distributional question; who bears the cost of demographic change? Raising the retirement age puts a lot of pressure on the working population," Geyer says. "People with low life expectancy, and those with health problems, will suffer more; a relevant part of the population dies before reaching retirement age."

He sees better potential solutions elsewhere.

"We need migration. It's essential that we have enough people coming from abroad to work in Germany," Geyer says.

"The government is trying to make it easier for migrants' qualifications from abroad to be recognized in Germany. We're also seeing some improvements in the regulations for asylum seekers and those on 'tolerated status' to help legalize their status and recognize vocational degrees and qualifications obtained outside of Germany. This is still a problem."

Many labor market researchers say increased immigration is the only way forward

Targeting part-timers and the long-term unemployed

There are also domestic potentials Geyer points to: "We have a large sector of people working in so-called mini-jobs, so marginal employment, which is poorly paid but not subject to tax or social security contributions. If we could move these people into regular jobs, then this would also help the system."

Geyer also sees the potential to get more unemployed people into work, as well as help to rehabilitate those who have been forced to retire on disability pensions due to illness. This applies to millions of individuals but many of them are unable to work full-time for a variety of reasons — ranging from health issues to caregiving commitments for family members.

Geyer suggests that civil servants and the self-employed, who currently pay into separate pension pots, could also be brought into the general state retirement system.

And finally, he points to another much-touted solution: to extend the working week to 42 hours.

But here, Geyer is skeptical. "I think in many sectors 40 hours is kind of the maximum you can expect people to work," he says. "If you increase working hours you have to take into account that people are already exhausted and those additional hours will add to this exhaustion and could have a negative impact on health." 

Geyer believes people in work can expect to see a rise in contribution rates to the pension pot. He predicts a rise from the current 18.6% to well above 20% by 2025.

"Currently we have rather low [pension] contribution rates. Ten years ago nobody would have expected them to still be below 19%," Geyer says.

"Before the war [in Ukraine] and the increase in inflation I would have said we can afford to increase contribution rates, but given the high inflation, that will trigger a rather heated debate."

For now, Germany may still be taking its time to find a solution. But the likelihood is that demographic change will eventually force the country to act.

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The rich are using long-term care funds meant for the poor

Mark Warshawsky, opinion contributor - Yesterday 


Medicaid is a major payer for long-term care (extended-stay nursing home and home care for the disabled) in the United States. This health care program, intended for the poor and funded by federal and state governments, covers almost half of all long-term care spending, now nearly $500 billion a year.


The rich are using long-term care funds meant for the poor© Provided by The Hill

With the aging of the population and the declining birth rate, government spending on long-term care is expected to increase rapidly as people become disabled and family members providing free home care become rarer. These trends will cause Medicaid-provided long-term care to take up more and more of the government’s budget and national income. It is therefore important that Medicaid long-term care benefits be targeted to those who do not have the resources to pay for care, and not to those who have significant assets or the ability to purchase private insurance.

Unfortunately, several studies show that many older people with significant real estate and financial asset holdings get long-term care from Medicaid for free or at subsidized rates. These findings should not be surprising because, in many states, the rules and administration of the program are loose and porous, and little effort is made to recover assets from the estates of deceased Medicaid users, despite this being required by federal law. By my estimate every year almost $6 billion of Medicaid funds are inappropriately used for the long-term care of individuals with significant asset holdings. Breaking this amount down, almost $3 billion could be recuperated from enhanced estate recoveries and more than $3 billion from retirement assets.

Why is that? Because many states do not count retirement assets in assessing whether the individual is impoverished and eligible for Medicaid. By my estimate, this exemption alone amounts to a more than $3 billion loss to the government annually. Besides representing considerable resources for Medicaid, it is unfair because retirement assets, which have extensive tax advantages, are intended for spending on health and long-term care during old age, not for bequests. Also, despite federal law requirements, most states make little or no effort to recover assets from the estates of deceased Medicaid beneficiaries, whether real and financial.

Legislation introduced earlier this year by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.,) if passed, would worsen the problem by repealing the federal requirement that state Medicaid programs go after families and estates for repayment of long-term care services. In 2020, less than $700 million was recovered, which I estimate represents less than 3 percent of the $48 billion in total estates of deceased Medicaid beneficiaries in aggregate every year.

Of course, there are many (legally consistent) legitimate reasons which explain why some assets are not recoverable, but the superior results of states like Iowa and Idaho, which have 10 percent recovery rates by my estimate, show that much more can be done. California, which represents more than one-seventh of total U.S. economic activity, has yet to adopt the requirements of the 2005 federal law that tightened eligibility for Medicaid long-term care benefits. In fact, by removing all asset eligibility tests, California is seeking to move in the opposite direction. And despite several improvements to the 2005 law, there are still many techniques employed by lawyers of well-to-do families in all states which enable the transfer of assets to qualify their elderly disabled relatives for Medicaid.

I, therefore, recommend that Congress amend the law with the following rule changes:Count retirement assets in eligibility tests for Medicaid, as most states do, but some large states do not.

Set reasonable but increasingly ambitious goals for states — based on the best practices and experiences of successful states — for estate recovery efforts. If not met, these goals should be enforced by a penalty that reduces matching federal funds for Medicaid.

Require California to meet all current federal law requirements in this area, again enforced by a federal funding penalty.

Outlaw asset transfer techniques used by the wealthy.

These reforms would make Medicaid fairer, more sustainable and more consistent with the value of self-reliance — not government dependence by the well-to-do. It would also encourage the use of private insurance and increase asset accumulation. This is particularly important now, with an aging population, large and prospectively growing federal budget deficits and the impending exhaustion of funds for Social Security and Medicare in the next few years.

Mark Warshawsky is the Searle Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the vice chair of the 2013 Federal Commission on Long-term Care. This op-ed is based on his article “Steps to Make Long-Term Care Financing Fairer and More Sustainable” which appeared in the August 8, 2022 volume of Tax Notes Federal.

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Scientists have mapped the genetic code of the immortal jellyfish that can age in reverse after reaching adulthood

mloh@businessinsider.com (Matthew Loh) - 

The T. dohrnii can reverse its aging process even after maturing to adulthood, returning to a polyp on the seafloor. Ian Gavan/Getty Images© Ian Gavan/Getty Images

Scientists have mapped the genome of T. dohrnii, a species of jellyfish that can reverse its aging.

They hope their findings will lead to a better understanding of how aging works.

After reaching adulthood, the jellyfish can then revert to its juvenile state.

Scientists in Spain have successfully mapped the genome of a species of jellyfish that can escape age-related death by returning to a juvenile state after reaching adulthood.

In their study published Monday in the peer-reviewed Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team writes that they hope their findings can provide clues toward understanding more about human aging and the health conditions we face as we age.

T. dohrnii, dubbed the immortal jellyfish, goes through a life cycle just like other species of jellyfish. In one of these stages, the jellyfish attach to the seafloor as a polyp — basically a stalk of tissue — and attempt to stay alive.

When conditions are right, they can reproduce asexually by cloning themselves and eventually turn into the jelly-like "medusa" shape that jellyfish are better known for.

Related video: Jellyfish may be turned into crisps!

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Once most jellyfish reach this adult "medusa" stage, they can also start reproducing sexually by releasing sperm and eggs into the water. After this stage, the typical jellyfish would eventually die.

However, the T. dohrnii can reverse its aging process even after maturing to adulthood, returning to a polyp on the seafloor, the researchers said.

In a bid to discover how the T. dohrnii's immortality works, the researchers compared its genome to that of its cousin Turritopsis rubra, which doesn't have the same anti-aging ability. They said the T. dohrnii's genome had twice as many copies of genes associated with protecting and repairing DNA.

The team also discovered that the jellyfish had a unique mutation that allows it to prevent telomeres — the protective caps on the ends of chromosomes — from deteriorating. In humans, our telomeres tend to get shorter as we age.

Marine biologist Maria Pascual Torner, a lead author of the study, told The Wall Street Journal it's unlikely that humans one day can possess the same anti-aging ability as the T. dohrnii.

"It's a mistake to think we will have immortality like this jellyfish, because we are not jellyfish," said the postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oviedo, per the Journal.

Still, the results of the study could help us understand the mechanisms of aging in general, she told the outlet.

Monty Graham, a jellyfish expert and director of the Florida Institute of Oceanography, told Reuters that Torner's research has no immediate commercial value.

"We can't look at it as, hey, we are going to harvest these jellyfish and turn it into a skin cream," said Graham, who was not involved in the study, per Reuters.

Lloyd Robertson speaks out on Lisa LaFlamme's firing from CTV: 'She held to her own integrity'

Mark Daniell - TORONTO SUN

Lisa LaFlamme (right) sits in the anchor's chair as CTV announced that she would succeed Lloyd Robertson as anchor of CTV News back in 2010.

© Provided by Toronto Sun

Former CTV National News anchor Lloyd Robertson has spoken out after his successor Lisa LaFlamme was ousted from her hosting gig on the network’s evening news broadcast earlier this month.

“She held to her own integrity, all through with the old man. From the beginning, saying, ‘My bond is our father-daughter relationship.’ Right to the end, she was there for him,” Robertson, 88, said , comparing LaFlamme’s experience to that of Cordelia in William Shakespeare’s King Lear .

“You don’t go laying off that person the way you laid off Lisa LaFlamme,” Robertson added during a panel entitled Staging Democracy at the Stratford Festival’s Tom Patterson Theatre, according to Guelph Today . “These people are good human beings, communicating with the public in a real way, and being true to their own identities and their own integrity as they go along.”

Robertson was chief anchor of CTV’s national evening news program from 1984 to 2011 before LaFlamme, 58, took over the role. She informed viewers her contract was not being renewed in a video statement posted to Twitter on Aug. 15.

In a Twitter post , the Canadian Screen Award -winner said she was informed June 29 that her contract was not going to be renewed and it was a “business decision.”

“I was blindsided and I’m still shocked and saddened by Bell Media’s decision,” LaFlamme said. “I was also asked to keep this confidential from my colleagues and the public until the specifics of my exit could be resolved.”

In a press release , Bell Media said it was “recognizing changing viewer habits” as it moved “the role of its Chief News Anchor in a different direction.”

In her video, LaFlamme, who began her career in 1989 in Kitchener, Ont. said the job has meant “everything” to her.

“Reporting on the darkest days of war — from Iraq , Afghanistan and this year, Ukraine — to covering natural disasters, this pandemic, federal elections and so many other consequential events, including this summer’s papal apology tour to residential school survivors and their families, is a trust I have never taken for granted,” she said. “I am forever grateful to you — such loyal viewers — for sharing in the belief that news delivered with integrity and truth strengthens our democracy.


Lisa LaFlamme poses with her Canadian Screen Award for Best News Anchor, 

National in Toronto, April 10, 2022.© George Pimentel

“At 58, I still thought I’d have a lot more time to tell more of the stories that impact our daily lives. Instead I leave CTV humbled by the people who put their faith in me to tell their story. I guess this is my sign off from CTV.”

LaFlamme’s departure has been met with anger coast-to-coast, with Michael Melling, the vice-president of news for Bell Media, announcing a leave of absence from the company last week .

Bell Media has also been forced to contend with claims that was ousted because of her grey hair with a number CTV News journalists asserting that her firing was based “more on personal malice than any business-related reasons.”

On Saturday, an open letter published in the Globe and Mail and signed by notable Canadians including Sarah McLachlan, Anne Murray, Jann Arden and Romeo Dallaire, pointedly asked Bell to “make things right.”

“Bell Media’s ‘business decision’ to fire CTV National News anchor Lisa LaFlamme, in the very prime of her career…struck at the heart of not only who we are as Canadians, but who we aspire to be,” said the letter addressed to the board of directors and management of BCE and Bell Canada.

“In making their ‘business decision,’ Bell confirmed one sad truth: even after all the progress women have made, they continue to face sexism and ageism at work everyday in a way which is unacceptable.”

Since announcing her departure, LaFlamme has courted support from mainstream businesses. Wendy’s, Dove and Sports Illustrated all waded into the fray backing the journalist.

Wendy’s changed its red-headed mascot’s hair to grey , while Dove pledged to donate $100,000 to a Canadian organization that helps build better workplaces for women.

Meanwhile, Sports Illustrated retweeted a cover that featured 74-year-old model Maye Musk.

Following its announcement that it is replacing LaFlamme with Omar Sachedina next month, Bell Media said in a statement it “regrets” the way in which LaFlamme’s departure was handled.

mdaniell@postmedia.com

Lisa LaFlamme 'blindsided' after being dumped by CTV National News for Omar Sachedina

CTV exec Michael Melling taking leave after Lisa LaFlamme departure

Bell pushes back against accusations surrounding LaFlamme departure, coverage


TORONTO — Bell Media is pushing back against accusations that CTV National News anchor Lisa LaFlamme was ousted because of her appearance and that it interfered in the network's coverage of the fallout.

Wade Oosterman, president of Bell Media, said in a letter out Monday that any allegations management breached its journalistic independence policy in covering the Lisa LaFlamme story are "outrageous.”

“Just as the termination of Lisa LaFlamme’s contract had nothing to do with age, gender or grey hair, I can categorically confirm that no actions were taken which violate journalistic independence policy."

Oosterman's comments are addressed to human rights lawyer Paul Champ, who submitted a letter to the company on behalf of a "large number" of CTV News journalists who raised concerns about the circumstances around LaFlamme's firing and whether they were related to her appearance.

The unnamed CTV News journalists said they believe LaFlamme's firing was based "more on personal malice than any business-related reasons," and worry that her age may have been a prejudicial factor.

"Her dismissal appears to be an egregious act of revenge, tainted by ageism, sexism and misogyny at the hands of a male boss," they said in the letter.

The journalists also said they lack confidence in Michael Melling, who was vice-president of CTV News before Bell Media placed him on leave pending a workplace review.

Since the letter was sent on Aug. 22, reports have also surfaced about concerns on how CTV News has covered the LaFlamme story.

Oosterman said Bell has a journalistic independence policy as a safeguard for unbiased news coverage, which leaves editorial decisions in the hands of the vice-president responsible for CTV News and keeps it outside the control of other executives at the Bell conglomerate.

He urged the unnamed CTV News journalists to raise their concerns directly with him, and to participate in the workplace review being conducted by a third party.

The journalists said in their letter that along with morale being low since Melling took on the role of vice-president of CTV News eight months ago, professional retaliation has also become a significant risk so it was necessary to shield their identities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2022.

Companies in this story: (TSX:BCE)

The Canadian Press

Ruins of 1st century Roman fort surface amid Europe drought

An ancient Roman military camp in what is now northwestern Spain was revealed in its entirety as reservoirs in Europe continue to shrink during August amid a record-breaking drought.

Portions of columns, arches and the foundation are all that remain of Aquis Querquennis, a fort and military barracks for Roman legions that were likely stationed there to monitor the construction of roads.

The fort was constructed along the Lima River in what is now known as Galicia, an autonomous region in northwestern Spain, and its occupation lasted from around 75 A.D. until it was abandoned less than a century later, according to a 2018 study. Locally, the site is known as A cidá, or "the city," though it is often submerged beneath the As Conchas Reservoir following its construction in 1949.

Over years past, portions of pillars and archways would break the surface as water levels dropped. Then in August 2022, as the reservoir's water levels receded to just 49% of the maximum level, the lake yielded the entirety of the camp.

An aerial photo of Aquis Querquennis, a Roman military camp 

that dates back to the first century. (EFE)

This is not the first ancient relic to be unveiled this summer. Shrinking rivers and lakes across Europe have revealed a number of lost relics, from a World War II-era barge unearthed in Italy's Po River to "Hunger Stones" in the Elbe River, the last readable inscriptions dating back to the 15th century.

Related video: How Europe's drought revealed pieces of history

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Now in Ourense, Galicia, aerial photographs show the bare bones of the sunken city, the remaining foundation outlining what past researchers have identified as granaries, a basilica and temple, an infirmary and three barracks that were capable of holding two centuria with their respective commanders. It took a historically severe drought to reach this point, however.

The ongoing drought in Europe is expected to be one of the worst in 500 years, scientists at the European Drought Observatory said in early August.

At least 47% of Europe is in drought warning conditions, the second of three drought categories, according to the Observatory. Another 17% of Europe is under alert conditions, the most severe category, and drought hazard continues to increase in a handful of nations, including Spain.

In Madrid, over 250 miles from the site, rainfall from May through Aug. 28 was only 7% of average, and for the same time period, the temperature was 8.4 degrees Fahrenheit above average according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist John Gresiak.

Spain, Portugal, France and the United Kingdom all saw temperatures measure over 40 degrees Celsius (104 F), and the Iberian Peninsula saw multiple days with maximum temperatures above 35 C (95 F) as a long-lasting heat wave baked the region.

July 2022 was the hottest month ever recorded for Spain, according to the Spanish National Meteorological Service (AEMET), and was one of the three warmest Julys on record, globally.

Webb Telescope Captures the Bamboozling Beauty of the Phantom Galaxy

Isaac Schultz - Yesterday 

The Phantom Galaxy, as seen in optical and mid-infrared wavelengths.

The spiral galaxy is a whirlpool of brown, blue, and pink.© Image: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team; ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Chandar Acknowledgement: J. Schmidt

Webb’s latest image release is a special collab with the Hubble Space Telescope. Scientists combined data from the two observatories to produce these spectacular shots of the spiral Phantom Galaxy (also known as Messier 74), about 32 million light-years from Earth.

The images capture gas clouds, dust, and star-forming regions in the galaxy in sharp relief. You can even view the distant cosmos beyond the galaxy’s rust-red arms, as seen in optical and mid-infrared light

According to the Guardian, Messier 74 is nicknamed the Phantom Galaxy for how faint it is, which makes it difficult to spot in the sky. Thankfully, the Webb Space Telescope, launched in December and commissioned this spring, is the most powerful space-based observatory yet.


M74 in optical light—the galaxy's center is a pale yellow and it is peppered with pink splotches.© Image: ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Chandar

M74 in optical light. The bright pink splotches are hydrogen-rich areas where stars are formed.

M74's position—nearly facing Earth head-on—and its well-articulated spiral arms make it a great target for astronomers seeking to better understand galactic evolution. The galaxy also doesn’t have much gas in its center, so the star cluster at its core is well-resolved.

Related video: Webb Telescope gives insight on one galaxy's past and future

Duration 0:50  View on Watch

 

M74 is just over 13 billion years old. It’s a spiral galaxy like our own Milky Way (which is a shade older). What we learn about star formation within M74 could well apply to our immediate galactic neighborhood.

Webb’s first images—of nebulae, galaxies, and spectra from an exoplanet’s atmosphere—showcased the telescope’s scientific potential. Now the telescope is being turned on a bevy of scientific targets of specific interest to various scientific collaborations. There’s even a Twitter bot that will keep you up-to-date on what Webb is observing at any given moment.

Recently, it was the CEERS collaboration’s turn to image targets with Webb, which can observe more distant and fainter targets in better resolution than other space telescopes.

The image of M74 was taken as part of work by the PHANGS collaboration, which is investigating 19 nearby star-forming galaxies to better understand how these hot balls of gas form in our nearby universe.

Looking at the galaxy in different wavelengths of light highlights different features of its structure. In images taken by Hubble in optical light, the galactic center is too bright to see much detail, but in Webb’s infrared view, you can make out individual pinpricks of light.


The spiral galaxy seen in different wavelengths represented in different colors.

© Image: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, J. Lee and the PHANGS-JWST Team; ESA/Hubble & NASA, R. Chandar Acknowledgement: J. Schmidt

The same galaxy seen in optical, optical/mid-infrared, and infrared wavelengths.

The Hubble image also highlights a smattering of pink splotches across the galaxy; according to an ESA release, those are hydrogen gas clouds that indicate where stars have recently formed. The merging of Hubble and Webb data makes a composite image that highlights the nuclear center of the galaxy while keeping features of its spiral arms—namely the brownish-red dust—intact.

The wavelengths elicit distinct feelings, too. The optical image makes the galaxy seem more ethereal, while the infrared image makes it look like a dreadful space whirlpool.

It’ll still be some time before the data can be sifted through by the scientific teams, who will then draw conclusions about how stars form in these nearby spiral galaxies; for now, we can just bask in the aesthetics of the cosmos.

California weighs rules giving fast food workers more power

By DON THOMPSON

August 27, 2022

1 of 5

Pedestrians walk below an In-N-Out Burger restaurant sign in San Francisco, Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022. More than a half-million California fast food workers are pinning their hopes on a groundbreaking proposal that would give them increased power and protections. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Since she came to California from Mexico 24 years ago, Maria Bernal has been supporting her family by often working two jobs at fast food restaurants.

But she says she wound up living in a small Kia with her two youngest children, then ages 3 and 15, for six months after she lost her housing in 2019 when one of her employers began paying her minimum wage for eight hours even when she worked a 16-hour double shift.

Union organizers and other advocates say such wage theft and other exploitation is common in the fast food industry, particularly for women and racial minorities who make up many of California’s more than half-million fast food workers. The industry denies such abuses are widespread.

Bernal and more than 100 others who recently rallied outside the state Capitol are pinning their hopes on groundbreaking legislation that would give fast food workers increased power and protections.

The proposal awaiting final action before the California Legislature adjourns Wednesday would create a new Fast Food Council made up of four workers’ delegates alongside four employers’ representatives and two state officials that would set minimum standards for wages, hours and working conditions in California.

Bernal said she hopes the council would give workers like herself “a seat at the table where they will respect us more and not allow wage theft to happen, and also importantly that we won’t be afraid of retaliation.”

Restaurant owners and franchisers say the proposal would drive up the price of fast food. They cite an analysis they commissioned by the UC Riverside Center for Economic Forecast and Development that puts the price increase at 7% to 20%.

A late wage cap added to the bill would keep the increase on the low end of that range. Late amendments limit any minimum wage bump to $22 an hour next year, with cost of living increases thereafter, while the statewide minimum will be $15.50 an hour.

Other late amendments mean the council would also have to be approved by a petition signed by 10,000 fast food workers, and the council would now disappear after six years unless it is renewed.

Matthew Haller, president & CEO of the International Franchise Association, dismissed the last-minute revisions as “an attempt to put lipstick on a pig.”

An earlier version cleared the Assembly in January with no votes to spare after falling short last year, and the revised bill is awaiting consideration in the Senate.

Though California’s effort would be broader, a wage board created by New York’s governor in 2015 led to an increase in fast food wages there, and similar efforts have been tried by some cities. The left-leaning Center for American Progress says that what also are known as workers’ boards, worker standards boards or industry committees could combat economic inequality along with racial and gender pay gaps.

“If we are successful here, workers in Florida, Texas, New York, even Idaho will be heartened and they can replicate our successes,” Democratic Assemblyman Alex Lee said at the workers’ rally.

California’s measure would cover fast food restaurants with at least 100 establishments nationally.

It grew out of the decade-long Fight for $15 and a Union minimum wage movement and efforts by labor unions to organize fast food workers in California and nationwide.

“This is more than just a labor fight. This is a fight about racial justice, this is a fight about gender justice,” said Joseph Bryant, executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union behind the drive. “Eighty percent of the workers are people of color who work in fast food. Two-thirds of the workers are women who work in fast food, and these workers are being exploited.”

Fast food workers in California are paid nearly $3 an hour less than comparable workers in other service sector jobs, according to a joint study released this month by Harvard and UC San Francisco.

Bernal hopes the California law and the ongoing effort to unionize fast food establishments will one day lead to benefits like paid vacations, medical coverage and a retirement plan. She filed a wage claim earlier this year with state regulators seeking $160,000 in back wages and penalties, while her son is alleging child labor law violations and threats by a restaurant manager.

Employees “are still fighting for some of the basic things that should have been happening a long time ago for the fast food workers who serve our community every day, even through a pandemic,” said Democratic Assemblyman Chris Holden, the bill’s author.

But Jesse Lara, whose family-owned business operates 34 El Pollo Loco franchises in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, said the bill is unnecessary and would harm the company’s more than 1,000 employees.

It unfairly assumes “that we have to rip off our employees to make a profit,” when many of the firms’ managers have promoted from within, he said. Inflation is “killing us,” he said, and higher wages and benefits would force restaurant owners to raise prices and cut workers’ hours to make ends meet.

The pending bill targets bona fide abuses, but also furthers unions’ goals of collective bargaining with the entire industry instead of attempting to organize fast food chains one restaurant at a time, said Janice Fine, a professor of labor studies and employment relations who directs Rutgers University’s workplace justice lab.

Such sector-wide negotiations are common in Europe, she said, but rare in the U.S.

California already has some of the strongest worker protection laws and regulations in the U.S. if not the world, said Matt Sutton, the California Restaurant Association’s senior vice president for government affairs and public policy.

He disputed claims that the fast food sector has a higher rate of labor, unemployment, health and safety incidents, but said the answer regardless should be for lawmakers to put more money into enforcing labor standards instead of creating a new council with unique regulatory power over one industry.

“There are avenues to punish employers when it’s appropriate,” Sutton said.

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Department of Finance also opposed the bill in June, citing its potential costs and what it said could be “a fragmented regulatory and legal environment.”

“It is not clear that this bill will accomplish its goal, as it attempts to address delayed enforcement by creating stricter standards for certain sectors, which could exacerbate existing delays,” the administration warned.

Strike deadlock shuts Nigerian universities for months

By CHINEDU ASADU

August 28, 2022

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Adenekan Ayomide, 27, an undergraduate student turned a taxi driver following nationwide university strike, poses for a photograph inside his taxi in Abuja, Nigeria, Tuesday, May 10, 2022. “Nobody is talking about school again,” said Ayomide, who said he is now working more than one job and the budget he had for getting through university now looks unrealistic. 

(AP Photo/Chinedu Asadu)


ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Adenekan Ayomide had been attending the University of Abuja for two years when the lecturers went on strike in February. The 27-year-old undergraduate student hoped he would return to school quickly but immediately took a job as a taxi driver to pay bills.

Unfortunately for him, the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities has now clocked six months and Ayomide’s hopes of returning to classes anytime soon grow thin.

“Nobody is talking about school again,” said Ayomide, who said he is working more than one job and the budget he had for getting through university now looks unrealistic.

University strikes are common in Nigeria, which has more than 100 public universities and an estimated 2.5 million students, according to Nigeria’s National Universities Commission. The universities here have recorded at least 15 strikes covering a cumulative period of four years since 2000.

The latest strike, however, is biting harder on an education sector that is struggling to recover from a COVID-19 lockdown and an earlier strike that lasted for most of 2020.

No alternative means of learning is provided for students because “more than 90%” of lecturers in Nigerian universities are members of the academic staff union, according to Haruna Lawal Ajo, director of public affairs at Nigeria’s universities commission.

The striking lecturers are demanding a review of their conditions of service including the platform the government uses to pay their earnings, improved funding for the universities and the payment of their salaries withheld since the strike started.

Talks between the lecturers and the government ended in deadlock this month, dashing hopes of a compromise agreement.

Lecturers have faulted the government’s position, arguing that the government has still not provided higher pay for lecturers and more funds for the education sector which it agreed to in 2009.

If the government has not fulfilled a promise made in 2009 by 2022, how can it be trusted? asked Femi Atteh, a lecturer at the University of Ilorin in northcentral Kwara state who now works with his wife to run a food retail business.

“I just see ASUU (the union) trying to fight for the rights of its people. ... Nigerian lecturers are far behind in terms of welfare when compared to others,” said Atteh.

Atteh said some of his colleagues are moving abroad for better opportunities and improved pay.

“Our situation in this country is just in a sorry state,” said lecturer Sabi Sani at the University of Abuja. After 12 years of teaching, Sani said his monthly salary is “not even enough to pay my children’s school fees.”

He said that when “more lecturers realize they can migrate, we will be left with unqualified lecturers to teach our children (because) all the qualified ones will run away.”

It is not just lecturers who are eyeing relocation for better opportunities.

Amidat Ahmed, a 22-year-old economics student at the University of Abuja said the strike has prevented her from getting clearance that would see her wrap up her undergraduate studies in the school because lectures are not available. She is now considering going abroad for a fresh undergraduate degree program.

“My life is stagnant,” said Ahmed who said she is working two jobs including one as a shoemaker where she is learning the skill to set up a business later in life.

It is a case of using the lemons to make lemonade, she said.

“Apart from this (learning the shoe-making trade), I don’t think I have done anything with my life all this while and it has been six months.”

Across Nigeria, students are looking for work to survive. Rent and other bills have accumulated, making things worse for many from poor backgrounds in this nation with a 40% poverty rate, according to the latest government statistics.

Some students’ financial situation is better when school is in session as a small proportion of the students get funding provided by nonprofits and government agencies.

After the latest round of talks to end the strike was unsuccessful, Ayomide remained on the roads as a taxi driver.

“I don’t have 5 naira ($0.012) in my account and I cannot go home because there is no money,” said Ayomide. His only option is to work long hours, he said. “Sometimes, I sleep at the airport or inside the car.”

“We just have to double our hustle and hope for the best,” he said. “This is the country where we are, so we have no choice.”

Mexico’s president revived dangerous form of coal mining

By FABIOLA SÁNCHEZ and MARK STEVENSON

August 28, 2022

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FILE - Miners helping in the rescue operation of fellow trapped miners are interviewed in San Juan de Sabinas, Coahuila state, Mexico, May 4, 2011. The administration of Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has resuscitated a form of coal mining so dangerous and primitive that both houses of Mexico’s Congress tried to ban it in 2012. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini, File)


MEXICO CITY (AP) — As hopes faded of rescuing 10 men trapped in a flooded Mexican coal mine, evidence mounted that the current administration’s populist policies have driven the revival of the dangerous, primitive mines that continue claiming lives.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador enacted a plan two years ago to revive coal-fired power plants in northern Mexico and give preference to buying coal from the smallest mines. The purchases were part of the president’s policies to give more income to the poorest Mexicans.

In doing so, the administration resuscitated a form of coal mining so dangerous that lawmakers in both houses of Mexico’s Congress had tried to ban it a decade ago.

Experts say that mines so narrow and primitive that only one miner at a time can be lowered into a narrow shaft — and only one bucket of coal extracted — are inherently unsafe. At some pits, known as “pocitos,” or “little wells,” air is pumped in and water pumped out through plastic hoses. Some don’t even have that. There are usually no safety exits or auxiliary shafts.

Fifteen men were working inside the Pinabete mine in Sabinas, Coahuila, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) southwest of Eagle Pass, Texas, on Aug. 3. A wall of water from an abandoned mine next door — and possibly wastewater pumped in from a nearby town — filled the single shaft about 40 meters (yards) deep. It blew out so many wooden supports that they have formed floating barriers to rescue crews.

Five workers managed to escape as the mine flooded, but there has been no contact with the rest.

Promoting coal is part of López Obrador’s effort to shore up the state-owned power utility, the Federal Electricity Commission, headed by old-guard politician Manuel Bartlett. Not only was the policy questioned by environmentalists; many also said it endangered miners.

“Manuel Bartlett’s brilliant idea of buying more coal from the smallest producers, and less from big producers, gave rise to a black market that wound up in the exploitation of mines that lack the safeguards needed to protect the lives of the workers,” Miguel Riquelme, the governor of Coahuila state and member of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, said after the accident.

The government utility had defended its decision to buy about two-thirds of coal for power generation from small mines.

“We had to have the mindset of favoring the smallest (producers) because we had to make their economic conditions more equal,” Miguel Alejandro López, the subdirector of purchasing for the company, said in July, describing the orders he got under López Obrador. “Because as he (the president) has said, one of this country’s main failings is inequality.”

López said small mine owners were required to submit proof they complied with labor laws, which in Mexico govern mine safety.

But even the president acknowledged that the Pinabete mine had not complied with the few existing safety and labor standards.

Accidents at small coal mines have been depressingly frequent.

In June 2021, seven miners were killed at a similar small mine in Muzquiz township, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of Eagle Pass, Texas. The shaft at the Micarán mine also flooded and partially collapsed, and it took days to recover the miners’ bodies.

The operations resemble wildcat mines from the U.S. Old West: Horizontal coal faces spread out from the bottom of the shaft and are shored up with wooden poles.

At some mines, the pit-head winches used to extract miners and coal are run off old car engines placed on blocks.

Lawmakers already knew the dangers of the narrow, unreinforced vertical shafts; explosive gas accumulations and flooding risks are common.

As far back as 2012, Mexican legislators tried to pass laws to do away with such primitive mines. The 2006 tragedy in the nearby Pasta de Conchos mine, where 65 miners died after a gas build-up caused a fire and explosion, was still fresh in their minds. That was a larger mine where gas monitoring proved to be insufficient.

A 2012 Senate bill proposed “the outright ban on vertical coal mines, also known as ‘pocitos,’ because that is where the greatest risks occur.”

In 2013, a bill in the lower house stated, “Coal mining activities have generalized risks, because their techniques are artisanal and rudimentary … Risky mining practices must be minimized or eliminated.”

It is unclear why those laws were never passed.

Mine safety activist Cristina Auerbach noted that coal is politically sensitive in Coahuila, especially among the impoverished communities that once made a living from it.

“Coal is a political issue in Coahuila, not an economic one,” said Auerbach.

She said that from 2006 through last year at least 80 miners had died in accidents in Coahuila. “The smallest businesses in the coal region are the most precarious, like Pinabete,” she said.

But small-scale coal mining appeared to be dying out in Coahuila until López Obrador directed the Federal Electricity Commission to ramp up purchases.

“The region was revived with the new purchase orders from the federal commission,” said Diego Martínez, a professor of applied earth sciences at the Autonomous University of Coahuila.

López Obrador wanted to eliminate subterfuge and corruption in coal purchases, but apparently failed at that; one man was arrested in connection with the Pinabete mine accident after it was found that the mine was apparently registered under different names or titles on purchase contracts and in labor department records.

No one has been sentenced for the 2006 deaths at the Pasta de Conchos mine.

It is not the first time that Coahuila coal mines have been accused of illegal practices; miners make as little as $200 per week, and even when the few government inspectors have found violations, it has been hard to shut them down.

López Obrador said that the Pinabete mine contract with the Electricity Commission said explicitly it could not be subcontracted, but apparently was anyway.

Auerbach, the mine safety activist, said that hundreds of “high risk” small mines continue operating.

“That’s why we’re asking that all of the coal concessions granted in high risk areas be cancelled, because (miners) are always going to die,” she said.