PAID SICK TIME OFF IS NOT TOO MUCH TO ASK

U.S. Rail workers air their frustrations with rallies, vote

JOSH FUNK
December 14, 2022, 


Rail Rally

Workers of the two biggest rail unions rally outside of Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Railroad workers who are fed up with demanding work schedules and disappointed in the contract they received aired their frustrations this week at rallies across the country and in a leadership vote at one of their biggest unions.

Workers gathered in Washington D.C. and nearly a dozen other locations across the country Tuesday to emphasize their quality of life concerns and fight for paid sick leave after Congress intervened in the stalled contract talks earlier this month and imposed a deal on four unions that had rejected it. And thousands of engineers voted to oust their long-time union president although that result won't be final until next week.

The five-year contract that roughly 115,000 workers in 12 unions received includes 24% raises, $5,000 in bonuses and one additional paid leave day, but the unions say it didn't do enough to address workers' quality-of-life concerns. President Joe Biden urged Congress to get involved because the potential economic damage that would come with a railroad strike was too great to bear, but their action left many workers disappointed because lawmakers opted not to require the railroads to add sick time.

“The American people should know that while this round of collective bargaining is over, the underlying issues facing the workforce and rail customers remain,” said the Transportation Trades Department coalition of the AFL-CIO that includes all the rail unions. “Over the last seven years, the freight railroad industry has moved to a business model that has cut their workforces to the bone, devastated worker morale by creating unsustainable working conditions across the industry, and put the safety of their workers and the American public at risk.”

The unions have said that the roughly 45,000 job cuts across the industry as railroads overhauled their operations over the past several years have increased the workload for everyone who remains and prompted the railroads to adopt strict attendance policies that make it hard for workers to take a day off. Railroads say they don't need as many workers as they used to because they have cut down on the number of trains and locomotives they are using by relying on longer trains with a mix of freight that run on a tighter schedule.

Union Pacific railroad shipping limits generate complaints


A Union Pacific train engine sits in a rail yard on Wednesday, Sept. 14, 2022, in Commerce, Calif. Federal regulators and shippers questioned Union Pacific’s decision to temporarily limit shipments from certain businesses more than 1,000 times this year as part of its effort to clear up congestion across the railroad. The head of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board Martin Oberman said Wednesday, Dec. 14, he’s concerned about UP’s increasing use of these embargoes because they disrupt operations of the businesses that rely on the railroad, and they haven’t seemed to help UP’s performance significantly either. 

(AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File) 

JOSH FUNK
Wed, December 14, 2022 

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal regulators and shippers are questioning Union Pacific's decision to temporarily limit some businesses' shipments as part of its effort to clear up congestion across the railroad.

The head of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, Martin Oberman, said Wednesday he's concerned about Union Pacific's increasing use of the embargoes because they disrupt operations of the businesses that rely on the railroad, and they haven't seemed to help its performance significantly.

Union Pacific has ordered companies to remove some of their railcars from the network more than 1,000 times this year, up from 140 times in 2018, according to the transportation board.

An embargo can force a business to consider cutting production or resorting to more expensive shipping options, like trucking, if that's even an option. And they can make it harder for other businesses to get the key products, such as shipments of chlorine used to treat water, or grain for feeding animals.

“The customer is bearing the brunt of the pain. You guys are still making money,” Surface Transportation Board member Robert Primus said, addressing Union Pacific executives during two days of board hearings this week.

For much of this year, Union Pacific and the other major freight railroads have struggled to deliver products on time and handle all the shipments companies want to move because they were short on crews coming out of the pandemic. The railroads have been improving throughout the year as they hired more workers, but regulators say they're still lagging behind where they should be. Union Pacific is using significantly more embargoes than any other railroad.

At the hearings, Union Pacific executives defended their practices, arguing that their embargoes are needed to help get the railroad running better. CEO Lance Fritz said the embargoes are targeted and temporary measures that shouldn't place an undue burden on individual businesses.

“We only use embargoes when necessary and when no longer necessary, we end them,” Fritz said.

But several shippers and trade groups testified that the embargoes are hurting their businesses.

Cargill executive Brock Lautenschlager said Union Pacific's actions make it hard to plan. Last month, the railroad told Cargill it needed to pull 130 railcars it owns from the network within a week or face shipment limits at five of its plants. The agribusiness giant complied because it worried that an embargo could force it to shut down a plant.

“We believe embargoes should be the exception not the norm,” Lautenschlager said.

It's accepted practice for railroads to temporarily place limits on shipments in extreme conditions when something outside their control, like a flood or bridge fire, hurts their ability to haul freight. Business groups, however, say they believe deep cuts in UP's workforce are a major reason the Omaha, Nebraska-based railroad is having so much trouble meeting customer expectations.

Oberman said there seems to be a direct correlation between the sharp drop in Union Pacific employees since 2018, as it overhauled its operations, and the increased use of embargoes. The number of train crews the railroad employed went from roughly 18,000 in 2018 to about 13,000 today and that includes all the hiring the railroad has done since the economy started to rebound from the pandemic.

Greg Twist with grain processor Ag Processing Inc. compared the situation to going shopping at a grocery store and finding that the store refuses to hire more than one clerk, and then the store's manager tells him he must come back at a certain time of day if he wants service. And unlike with groceries, his company generally can't shop around to ship its goods because Union Pacific is the only railroad that serves several of its plants.

Twist said Ag Processing should have “the freedom to decide how we operate our facilities” without having the railroad dictate how much they can produce with its shipping limits.

The Climate Movement Needs to Embrace Property Destruction



Akshat Rathi and Oscar Boyd
Wed, December 14, 2022 

(Bloomberg) -- The past few months have seen a flurry of climate protests. In Marseilles, a cement factory was sabotaged by activists for its high emissions. In London, tomato soup was thrown at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers by members of the group Just Stop Oil. Other activists have taken to deflating SUV tires in cities across Europe and the US to discourage use of the gas-guzzling vehicles.

This is only the beginning of what climate activists need to do in order to be effective, says Andreas Malm, associate professor of human ecology at Lund University and author of How to Blow Up a Pipeline. “The task for the climate movement is to make clear for people that building new pipelines, new gas terminals, opening new oil fields are acts of violence that need to be stopped — they kill people,” Malm says on Bloomberg Green’s Zero podcast.

Malm argues that while the majority of climate action should remain non-violent, no social sea change — from the suffragettes to the Civil Rights Movement — has succeeded through completely peaceful activism. “We shouldn't engage in assassinations or terrorism, or use arms and things like that,” he says. “But until that line or boundary, we need virtually everything … all the way up to sabotage and property destruction.”

The stakes are high for protesters engaged in disruptive tactics, as governments around the world target them with increasingly punitive legislation. Last month in the UK, Just Stop Oil activist Jan Goodey was sentenced to six months in prison for causing disruption on a major London motorway. Earlier this month in Australia, climate protester Deanna “Violet” Coco was sentenced to 15 months in jail for blocking a lane of traffic on the Sydney Harbour Bridge for 28 minutes.

Malm says this response is to be expected. “That's what always happens when you escalate. As soon as you pose a danger to the system, this is what you'll get in return,” he says. “And that's a sign that you're doing something good, that you are actually challenging some interests.”

You can listen to the full conversation with Malm below, and read a full transcript here. Check out more episodes of Zero, and subscribe on Apple, Spotify and Google to get new episodes each week.

COP15

UN nature talks teeter on brink as ministers arrive for home stretch

Benjamin Legendre and Issam Ahmed
Wed, December 14, 2022


Hopes of sealing a historic "peace pact with nature" at a United Nations biodiversity summit will soon rest on the world's environment ministers, arriving in Montreal for the final phase of talks beginning Thursday.

Stark divisions remain to be bridged, foremost among them the subject of how much developed countries will pay the developing to help them save ecosystems, and whether there should be a new, dedicated fund for this purpose.

At stake is the future of the planet and whether humanity can roll back habitat destruction, pollution and the climate crisis, which are threatening an estimated million species with extinction.

The draft agreement contains more than 20 targets, including a cornerstone pledge to protect 30 percent of the world's land and seas by 2030, eliminate harmful fishing and agriculture subsidies, tackle invasive species and reduce pesticides.

"I hope what we would have at the end of this... is a Paris moment," said Zakri Abdul Hamid, science advisor for the Campaign for Nature, referencing the landmark climate accord that agreed to hold long-term warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

"Decades of study have also clarified what the world must do," he added.

In the absence of heads of state and government, more than a hundred ministers will have to drag the text, three years in the making, over the finish line.

But its success still hangs in the balance after disagreements over the thorny issue of biodiversity financing led to a walkout by negotiators from developing nations overnight Tuesday and a temporary pause in talks.

- New fund sought -

The Global South, home to most of the world's biological diversity, wants a new global biodiversity fund (GBF), something rich countries oppose -- proposing instead making existing financial mechanisms more accessible.

This debate mirrors a similar disagreement during recent UN climate talks in Egypt on creating a "loss and damages" fund for the most climate-vulnerable nations -- though that demand was eventually met.

Dozens of nations, including Brazil, India, Indonesia and many African countries are also seeking funding of $100 billion yearly, or one percent of global GDP, until 2030.

Current financial flows from high-income countries to lower income ones are in the order of $10 billion per year.

A crisis meeting of heads of delegations, organized on Wednesday by China, which is chairing the meeting, brought negotiators back to the table following the breakdown.

A Western negotiator who declined to be named told AFP: "The African group wants to reach an agreement with money in front, other developing countries too, but Brazil is using the financial question to derail the process."

The source said the Brazilian delegation is still following the policies of outgoing far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, who is very close to the agricultural industry, which is hostile to reducing pesticide use.

Nevertheless, developing countries are angered by what they see as a lack of ambition.

"This has led to the negotiations now being on the edge of a full breakdown," said Innocent Maloba of WWF International.


Beyond the moral implications, there is the question of self-interest: $44 trillion of economic value generation -- more than half the world's total GDP -- is dependent on nature and its services.

The summit has failed to garner the same level of attention as the UN climate meeting held in Egypt in November, which brought together more than a hundred world leaders.

This meeting is being held in Canada after China declined to host because of its strict Covid rules, and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been the only leader in attendance.

ia/caw

SCI FI TECH OF THE FUTURE
What is nuclear fusion, and could it change our energy future?

David Knowles
·Senior Editor
Tue, December 13, 2022 

When Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm announced Tuesday that the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California had successfully produced a nuclear fusion reaction that creates a net energy gain, she hailed the event as “one of the most impressive scientific feats of the 21st century.”

Nuclear fusion, after all, is the same energy that powers the sun and every other star in the universe. Being able to harness and replicate it means that humankind could one day tap an almost limitless source of energy that wouldn't contribute to the climate crisis caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

But what is nuclear fusion, and how did the team of scientists in California succeed in achieving what Granholm characterized as a breakthrough?

Learning from the sun

Nuclear fusion occurs when two atoms of a light element such as hydrogen are heated and fused together to form a heavier element such as helium. In order for that process to occur, the atoms must be subjected to extremely high temperatures and pressure. When that chemical reaction happens, it gives off energy.

Fission vs. fusion

Nuclear fission is the opposite of nuclear fusion in that the former unleashes energy by splitting heavy atoms apart. While fission and fusion both produce clean energy in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, fission comes with a glaring downside.

“Nuclear fission power plants have the disadvantage of generating unstable nuclei; some of these are radioactive for millions of years,” the International Atomic Energy Agency states on its website. “Fusion, on the other hand, does not create any long-lived radioactive nuclear waste.”

The waste byproduct of a fusion reaction is far less radioactive than in fission, and decays far more quickly.

The upsides to fusion over fission have long been known to scientists.

“Fusion could generate four times more energy per kilogram of fuel than fission (used in nuclear power plants) and nearly four million times more energy than burning oil or coal,” the IAEA says on its website.

Laser energy is converted into X-rays inside a cylindrical shell known as a hohlraum. (John Jett and Jake Long/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory/Handout via Reuters)

Star power

In order to replicate the chemical process that powers stars in the universe, researchers at the National Ignition Facility employed the world’s most energetic lasers — 192 of them, to be exact — further compressing their intensity before shooting them into a cylinder the size of a small pebble that contained a small portion of hydrogen encased in diamond.

By blasting the hydrogen pellet with 2.05 megajoules of energy, which the New York Times noted is the equivalent of a pound of TNT, the chemical reaction was achieved, resulting in the release of 3 megajoules of energy.
No small feat

Researchers from 50 countries have been working on the problem of how to re-create and harness the energy of a fission reaction since the 1960s. In 2009, when work began in earnest at the National Ignition Facility, the Livermore laboratory released a video explaining its work.

The Arctic Is Becoming Wetter and Stormier, Scientists Warn


The Arctic Is Becoming Wetter and Stormier, Scientists Warn

Raymond Zhong
Tue, December 13, 2022 

As humans warm the planet, the once reliably frigid and frozen Arctic is becoming wetter and stormier, with shifts in its climate and seasons that are forcing local communities, wildlife and ecosystems to adapt, scientists said Tuesday in an annual assessment of the region.

Even though 2022 was only the Arctic’s sixth warmest year on record, researchers saw plenty of new signs this year of how the region is changing.

A September heat wave in Greenland, for instance, caused the most severe melting of the island’s ice sheet for that time of the year in over four decades of continuous satellite monitoring. In 2021, an August heat wave had caused it to rain at the ice sheet’s summit for the first time.

“Insights about the circumpolar region are relevant to the conversation about our warming planet now more than ever,” said Richard Spinrad, administrator of the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “We’re seeing the impacts of climate change happen first in polar regions.”

Temperatures in the Arctic Circle have been rising much more quickly than those in the rest of the planet, transforming the region’s climate into one defined less by sea ice, snow and permafrost and more by open water, rain and green landscapes.

Over the past four decades, the region has warmed at four times the global average rate, not two or three times as had often been reported, scientists in Finland said this year. Some parts of the Arctic are warming at up to seven times the global rate, they said.

Nearly 150 experts from 11 nations compiled this year’s assessment of Arctic conditions, the Arctic Report Card, which NOAA has produced since 2006. This year’s report card was issued on Tuesday in Chicago at a conference of the American Geophysical Union, the society of earth, atmospheric and oceanic scientists.

Warming at the top of the Earth raises sea levels worldwide, changes the way heat and water circulate in the oceans, and might even influence extreme weather events like heat waves and rainstorms, scientists say. But Arctic communities feel the impacts first.

“Our homes, livelihoods and physical safety are threatened by the rapid-melting ice, thawing permafrost, increasing heat, wildfires and other changes,” said Jackie Qatalina Schaeffer, an author of a chapter in the report card on local communities, the director of climate initiatives for the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and an Inupiaq from Kotzebue, Alaska.

Between October 2021 and September, air temperatures above Arctic lands were the sixth warmest since 1900, the report card said, noting that the seven warmest years have been the last seven. Rising temperatures have helped plants, shrubs and grasses grow in parts of the Arctic tundra, and 2022 saw levels of green vegetation that were the fourth highest since 2000, particularly in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, northern Quebec and central Siberia.

A new chapter in this year’s report deals with Arctic precipitation. Measuring snow, rain and freezing rain is tricky there: In the northernmost reaches of the region, there aren’t many weather gauges. Those that are in place might not measure snow accurately because of windy conditions.

Instead, scientists have begun combining direct measurements with sophisticated computer modeling to get a fuller picture. These methods have given them confidence to say that precipitation levels have increased significantly in the Arctic since the mid-20th century. This year was the region’s third-wettest since 1950, the report card said.

Because of warmer temperatures, though, extra snow doesn’t necessarily remain on the ground. Snow accumulation in the Arctic was above average during the 2021-22 winter, the assessment said. But by June, snow cover in the North American Arctic was the second-lowest on record. In the Eurasian Arctic, it was third lowest.

Three main factors could be increasing precipitation in different parts of the Arctic, said John Walsh, a scientist at the International Arctic Research Center of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and an author of the report card. First, warmer air can hold more moisture. Second, as sea ice retreats, storms can suck up more open ocean water.

Indicators of sea ice rebounded this year after near-record-lows in 2021, but they were still below long-term averages, the assessment found. March is typically when the ice is at its greatest extent each year, September its lowest. At both points this year, ice levels were among the lowest since satellites have been making reliable measurements.

The third factor is that storms are passing over warmer water before reaching the Arctic, feeding them with more energy, Walsh said. The remnants of Typhoon Merbok traveled over unusually warm water in the north Pacific in September before pummeling communities along more than 1,000 miles of Alaskan coast.

The Greenland ice sheet has lost ice for the last 25 years, and this year was no different. But what stood out to scientists was an extraordinary burst of melting in September, the kind of event that would normally be seen in the middle of summer.

In early September, a high pressure system brought warm, wet air that sent temperatures in parts of Greenland to as high as 36 degrees Fahrenheit above normal for that time of year. More than a third of the ice sheet experienced melting, according to the report card. Later that month, the remnants of Hurricane Fiona traveled over the island and caused further melting over 15% of the ice sheet.

The seasons are blending together across the Arctic, said Matthew Druckenmiller, a scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, and an editor of the report card. Just last week, the mercury hit 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the northern Alaskan community of Utqiagvik, smashing winter records.

“At this time of year, the sun’s not even rising” in that part of Alaska, Druckenmiller said.

© 2022 The New York Times Company

Michigan, native tribes reach new Great Lakes fishing deal

FILE - In this photo provided by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, a lake trout swims off Isle Royale, Mich., in Lake Superior, Sept. 12, 2018. Four Native American tribes have agreed with Michigan and federal officials on a revised fishing policy for parts of three of the Great Lakes, officials said Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. 

(Andrew Muiri/Great Lakes Fishery Commission via AP, File) 


JOHN FLESHER
Mon, December 12, 2022 

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Four Native American tribes have agreed with Michigan and federal officials on a revised fishing policy for parts of three of the Great Lakes, officials said Monday.

The tentative deal involves contentious issues for groups wanting shares of a valuable resource as populations of some species — particularly whitefish and salmon — have fallen over the past two decades.

A proposed order submitted to a federal judge would extend for 24 years a system overseeing commercial and sport fishing in areas of lakes Michigan, Huron and Superior covered by an 1836 treaty. Those sections of the lakes are entirely within the U.S. and under Michigan's jurisdiction.

Under the treaty, the Odawa and Ojibway nations described collectively as Anishinaabek ceded lands that would comprise nearly 40% of Michigan's eventual territory, while retaining hunting and fishing rights.

Rising tensions between tribal commercial operations and sport anglers led to a fishery management pact in 1985, which was updated in 2000. That version was due to expire two years ago but was extended to allow continued negotiations.

“We believe this agreement has clear benefits for all the parties,” said David Caroffino, tribal coordination unit manager for the fisheries division of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

In addition to the state and federal governments, participants include the Bay Mills Indian Community, the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.

The Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, which has joined the previous deals, hasn't signed this one, Caroffino said. The tribe has filed a motion with U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney, who is overseeing the case, seeking the authority to regulate its own fishing. Officials from that tribe didn't immediately respond Monday to messages seeking comment.

Maloney has scheduled a conference for Friday to review where the case stands and consider the Sault tribe's proposal.

The agreement, like its predecessors, sets zones where tribal fishing crews can operate and areas where commercial fishing is off limits. It deals with topics such as catch limits and which gear tribal operations can use.

Particularly controversial is tribes' use of large-mesh gill nets, an effective tool that hangs in the water column like a wall. Critics say they indiscriminately catch and kill too many fish. The new deal let tribes use the nets in more places, with restrictions on depth in the water they're placed, the times of year they're used and how much netting is deployed.

State biologists are confident that the limited expansion of gill netting won't harm fish populations and will have “minimal impacts" on sport fishing, Caroffino said.

Sport fishing groups believe otherwise, said Amy Trotter, executive director of the Michigan United Conservation Clubs. Under the 2000 consent decree, she said, Michigan spent more than $14 million paying tribal operations to transition from gill nets to trap nets, which are more selective.

More gill netting will upset a roughly 50-50 balance between harvesting opportunities for tribes and state-licensed sport anglers, Trotter said. The consent decree appears to tilt in the direction of tribal interests at the expense of sport anglers, charter boat operators and tourism-dependent communities, she said.

“We've lived in relative harmony for the past 22 years,” Trotter said. But if sport anglers struggle to find fish or encounter nets stretched across bays as they try to reach open waters in boats, “we definitely will have conflicts in the future.”

Caroffino said tribal crews' need for gill netting to improve harvests has risen with the collapse of whitefish populations, which have suffered as invasive quagga mussels have gobbled up plankton and unraveled food chains.

The nets are particularly important for landing lake trout, which have become a more important commercial species as whitefish have plummeted. Lake trout, once devastated by parasitic sea lamprey, have bounced back in recent decades because of lamprey controls and trout restoration efforts.

Grand Traverse Band attorney Bill Rastetter said the overall structure and balance between tribal and sport interests remain intact under the new agreement, although one side or the other might do better in particular areas.

“We've reached an agreement that's consistent with what's been in place for 37 years but reacts to a changed fishery,” Rastetter said. “It won't create any burden on state-licensed fishers. The harvest limits will remain in place.”

WW3.0

Vietnam in big push to expand South China Sea outposts - U.S. think tank
A ship of Chinese Coast Guard is seen near a ship of Vietnam
Wed, December 14, 2022

By David Brunnstrom

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vietnam has conducted a major expansion of dredging and landfill work at several of its South China Sea outposts in the second half of this year, signaling an intent to significantly fortify its claims in the disputed waterway, a U.S. think tank reported on Wednesday.

Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said the work in the Spratly Islands, which are also claimed by China and others, had created roughly 420 acres (170 hectares) of new land and brought the total area Vietnam had reclaimed in the past decade to 540 acres (220 hectares).

Basing its findings on commercial satellite imagery, CSIS's Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) said the effort included expanded landfill work at four features and new dredging at five others.

"The scale of the landfill work, while still falling far short of the more than 3,200 acres of land created by China from 2013 to 2016, is significantly larger than previous efforts from Vietnam and represents a major move toward reinforcing its position in the Spratlys," the report said.

Vietnam's Washington embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.

AMTI said Vietnam's midsized outposts at Namyit Island, Pearson Reef and Sand Cay were undergoing major expansions, with a dredged port capable of hosting larger vessels already taking shape at Namyit and Pearson.

Namyit Island, at 117 acres (47 hectares) and Pearson Reef, at 119 acres (48 hectares), were both now larger than Spratly Island at 97 acres (39 hectares), which had been Vietnam's largest outpost. Tennent Reef, which previously only hosted two small pillbox structures, now had 64 acres (26 hectares)of artificial land, the report said.

AMTI said Vietnam used clamshell dredgers to scoop up sections of shallow reef and deposit the sediment for landfill, a less destructive process than the cutter-suction dredging China had used to build its artificial islands.

"But Vietnam’s dredging and landfill activities in 2022 are substantial and signal an intent to significantly fortify its occupied features in the Spratlys," the report said.

"(W)hat infrastructure the expanded outposts will host remains to be seen. Whether and to what degree China and other claimants react will bear watching," it said.

China claims most of the South China Sea and has established military outposts on artificial islands it has built there. Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines all have overlapping claims in the sea, which is crisscrossed by vital shipping lanes and contains gas fields and rich fishing grounds.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Tech's tidal wave of layoffs means lots of top workers have to leave the US. It could hurt Silicon Valley and undermine America's ability to compete.

Paayal Zaveri
Tue, December 13, 2022

The recent layoffs across the tech industry have put many H-1B visa holders in a tight timeline to find a new job. It's just the latest challenge in the visa system.

Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters

The recent tech layoffs have put those on H-1B visas on a time crunch to find a new job.

It's the latest turbulence to a visa system that many say isn't working for employees or employers.

The challenges have immigrants looking to other countries' tech industries for opportunities.

Atal Agarwal first came to the US from India five years ago as a graduate student, eventually finding his way into the healthtech sector as a project manager. His employer sponsored his stay in the country, making him a holder of one of the United States' coveted H-1B work visas.

But when the tidal wave of layoffs in the tech industry hit his employer, Agarwal found himself without a job — setting off a stressful 60-day timer to either find a new one that would come with visa sponsorship, or return to India.

Big tech companies like Amazon, Meta, and Twitter have sponsored close to 45,000 H-1B visa holders in the last three years, according to a report from Bloomberg. It's unclear how recent tech layoffs have impacted many visa-holders, but The Information reported that Meta and Amazon's recent layoffs alone likely affected hundreds.

Agarwal, and the many other visa-holders in this limbo after losing their tech jobs, are in for a real challenge if they want to stay in the US, lawyers and other experts told Insider. There are still tech jobs available even in a market downturn. Finding one willing to go through the time and expense of sponsoring an H-1B visa, however, is more difficult.

The whole experience has soured some, like Agarwal, on the idea of continuing to work in American tech at all when the threat of having to uproot an entire life is always lingering.

"Who would want to move their lives in this way?" Agarwal told Insider.

Atal Agarwal is one of many H-1B visa holders who the tech industry's recent layoffs have affected. He's been building a life in the US for over five years, and recently participated in an Ironman race. He said the challenges in the visa system make it hard for immigrants to feel settled here.    Atal Agarwal

This feeling of disillusionment presents a competitive threat to the American tech sector. Companies like Amazon, Meta, Google, Twitter, and Microsoft have long relied on H-1B visas to bring in the talent they need to fill positions in specialized, competitive fields like engineering and computer science. Leaders like Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, have long advocated for reforming the H-1B system to allow more of that talent to work in the US.

If the current situation continues as the combination of job losses, scarce availability of H-1B visas, and strict rules for visa-holders, this specialized workforce could bring their talents to places with more permissive policies like Canada or the nations of the European Union.

"I do think the US is still the hub of some of the smartest, most diverse people in the world who come here for education, working, and living," Soundarya Balasubramani, an author and tech worker who lives in the US on a work visa, said. "But I also think that we might be overstating the impact of living in the US sometimes."

If that happens, experts and insiders warn, that could undermine America's vaunted competitiveness in the tech sector.

"We have laws in effect today that don't reflect the reality of the world we live in today in 2022," Jason Finkelman, an immigration attorney based in Austin, Texas, said. "This antiquated immigration system does not provide robust, flexible options for the most talented, skilled foreign nationals to come to this country and work. And it hurts not only top talent, but it also hurts US employers seeking to grow and innovate with that."
Disillusionment and frustration with working in the US

The net effect here is that the US could become less desirable as a place to live for immigrants looking to break into tech, several experts and tech workers said. Those who leave may not be interested in navigating the process for coming back, and the next generation may not be interested in the US at all.

Layoffs and bureaucracy have undermined Silicon Valley's reputation as a good place for immigrants to build a life in the US, and might encourage some to either stay in their home countries or look elsewhere to find a job abroad, the experts said. It could hurt America's ability to compete in the long run.

Indeed, some Indian immigrants to the US already see opportunities in returning home to participate in the country's booming tech sector, Shruti Rajagopalan, an investor with Emergent Ventures, wrote in a recent blog post.

The 60-day countdown to find a new job is even more stressful for those with families.

Finkelman said clients have told him they really only have two to three weeks to find new jobs, or they'll spend the rest of their time pulling their kids out of school and making arrangements to get everyone out of the country before time runs out.

"That's highly disruptive to any family," he said.

Actually finding those jobs is proving difficult for some, as well. One tech worker, who Twilio recently laid off, said that any job that might be willing to sponsor an H-1B visa now has at least ten other people interviewing at the same time. This person asked not to be named to preserve their professional-career prospects.

Many others have expressed similar experiences in Linkedin posts, saying they have a short window of time to find a new position and are open to any leads.

Some, like Agarwal, found a job with time to spare and are able to stay in the US. But not everybody who needs a visa will be so fortunate.

"There's no scenario in which everyone that got laid off, specifically those that are dependent on work authorization, are gonna get a job," Manan Mehta, the founder of Unshackled Ventures, which helps immigrants found companies in the US, said.
Experts said immigration reform is needed to turn things around

The entire situation has reignited calls for reform to the H-1B visa system, which has seen a turbulent past few years. The Trump administration tried to suspend much of the program in mid-2020. That effort, combined with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, has slowed the approval process and added layers of bureaucracy.

Mehta suggested that a good start would be to lay a path for laid-off H-1B workers to go the entrepreneurial route and let them found their own startups.

Another useful area of reform would be to give visa-holders more flexibility to switch jobs without getting mired in bureaucracy, Romish Badani, the CEO of Bridge, a startup that helps employers manage the immigration process, said. His company provides legal aid and services for companies not familiar with the H-1B process so they can have the option to hire people who need visa sponsorship. Agarwal suggested that just more than 60 days to find a new job would help.

What the experts all agreed on, ultimately, is that some kind of change to the H-1B is necessary and overdue if the US wants to continue being an attractive market for specialized tech talent.

"These people are great builders," Agarwal said. "So they are going to start building things in their own country, which impacts the economy of America."

OOP$
Walmart rolled out self-checkout to streamline operations and reduce labor
– but employees and customers say it's causing a surge in thefts

Ben Tobin

Tue, December 13, 2022 

A Walmart store.Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

• Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said stores could close if the rising tide of theft isn't stemmed.

• Customers and employees blame self-checkout, which Walmart has increasingly relied on, for theft.

• A theft expert said automation "inherently means there's going to be less eyes on a transaction."

Walmart's CEO has warned that the retailer may need to close down stores due to theft – but many of the company's customers and employees blame one growing feature of the store for enabling shoplifting: self-checkout.

Walmart CEO and President Doug McMillon told CNBC earlier this month that theft "is higher than what it has historically been" and there will be consequences "if that is not corrected over time." Since McMillon made those comments, more than 100 Walmart customers and former and current employees reached out to an Insider reporter imploring the retailer to rely less on self-checkout.

"They need to hire cashiers again and do away with so many self-checkout," said Mindy Stanley, a Walmart customer from Ashland, Kentucky. "I'd say they are losing so much due to that."

To be sure, Walmart still utilizes cashiers at stores across the nation. But the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retail giant, like so many other retailers, has increasingly relied on automation as a means of improving customer experience and reducing labor cost.

Walmart even put out a press release in June 2020 to extol the virtues of its "manned checkout experience," where there is a round area for self-checkout registers and Walmart employees monitoring and assisting with the process.

Walmart declined to answer questions on its ratio of self-checkout kiosks to traditional checkout lanes, staffed by cashiers, across the country; what surveillance tools it uses to prevent theft; if self-checkout has posed additional risks of theft, and how much Walmart has lost in theft this year. Reuters reported in 2015 that the world's largest retailer likely was losing about 1% of its US revenue — or roughly $3 billion every year — to stealing by customers and employees.

"While we don't discuss details related to illegal activity in our stores, we're continually exploring effective ways to protect merchandise, keep prices low and provide a safe environment for the millions of customers we serve weekly," a Walmart spokesman told Insider in a statement.

The best way to protect against theft and make customers happy is to eliminate self checkouts, according to Polly Kearns, a Walmart shopper from Gulfport, Mississippi.

"Get rid of the self checkouts and watch the thefts decrease," she said. "I don't use them because it is taking a job away from someone.  I'd much rather see a person checking me out than an cold-hearted machine."

A Walmart employee at a store in Spokane, Washington, who asked to be anonymous for fear of retaliation, told Insider that her store went down to six staff-operated registers a few months back, with the rest of the machines being self-checkout.

"Theft is horrible at my store," the employee said. "If corporate actually visited at the store level and spoke with actual employees that deal with the theft, they might see how to fix the problem. They are converting stores to more self checkouts with less employees. Self checkout is where most theft happens."

Security experts concur that self-checkouts make it harder to deter theft. Matt Kelley, a loss-prevention expert at security solutions company LiveView Technologies, told Insider that it's "definitely very valid" that self-checkout, which he said most big-box retailers have implemented in some form, has led to more thefts.

"For the most part, retailers have been thinking about self checkout through a financial-savings and customer-experience perspective," said Kelley, who previously served as a senior manager of asset protection at Home Depot. "But inherently that means there's going to be less eyes on a transaction. And there's going to be more of an opportunity for the dishonest people to be dishonest."