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Ontario megachurch's former victim's advocate concerned after role goes to person with ties to denomination

UNAPOLEGETIC MEGA CHRISTIAN CAPITALI$M 

CBC
Fri, January 5, 2024 

The former victim's advocate at The Meeting House, a megachurch in Oakville, Ont., said she left her position after feeling new leadership wasn't as committed to listening to survivors. (Google Maps - image credit)

Warning: This story contains references to sexual assault.

A former victim's advocate who was hired to support the The Meeting House congregation says she feels the Ontario megachurch's current leaders don't have the "same commitment" to survivors as it once did, two years after its primary teaching pastor was charged with sexual assault.

Melodie Bissell started working with the church as an independent contractor in March 2022, after allegations about Bruxy Cavey came forward. Cavey was charged by Hamilton police in June 2022.

Bissell, who is no longer working with the church, said she's worried recent changes to the internal complaint process means those who want or need to come forward are less likely to do so.

Her comments were made after CBC Hamilton reported Cavey was facing two more sexual assault charges in late December 2023.

None of the charges have been tested in court. Cavey's lawyer has said he maintains his innocence and will vigorously defend the charges in court.

The Meeting House is based in Oakville, Ont., with locations and streamed sermons throughout the province.

Church changed 1st point of contact

Bissell said that in 2022, there was initially a "very strong commitment to working alongside the victims."

At least 38 complaints about sexual misconduct against a group of four former pastors, including Cavey, came to Bissell while she was working with the church, between March 2022 and March 2023.

But she told CBC Hamilton she resigned after seeing how new leadership in the church had "different priorities."

For instance, they decided Bissell shouldn't be the first point of contact for survivors, she said. Instead, that person would end up being someone connected to the church's denomination — Be In Christ Church of Canada — and would refer complaints to Bissell as they saw fit.

"I raised the concern that I felt it wasn't independent and they were vetting the referrals," Bissell told CBC Hamilton.

No complaints received since April 2023: church

The Meeting House declined an interview with CBC Hamilton, and interim senior director Matt Miles said in an email the church has "no additional information about the recent charges or criminal proceedings related to Bruxy Cavey, are not involved in the matter and are not in a position to provide any comment."

Miles pointed to the church's website for information about people needing support.

The church's website no longer features a victim advocacy page, as Bissell said it once had, but it does have a page for people toreport sexual misconduct.

It states the church is committed to ensuring congregations are safe and healthy communities without harassment or abuse.

"We are committed to the prevention of sexual misconduct through regular training and appropriate measures of accountability for all staff, leaders and volunteers," the site reads, adding its policy on sexual misconduct and harassment has a prevention and response framework.

"Complaints of sexual misconduct will be treated with integrity fairness, and concern for the well-being of the complainants and those accused."

The page directs people to submit complaints and get in touch with Linda Lambert, described as the "independent complaint intake partner."

Lambert is listed as a pastoral counsellor at the Be In Christ Church in Wainfleet, Ont. When CBC reached Lambert, she declined to comment.

Be In Christ executive director Charles Mashinter previously told CBC Hamilton it takes "matters of clergy sexual misconduct very seriously" and has "no tolerance for pastoral sexual misconduct."

Miles said the church hasn't received any referrals or submissions since switching from having a victim's advocate to the complaint intake partner in April 2023.

In 2022, the church said it "substantiated" three allegations against Cavey and reported at least one allegation, involving a minor, to police.

At the time, Hamilton police said its investigation into Cavey concluded and Halton police wouldn't comment on it if there was an investigation into the allegations. Cavey's lawyer told CBC Hamilton the new charges laid in December were unrelated to his first charge.

Bissell said while there were fewer complaints compared to when she started, she was receiving complaints up until the end of her time in the victim's advocate role.

Canada needs national reporting agency: advocate

Irene Deschênes, president of Outrage Canada, which describes itself as a "a national non-religious" advocacy group seeking to hold churches accountable for sexual abuse by the clergy, said all churches should offer counselling to survivors.

Deschênes, who survived sexual abuse by a Roman Catholic priest in her childhood, noted her group is pushing for a national, independent reporting agency to track and investigate allegations related to churches while also supporting survivors.

"We're not saying people should go to the very institution that harmed them because, potentially, they'll be re-victimized," she told CBC Hamilton.

Irene Deschênes, who survived childhood sexual abuse by a local priest, is president of Outrage Canada. Deschênes says all churches should offer counselling to survivors. (Rebecca Zandbergen/CBC News)

Deschênes, speaking in general terms, said if a church handpicks a victim's advocate, people are right to question if the advocate is acting in a survivor's best interest.

"I think a lot of people in that [victim's advocate] position are and want to be [acting in their best interest] in the beginning … but my experience is in working with different religious institutions, inevitably, that's not what happens."

Bissell said she hopes patrons of The Meeting House will have their voices heard and said all churches should have strong whistleblower policies in place.

"We need to expose sexual harassment, clergy misconduct and abuse."

Support is available for anyone who has been sexually assaulted. You can access crisis lines and local support services through the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. If you're in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.

Judge apologizes to Saint John men acquitted 40 years after murder conviction

CANADA ABOLISHED THE DEATH PENALTY IN 1963

CBC
Fri, January 5, 2024 

Robert Mailman, left, and Walter Gillespie were acquitted this week of second-degree murder charges that resulted in convictions in 1984. (Graham Thompson/CBC - image credit)

A New Brunswick chief justice has apologized to two Saint John men who spent 40 years wrongly convicted of a murder they didn't commit.

In a written decision issued Friday, Tracey DeWare of the Court of King's Bench said she's been left to believe that "serious mistakes were made" and that a miscarriage of justice occurred in the case of Robert Mailman and Walter Gillespie.

Those mistakes harmed not only Mailman and Gillespie but were also an injustice to the family and friends of George Leeman, who were deprived of answers surrounding the circumstances of his homicide, said DeWare, who had acquitted the men of the murder charges on Thursday.

"The justice system in this case failed Mr. Mailman, Mr. Gillespie and Mr. Leeman," she wrote. "For that, as Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench of New Brunswick, I offer my sincere apology."

Court of Queen's Bench Chief Justice Tracey DeWare is pictured here at her swearing-in ceremony with New Brunswick Court of Appeal Chief Justice Marc Richard.

Court of King's Bench Chief Justice Tracey DeWare apologized to Mailman and Gillespie for the miscarriage of justice they suffered. (Submitted by Tracey DeWare)

Mailman and Gillespie were convicted of second-degree murder in May 1984 for the November 1983 homicide of Leeman.

The two were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years, and maintained their innocence all throughout.

Following unsuccessful appeals and efforts to get their case reviewed, federal Justice Minister Arif Virani announced last month he was overturning the convictions and granting Mailman and Gillespie new trials. Virani said new information led him to believe "a miscarriage of justice likely occurred."

On Thursday, the two men made their first court appearance since their convictions were overturned.

Crown prosecutor Karen Lee told the court she had no evidence to present against the two men, prompting DeWare to find them not guilty of the charges they first faced 40 years ago.

Jerome Kennedy, lawyer for Mailman and Gillespie, said it's important that DeWare apologized for what the justice system got wrong.

Jerome Kennedy, lawyer for Mailman and Gillespie, says it's important that DeWare apologized for what the justice system got wrong. (Graham Thompson/CBC)

Jerome Kennedy, a lawyer who represented Mailman and Gillespie, said he was pleased to see an apology from DeWare as part of her written decision.

"[DeWare's apology] is very important not only to Mr. Mailman and Mr. Gillespie, but to the administration of justice," said Kennedy, a lawyer with Innocence Canada.

"Anytime we have an eminent jurist like the chief justice saying that, ' apologize,' or 'we apologize on behalf of the system,' that's very important."

Kennedy said that last July, the acquittal of Brian Anderson and Allan Woodhouse of murder in Manitoba prompted an apology from that province's superior court chief justice, as well as the province's attorney general and head of public prosecutions.

It's unclear if the same is planned in New Brunswick.

CBC News has asked the provincial Department of Justice whether Attorney General Ted Flemming plans to apologize for the men's wrongful convictions but has not yet received a response.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M  CARWASH
Ex-Vitol Oil Trader Ran Bribery Scheme From Houston, Prosecutors Say

Patricia Hurtado
Fri, January 5, 2024 



(Bloomberg) -- The first defendant to face trial in a sweeping crackdown on bribery in the commodities-trading industry “orchestrated a money-laundering scheme right here in the US,” prosecutors told a jury in their opening argument against a former Vitol Group manager.

Javier Aguilar is accused of bribing Ecuadorian and Mexican government officials to win more than $500 million in business for Vitol, the world’s largest independent oil-trading firm, from state-owned Petroecuador and Petroleos Mexicanos. US prosecutors allege that he made $870,000 in payments to the officials to get the business.

This is the first major trial of a commodity trader in more than a decade. While the industry has a had a reputation for backhanders and brown envelopes since the days of Marc Rich, few individual commodity traders have been convicted of corruption and even fewer have stood trial. A slew of anti-corruption investigations in the US, the UK, Brazil and Switzerland has yielded at least half a dozen guilty pleas, but Aguilar is the first to stand trial.

The trial promises to turn up new details about what US prosecutors have described as widespread corruption in the oil sector in Ecuador that involved at least six commodity trading houses as well as several state-owned companies in the Middle East and Asia.

Aguilar, who was based in Houston, is charged with three counts of conspiring to violate US laws against bribery and money laundering and could face at least a decade in prison if convicted.

‘Access, Influence or Greed’

“Whether for access, influence or greed, it’s a federal crime to bribe foreign officials for business,” prosecutor Clayton Solomon told the jurors in Brooklyn, New York, on Friday.

Aguilar and alleged co-conspirators used aliases such as Perez Marcos 007 to send emails to intermediaries to pay the bribes and used code words like zapatos, or shoes, to refer to the illegal payments, Solomon told the panel. He said some of the bribes were even made in the parking lot of a Houston-based Pemex business. Aguilar was secretly recorded discussing the scheme, he said.

Solomon told the jurors they would hear from former senior Petroecuador manager Nilsen Arias and consultants Antonio and Enrique Pere. They have pleaded guilty in the fraud and will testify for the government against Aguilar in hopes of leniency at their sentencing.

Aguilar’s lawyer, William Price, told the jury in his own opening that his client was framed by his former Vitol superior, Marc Ducrest, who pinned the blame for the fraud on an innocent Aguilar.

Ducrest, who hasn’t been charged with wrongdoing, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Aguilar a Scapegoat

“They decided to point the finger at Mr. Aguilar and say he was responsible for it,” Price told the jury. “But Mr. Aguilar had nothing to do with it.”

Price argued it’s a common practice to hire consultants in Latin America and said Aguilar believed they were legitimately facilitating contracts.

“Mr. Pere and his brother had a self-contained criminal enterprise,” Price said. “They basically bribed government officials so they could get results, so they could get the business.”

Prosecutors allege that Aguilar wired money to domestic and offshore bank accounts through a network of shell companies controlled by the co-conspirators. The payments, many of them processed through US-based banks, helped Vitol retain business related to Petroecuador and Mexico’s state oil giant, Pemex, according to the US. Aguilar also faces federal charges in Texas related to Pemex.

Aguilar was indicted in 2020. His trial was delayed by the pandemic, which shut down US courts.

As part of a deferred-prosecution agreement with the US, Vitol admitted that between 2005 and 2014 it and co-conspirators paid more than $8 million in bribes to four officials of Brazilian energy company Petrobras to get confidential pricing information. Separately, it said it tried to manipulate benchmarks for fuel oil prices, according to the agreement.

Vitol’s Americas division has also been a focus of the Brazilian “Carwash” corruption and money-laundering investigation that toppled some of that country’s leading business executives and political leaders. A former Petrobras oil trader who went by the code name Phil Collins told a Brazilian judge in 2019 that he received bribes from the trading house to favor the firm in contracts from 2003 to 2005.

The case is US v. Aguilar, 20-cr-390, US District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).

--With assistance from Archie Hunter, Jack Farchy and Stephan Kueffner.

(Updates with historical context in third paragraph)

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

Yellen Declares US Economy Has Achieved Soft Landing




Christopher Condon
Fri, January 5, 2024 

(Bloomberg) -- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen declared Friday the US economy had achieved a long-sought soft landing, a historically unusual event in which high inflation is tamed without significantly damaging the labor market.

“What we’re seeing now I think we can describe as a soft landing, and my hope is that it will continue,” Yellen said Friday in an interview with CNN.

Government figures out earlier Friday showed job gains and wage increases in December both exceeded expectations, with payrolls climbing 216,000. The report, which suggested continued upside risk for inflation, prompted investors to trim bets that the Federal Reserve would begin cutting rates in March.

Yellen zeroed in on the latest wage data, which showed average hourly earnings rose 4.1% in the year through December. Given consumer inflation for the year is projected by economists to come in at 3.2%, that would mean wages exceeded price growth in 2023.

“Wage increases are running over price increases now,” she said. “American workers are getting ahead and the progress for the middle-income families is very noticeable.”

Yellen declined to comment on how she thought the Fed should proceed but said the central bank had handled monetary policy well.

“The path the labor market and economy and inflation have followed suggests they’ve made a set of good decisions,” Yellen said.

For two years the Treasury chief consistently rejected the gloomiest predictions for the US economy even as the central bank pursued an aggressive rate-hiking campaign through much of 2022 and 2023. While never ruling out a recession altogether, she repeatedly said she saw a “path” to a so-called soft landing.

In recent weeks Yellen has been on something like a victory lap. In December she said economists who predicted recession were now “eating their words,” and she repeated her critique Friday.

“There has been a lot of pessimism about the economy that’s really proven unwarranted,” she said. “A year ago, most forecasters believe we would fall into a recession. Obviously, that hasn’t happened.”

Bloomberg Businessweek

Summers Urges CEOs to Reject Trump, Calling Election Most Vital Since WWII

Christopher Anstey
Fri, January 5, 2024

Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers 

(Bloomberg) -- Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers called on US business leaders to set aside their concerns over the excesses of the Biden administration’s progressive policies and to recognize the historic dangers of another presidential term for Donald Trump.

“This is probably the most consequential presidential election since the Second World War,” Summers said on Bloomberg Television’s Wall Street Week with David Westin. Among things under threat in the case of a Trump win in November are “prospects with respect to basic justice and rights including the ability to make and enforce contracts in the United States,” and the ability of companies, universities and other institutions to “function autonomously,” he said.

While financial markets performed well during Trump’s first term, Summers said history shows things change as the duration of a populist leader’s time in power extends. Markets also responded well during Benito Mussolini’s first few years in office in Italy, as did Argentina’s economy initially under Juan Perón, he said. But both ended with “a great deal crashing down,” he said.

Summers, a Harvard University professor and paid contributor to Bloomberg TV, made a “plea to my friends in the business community” with regard to this year’s election.

“I understand some of your concerns about overly progressive, overly government-interventionist policies of the Biden administration — in many cases, I share some of those concerns,” he said. “But that is a very different thing than undercutting the entire framework within which the United States and its business community have operated for all of our lifetimes.”

Different Tone

The former Treasury chief drew a distinction between the Trump’s 2017-21 term and what the Republican has signaled if he defeats Joe Biden. Advisers last time were “drawn from the mainstream” of the GOP, including former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, he said. But Trump has this time been using “extreme rhetoric” and has surrounded himself with “figures committed to tearing down the establishment.”

Overseas, the likelihood is that US allies and others would view Trump’s first term, and the rejection of legitimate electoral results in the 2020 vote that culminated in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol as not an “aberration,” Summers said.

A Trump victory would “represent a loss of the moral authority that the United States has had since it won the Cold War, since it won the Second World War — and that will make for a much less stable world,” he said.

As for Biden, Summers said that there were “costly misjudgments” with regard to fiscal stimulus in 2021, and “there have been excesses on industrial policy,” but overall the administration has pursued “a sound activist approach to economic policy.”

Haley, Christie

With the Republican contest for the presidential nomination only just starting, Summers also said that “I would not be speaking anything at all like this” were Nikki Haley or Chris Christie the GOP front-runner.

Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek

CRIMINAL CRYPTO CAPITALI$M

The CEO of failed crypto firm HyperVerse boasted an extraordinary résumé. He may be completely made-up


Marco Quiroz-Gutierrez
Fri, January 5, 2024 

The CEO of Australian crypto outfit HyperVerse is a graduate of Cambridge, an alumnus of Goldman Sachs, and an entrepreneur who sold a company to Adobe. But there's just one problem: He may not be real.

Steven Reece Lewis was introduced during an online global launch for the company in 2021 and appeared in multiple videos published by HyperVerse, according to an investigation by the Guardian. But after scrutinizing further, the outlet found that Cambridge, Goldman, and Adobe had zero evidence of interacting with Lewis.

Lewis apparently doesn't have a LinkedIn account, with his online presence limited to HyperVerse marketing materials and a now inactive X account created one month before he appeared in that 2021 launch video.

The HyperVerse website featured video endorsements of Lewis from celebrities such as actor and martial artist Chuck Norris, Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak, and boy band singer Lance Bass, although the Guardian suggests these endorsements may have been purchased on the personalized video website Cameo. Norris, Wozniak, and Bass likely weren't aware of the company’s intentions when making the videos and are not suspected of any wrongdoing.

HyperVerse collected about $1.3 billion in 2022, the most that year of any alleged crypto scam, according to a report by the blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis.

The company was associated with Australian entrepreneur Sam Lee and his business partner Ryan Xu, who previously founded the failed Australian Bitcoin company Blockchain Global. In 2021, Blockchain Global went into voluntary administration (similar to bankruptcy in the U.S.), owing creditors around $58 million.

Lee has said previously that he is not the founder of HyperVerse, although he maintains it was not a scam. Lee and Xu were referred to Australia’s securities and investments regulator for possible breaches of Australian law, but the agency has said it does not intend to take action against them at this time, the Guardian reported.

After doubt was cast on Lewis’s identity, many people took to social media to poke fun at the company and tout the incident as the latest example of dishonesty within the crypto industry.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Wisconsin governor who called for marijuana legalization says he'll back limited GOP proposal

Fri, January 5, 2024 



MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, who has pushed for full legalization of recreational marijuana, said Wednesday that he is open to a more limited medical marijuana legalization being promoted by Republicans.

“I would think that getting it all done in one fell swoop would be more thoughtful as far as meeting the needs of Wisconsinites that have asked for it,” the Democrat said in an interview with The Associated Press. “But if that’s what we can accomplish right now, I’ll be supportive of that.”

Republicans planned to introduce a bill on Monday. GOP lawmakers have repeatedly rejected calls from Evers and other Democrats to legalize all uses of marijuana, including medical and recreational.

Vos said the proposal would be limited and modeled after the medical marijuana law that had been in place in neighboring Minnesota before it moved to full legalization.

“I'm glad that the governor is open to supporting our proposal," Vos said Friday. "But if he keeps saying it’s only a precursor to recreational marijuana, it will kill this proposal.”

Republican state Sen. Mary Felzkowski, who introduced a medical marijuana bill that got its first hearing in the Legislature in 2022, said she too was glad Evers was open to the idea. Felzkowski said she is not involved with the Assembly's latest proposal.

Evers said he had not yet seen the Republican bill but that he would support a limited proposal.

Democratic Sen. Melissa Agard, who has pushed for full legalization, said Republicans were not consulting with her on the bill and she also didn’t know what it would include.

“The devil’s in the details with all policy making,” Agard said. “It’s hard for me to say I support or don’t support something I haven’t seen yet.”

Wisconsin remains an outlier nationally. Thirty-eight states have legalized medical marijuana and 24 have legalized recreational marijuana. The push for legalization in Wisconsin has gained momentum as its neighbors have loosened laws.

Marquette University Law School polls have shown large majority support among Wisconsin residents for legalizing marijuana use for years.

Scott Bauer, The Associated Press

Biden voted for the Bayh-Dole Act 44 years ago–but the administration’s plans to reinterpret it could undermine decades of world-leading U.S. innovation

Almesha L. Campbell
Fri, January 5, 2024 



Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) could soon become even bigger innovation hubs, thanks to measures advanced by Senator Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.). He recently introduced a bill to ensure that land-grant HBCUs receive fair funding, and last year, he fought to fund these institutions in the CHIPS and Science Act.

His actions could help HBCUs foster scientific innovations that become real-world products. But whether the schools will be able to take advantage of the new opportunities depends on a process known as "technology transfer," which brings promising breakthroughs out of university labs to everyday consumers. The Google search algorithm, the nicotine patch, and the Honeycrisp apple are just a few of the myriad innovations to come out of this process.

For over 12 years I have led the tech transfer program at Jackson State University, one of the largest HBCUs in the United States. I am now also the first person from an HBCU to chair AUTM, a non-profit organization of more than 3,000 members dedicated to transforming academic discoveries into the products and services of tomorrow.

Much of the modern tech transfer process flows from a revolutionary yet little-known 1980 law called the Bayh-Dole Act. That pivotal law allows academic institutions to directly protect and commercialize discoveries arising from federally funded research on their campuses. Universities are then free to license that intellectual property to private-sector companies, which further invest funds and continue to research and develop those inventions into commercially useful products.

The effects of the Bayh-Dole law, and the technology transfer horsepower it unleashed, are staggering. Between 1996 and 2020, technology transfer resulting from Bayh-Dole contributed as much as $1.9 trillion to U.S. economic output and supported some 6.5 million jobs.

The genius of this system, now emulated around the world, is that it takes control of intellectual property away from the federal government and empowers universities. This creates a virtuous cycle, in which taxpayer funds support research that may one day be commercialized, which can lead to royalty payments to universities and re-investment in future research for the next generation of inventions.

Ensuring that HBCU faculty and students benefit from this cycle has been one of my top priorities. That's why Jackson State leads EnRICH, a "pre-accelerator" for faculty and student innovators, and participates in programs like the Xlerator Network and the National Science Foundation Mid-South I-Corps, which encourage innovation and tech transfer in our region. This fall, the National Institutes of Health awarded Jackson State and our partners $12 million to enhance research, development, and entrepreneurship in biomedical innovation.

Such regional investments are crucial to democratizing access to the benefits of tech transfer, previously the preserve of elite institutions such as Columbia, MIT, and UC Berkeley. At Jackson State and other regional institutions, we empower innovators and entrepreneurs who have been historically overlooked. This creates a more equitable landscape and helps everyone in our region by creating new economic opportunities.

Unfortunately, the U.S. tech transfer system, which was supercharged after the passage of the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980, is now on shaky ground. This month, after years of pressure from misguided activists, the Biden Administration announced a plan to dramatically reinterpret a provision of that vital law.

The White House has proposed that the government be allowed to "march in" and forcibly re-license patents that result from federally-funded research, with no basis in law. Under the planned scheme, the government could use this tactic to control the prices of thousands of products, including medicines.

This is a puzzling turn of events as President Biden, who voted for the original Bayh-Dole Act, has upheld decades of precedent by rejecting demands to reinterpret march-in rights at every turn, until now. We hope that during the public comment period on the proposal that runs through Feb. 6, better sense prevails. The suggested legal revision poses grave risks to tech transfer, regional innovation, and economic equity.

I am very concerned that this development could kill the golden goose that we have built for decades and undo our efforts to uplift innovators from all backgrounds. Reinterpreting Bayh-Dole as a tool for arbitrary price setting would make successful commercialization even more difficult. Private sector firms and their investors only risk their time, talent, and treasure on developing unproven technologies if they can be certain their efforts have the potential to pay off. That's precisely the purpose of patents.

Weakening the tech transfer process would work directly against the primary purpose of Bayh-Dole, which is to bring the products of government-funded research to consumers.

Entrepreneurs of color, at HBCUs and elsewhere, are finally getting a chance to show how innovative and entrepreneurial they are. They're founding dozens of startups in places like Mississippi. But venture capital funding is hard to find in "fly over America."

Making this already difficult process even harder, by threatening to take away entrepreneurs' intellectual property rights, would ensure they never even get a chance.

That would be more than a tragedy. It would be a disaster for our nation, which needs all the innovation– and economic growth–we can get.

Almesha L. Campbell, Ph.D., is the assistant vice president for research and economic development at Jackson State University, a public historically Black university in Jackson, Mississippi. She also serves as chair of AUTM, the nonprofit leader in efforts to educate, promote, and inspire professionals to support the development of academic research that changes the world and drives innovation forward.

The opinions expressed in Fortune.com commentary pieces are solely the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of Fortune.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Jarislowsky Fraser to back Browning West request for Gildan shareholder meeting

The Canadian Press
Fri, January 5, 2024


MONTREAL — Investment manager Jarislowsky Fraser says it will support a move by U.S. investment firm Browning West to replace five directors at Gildan Activewear Inc. in an ongoing fight over who should lead the company.

Charles Nadim, head of research and portfolio manager, Canadian equities, at Jarislowsky Fraser says the firm intends to support Browning West and its intent to requisition a special meeting of Gildan shareholders.

The dispute with the company comes after Gildan's board replaced Glenn Chamandy as chief executive late last year with Vince Tyra. Chamandy has said he was terminated without cause after four decades with the company.

Browning West wants to replace five incumbent directors, appoint Michael Kneeland as chair and reinstate Chamandy as chief executive.

In addition to Jarislowsky Fraser, which is Gildan's largest shareholder, Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc. and Oakcliff Capital have said they will back the Browning West nominees.

For its part, Gildan's board has said the decision to remove Chamandy came after he agreed to a succession timeline only to later ask to stay on beyond the original plan.

In a letter to shareholders, Gildan chair Donald Berg, along with the board's committee chairs, have said the board's trust and confidence in Chamandy had eroded as it worked to hold him accountable for delivering the next chapter of the company's long-term growth.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 5, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GIL)

The Canadian Press

UK
Tube strikes: Dates and services affected in London Underground walkouts


Chris Price
Fri, 5 January 2024 

Mick Lynch, head of the RMT, which has rejected the latest 5pc pay offer from London Underground - James Manning/PA

Commuters are bracing for a week of travel chaos on the Tube as workers begin strike action.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will stage a series of walkouts from Sunday Jan 7 in protest at a 5pc pay offer. RMT engineers are also staging a walkout out on Friday evening, but the biggest disruption to services will be from Sunday evening to Friday January 12.

Transport for London (TfL) said there would be little or no service between the evening of Sunday Jan 7 and the morning of Friday Jan 12 if the strikes go ahead.

A second trade union, the Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), is also threatening industrial action against London Underground in a dispute over pay. It is ballotting its London Underground members after rejecting a 5pc pay offer and plans to freeze pay bands and salary ranges.

Maryam Eslamdoust, TSSA general secretary, said: “Our members on London Underground are deeply unhappy at this sub-standard and simply unrealistic offer.

“We will now move to a ballot for industrial action, raising the very real prospect of a crippling strike on the Tube.”

Here is everything you need to know about the strike action:

When will the strike action take place?

Sunday, January 7: Tube services will close earlier than normal. Passengers are advised by Transport for London to complete Tube journeys by 5.30pm.

Monday, January 8 to Thursday, January 11: severe disruption is expected, with little to no service expected to run across the London Underground network.

Friday, January 12: Tube services will start later than normal, with services expected to return to normal by midday.

How will I be able to get around London?

London Overground, Elizabeth line, DLR, tram, bus and National Rail services are not involved in this strike action.

However, many services will be much busier than normal and affected by station closures where stations also serve London Underground lines.

Queuing and one-way systems may be in place.

Why are Tube workers going on strike?

The RMT said the latest pay offer of 5pc from London Underground is “unacceptable”.

It said Transport for London (TfL) has created a bonus pot of £13m for senior managers, while the commissioner took an 11pc pay rise in 2023 taking his salary up to £395,000.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “The refusal of TfL to restore staff travel facilities and create a two-tier workforce is also unacceptable.

“Our members have made it clear that they are prepared to take action and we urge TfL to improve their offer to avert disruption in the capital.”

What have Transport for London said?

Glynn Barton, TfL’s chief operating officer, said: “We are disappointed that RMT is planning strike action in response to our offer of a 5pc pay increase.

“We have been clear throughout our productive discussions with our trade unions that this offer is the most we can afford while ensuring that we can operate safely, reliably and sustainably.

“We encourage the RMT to engage with us to avoid disruption for Londoners. We would like to advise anyone travelling during the strike days to check before they travel.”

Tube strikes go ahead after last-ditch pay talks break down


Alan Jones, PA Industrial Correspondent
Fri, 5 January 2024 

Strikes by London Underground workers will go ahead from Friday evening after last-ditch talks failed to resolve a pay dispute.

Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will walk out throughout the next week, causing huge disruption to services.

The union is in dispute over a 5% pay offer and other issues including travel facilities.

The action will begin at 6pm on Friday when maintenance train workers at Ruislip Depot will walk out for 24 hours.

Control staff will strike on Sunday for 24 hours and from Monday to Wednesday nearly 10,000 RMT members will strike across the Tube.

An RMT spokesperson said: “Transport for London has failed to avert this strike by not offering a deal that was acceptable to our members on London Underground.

“We do not take strike action lightly but we are determined to get a negotiated settlement on pay, travel facilities and a grading structure that means our members will not lose out.”

Strikes by London Underground workers will be as follows:

– Friday January 5, 1800 hours, to Saturday January 6, 1759 – maintenance train workers at Ruislip Depot

– Sunday January 7, 0001, to Monday January 8, 2359 – LU Control Centre, track access control and power control

– Monday January 8, 0001, to Wednesday January 10, 2359 – including station staff and train operators

– Tuesday January 9, 0001, to Thursday January 11, 2359 – service controllers, signallers and line information