UK

Tesco latest supermarket to increase staff pay

Bloomberg

Tesco has become the latest supermarket to increase pay as retailers face up to the rising minimum wage and try to retain staff.

The hourly pay rate for store workers will rise from £11.02 to £12.02 in April, while pay for workers in London will rise to £13.15 an hour.

More than 200,000 staff will benefit from the increase, Tesco said.

All staff will get the voluntary Real Living Wage, which is higher than the compulsory National Living Wage.

The National Living Wage, often referred to as the minimum wage, is set to rise to £11.44 an hour in April 2024 - and for the first time will include 21 and 22-year-olds.

As a result, many of the major supermarkets have been announcing pay deals over the past few weeks.

How much is the minimum wage going up?

M&S raises pay in battle for supermarket staff

Tesco now joins Sainsbury's, Asda, Aldi, Lidl and M&S in increasing its minimum pay for staff outside of London to £12 per hour.

Aldi's higher pay has been in place since the start of February, while Lidl and Sainsbury's increased wage began in March. M&S's pay rise will begin in April, while Asda will bring in an interim increase on 1 April to £11.44 an hour before raising the rate to £12.04 an hour from 1 July.

As well as raising pay, Tesco also said it would be increasing paternity leave to six weeks fully paid.

In addition, Tesco said it would increase maximum company sick pay entitlement to 18 weeks for eligible colleagues.

The supermarket has dropped separate pay rates for inner London and outer London employees to create one London Allowance, and it said the £13.15 per hour rate for this area meant it kept in line with the voluntary London Real Living Wage.

Daniel Adams, national officer at the shopworkers' union Usdaw, said: "This deal not only delivers an inflation-busting increase for Tesco employees, but it also demonstrates the value of progressive employers engaging constructively with trade unions at a time when the cost-of-living pressures continue to be keenly felt by our members."

 Tesco to increase pay for shop workers by 9.1%

Tesco is to increase basic pay for shop workers ahead of a rise in the national minimum wage (Ben Stevens/Parsons Media/PA)

By Henry Saker-Clark, PA Deputy Business Editor

Today at 08:55

Tesco is to increase store workers’ pay by 9.1% in a roughly £300 million investment.

It is the latest supermarket group to lift pay levels for workers ahead of the rise in the national minimum wage in April.

The national minimum wage will increase from its current rate of £10.42 per hour to £11.44 on April 1.

The grocery giant, which employs more than 330,000 people across the UK, will raise the basic hourly rate for store workers from £11.02 per hour to £12.02.

Tesco employs more than 330,000 people across the UK (Danny Lawson/PA)

It will also increase the pay of workers within the M25 to £13.15 per hour, from a current rate of £11.95 for those in inner London and £11.75 for those in outer London.

The pay deal announcement, which came after an agreement with the Usdaw trade union, will also see the business increase its paternity level to six weeks fully paid and raise maximum sick pay entitlement to 18 weeks.

Tesco UK chief executive Matthew Barnes said: “This represents another significant investment in our colleagues, building on the last two years of investment.

“We recognise the amazing work our colleagues do every day in serving our customers and we’re really proud to offer such competitive rates of pay alongside a great range of exclusive colleague benefits.”

Tesco will also increase its annual Colleague Clubcard discount allowance to £2,000, up from £1,500.

Usdaw national officer Daniel Adams said: “This deal not only delivers an inflation-busting increase for Tesco employees, but it also demonstrates the value of progressive employers engaging constructively with trade unions at a time when the cost-of-living pressures continue to be keenly felt by our members.

“We welcome the company’s positive response through our negotiations, which have resulted in the largest investment in pay in a single year, with the highest entry rate for store employees of any major supermarket.”

It comes days after rival Asda said it will increase its basic rate of staff pay to £12.04 per hour later this year.

Dartmouth men's basketball team votes 13-2 in favor of first labor union for college athletes

The vote could present a huge shakeup to the National Collegiate Athletics Association’s model, which currently only allows college athletes to financially benefit from their role on teams through name, image and likeness.

March 5, 2024
By Natalie Kainz


The Dartmouth Men's Basketball team voted 13-2 in favor of becoming the first-ever labor union for college athletes on Tuesday afternoon.

The vote could present a huge shakeup to the National Collegiate Athletics Association's (NCAA) model, which currently only allows college athletes to financially benefit from their role on teams through name, image and likeness.


The National Labor Relations Board paved the way for the union vote on Feb. 5, after Regional Director Laura Sacks ordered an election for the team.

“Because Dartmouth has the right to control the work performed by the Dartmouth men’s basketball team, and the players perform that work in exchange for compensation, I find that the petitioned-for basketball players are employees within the meaning of the [National Labor Relations] Act,” Sacks said in a statement.

Dartmouth has pushed back against the ruling, filing an appeal to postpone the election or impound the ballots. In the motion, which is pending with the NLRB, the university argued that the athletes are "students first and athletes second," and participate in college basketball to further their educational aims, like all students who participate in any recognized extracurricular activity.

Cornell Sports Law Professor Michael L. Huyghue called the classification of college athletes as regular students a “mockery,” because it neglects the millions of dollars that colleges are paid for television contracts, marketing rights and ticketing sales.

“We’ve just reached a point where the anti-trust laws are suggesting universities don’t have a right to capitalize on all that revenue,” said Huyghue.

Dartmouth still has five days to file an objection to the union election, and the decision by the NLRB can be appealed all the way up to the Supreme Court.

“Unionization is not appropriate in this instance,” Dartmouth wrote in a statement to NBC News. “The costs of Dartmouth’s athletics program far exceed any revenue for the program.”

But Huyghue said the mere fact that an employer has not been successful in generating revenue does not mean its employees don't have a right to unionize.

Dartmouth Big Green players huddle during a game on February 16, 2024, in New York City.

Adam Gray / Getty Images

The push for the team to be recognized as a union was started by Dartmouth men's basketball players Cade Haskins and Romeo Myrthil, who told NBC News Now they had to take on jobs to sustain their finances while also being student-athletes.

“We don’t get a stipend or any type of benefit for being athletes even though we are working like full time jobs basically by being on the team,” Haskins said.

This isn't the first time a college athletics team has made a bid to be recognized as employees. In 2014, Northwestern University's football team sought union status from the NLRB.

Although a union election was held, the ballots were destroyed because the NLRB ruled the following year that the prospect of union and nonunion teams in college sports could create competitive imbalances on the field.

Dartmouth men’s basketball team votes to unionize, though steps remain before forming labor union


College sports has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry that richly rewards coaches and schools while the players remained unpaid amateurs.

ASSOCIATED PRESS / March 5, 2024

Dartmouth's Robert McRae III (23) takes a pass from Jackson Munro (33) as Duke's Jaylen Blakes (2) defends during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Durham, N.C., Nov. 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Ben McKeown, File)

HANOVER, N.H. (AP) — The Dartmouth men's basketball team voted to unionize Tuesday in an unprecedented step toward forming the first labor union for college athletes and another attack on the NCAA's deteriorating amateur business model.

In an election supervised by the National Labor Relations Board in the school's Human Resources offices, the players voted 13-2 to join Service Employees International Union Local 560, which already represents some Dartmouth workers. Every player on the roster participated.

"Today is a big day for our team," players Cade Haskins and Romeo Myrthil said in a statement. “We stuck together all season and won this election. It is self-evident that we, as students, can also be both campus workers and union members. Dartmouth seems to be stuck in the past. It’s time for the age of amateurism to end.”"

The school has five business days to file an objection to the NLRB and could also take the matter to federal court. That could delay negotiations over a collective bargaining agreement until long after the current members of the basketball team have graduated.

Dartmouth pushed back on the decision — again — in a statement, saying it was supportive of the five unions it negotiates with on campus, including SEIU Local 560.

“In this isolated circumstance, however, the students on the men’s basketball team are not in any way employed by Dartmouth,” the school said. “For Ivy League students who are varsity athletes, academics are of primary importance, and athletic pursuit is part of the educational experience. Classifying these students as employees simply because they play basketball is as unprecedented as it is inaccurate. We, therefore, do not believe unionization is appropriate.”

Although the NCAA has long maintained that its players are “student-athletes” who were in school primarily to study, college sports has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry that richly rewards coaches and schools while the players remained unpaid amateurs.

Recent court decisions have chipped away at that framework, with players now allowed to profit off their name, image and likeness and earn a still-limited stipend for living expenses beyond the cost of attendance. Last month’s decision by an NLRB that the Big Green players are employees of the school, with the right to form a union, threatens to upend the amateur model.

"We will continue to talk to other athletes at Dartmouth and throughout the Ivy League about forming unions and working together to advocate for athletes’ rights and well-being,” Haskins and Myrthil said.

A college athletes union would be unprecedented in American sports. A previous attempt to unionize the Northwestern football team failed because the teams Wildcats play in the Big Ten, which includes public schools that aren’t under the jurisdiction of the NLRB.

That’s why one of the NCAA’s biggest threats isn’t coming in one of the big-money football programs like Alabama or Michigan, which are largely indistinguishable from professional sports teams. Instead, it is the academically oriented Ivy League, where players don’t receive athletic scholarships, teams play in sparsely filled gymnasiums and the games are streamed online instead of broadcast on network TV.

Myrthil and Haskins have said they would like to form an Ivy League Players Association that would include athletes from other sports on campus and other schools in the conference. They said they understood that change could come too late to benefit them and their current teammates.

The team includes four seniors, five juniors, three sophomores and three freshman.

“We have teammates here that we all love and support,” Myrthil said after playing at Harvard last month in the Big Green’s first game after the NLRB official’s ruling. “And whoever comes into the Dartmouth family is part of our family. So, we’ll support them as much as we can.”

Mary Kay Henry, the international president of the SEIU, said the players “will go down as one of the greatest basketball teams in all of history.”

“The Ivy League is where the whole scandalous model of nearly free labor in college sports was born and that is where it is going to die,” she said.

__

By JIMMY GOLEN AP Sports Writer

Jimmy Golen covers sports and the law for The Associated Press.

NHS Scotland strikes: BMA warns Scottish Government it would consider strike action in consultant pay dispute

The British Medical Association has warned “it is increasingly clear” the Scottish Government will only negotiate once a formal dispute is opened and strike action is threatened

By Joseph Anderson
Published 5th Mar 2024


A union representing Scotland’s doctors has warned the Scottish Government it will consider strike action, after ministers were accused of ignoring “pleas for positive engagement” during negotiations over consultant pay.
The British Medical Association (BMA) has secured an improved pay offer from the UK government for consultants in England after a previous offer was narrowly rejected at the end of January

This has led to the BMA in Scotland calling for a similar pay offer from the Scottish Government, taking into account the extra funding that will arise from Barnett consequentials and the higher rate of top tax in Scotland for individuals earning more than £125,140.

The BMA in Scotland has threatened to "undertake the kind of industrial action seen elsewhere in the UK", such as the junior doctors' strike pictured above in England.

Dr Alan Robertson, chair of BMA Scotland’s consultant committee, said: “When you add in the new top rates of tax introduced in Scotland, the competitive disadvantage our consultants face is becoming increasingly clear

“We cannot possibly hope to make any difference on reducing the number of gaps in our workforce if it continues to become substantially less attractive to work in Scotland than other places in the UK.

“While we will need to analyse the English offer in relation to Scotland, in particular any impact on Barnett consequentials, we urge the Scottish Government to commit to at least matching what is on offer in England and ensuring no consultant in Scotland is missing out. Indeed, there is an opportunity to go further if we really want to deliver the consultant workforce our NHS in Scotland needs.”

Dr Robertson added: “Sadly, given the way that ministers have recently ignored our pleas for positive engagement, I fear that this may be unlikely unless there is an urgent change in direction.

“It sadly and frustratingly seems increasingly clear that the only way we will get the attention, action and improvements necessary for the hugely valuable resource that is our consultant workforce, is to pursue a course of threatening to enter dispute and then undertake the kind of industrial action seen elsewhere in the UK.

“I very much hope that we hear from the new Cabinet secretary soon and he proves my fears unfounded.”

The consultant workforce in Scotland’s NHS is “beyond crisis point”, the doctors’ union said.

BMA Scotland’s consultant committee responded to the latest quarterly figures for the NHS medical and dentistry consultancy workforce, which were released on Tuesday.

In the quarter ending December 2023, there were 6,006 whole-time equivalent consultants, with 436 vacancies.

Dr Robertson said: “New statistics show that consultant vacancies remain far too high, standing at some 436 gaps in the workforce – and up by 5.8 per cent on this time last year. Worryingly, posts sitting vacant for six months or more are up to 238 – a 12.2 per cent increase over the past 12 months – showing just how hard it is to recruit senior doctors.

“Audit Scotland has warned our NHS and its workforce is simply unable to meet the growing demand for health services of our population. The stubbornly high level of gaps in our consultant workforce just back up that claim further – and it is patients who are suffering as waiting lists grow and care becomes harder and harder to access.”

Scottish Conservative shadow health secretary, Dr Sandesh Gulhane, said: “As BMA Scotland points out the chronic shortage of NHS consultants is the product of twin SNP failures – their mismanagement of both our health service and the economy.

“Years of dire workforce planning by successive SNP health secretaries has left us with a huge and growing shortfall of frontline medics.

“That problem is now being exacerbated by them making Scotland the highest taxed part of the UK, in an attempt to fill the gaping hole they’ve created in the nation’s finances.

“It is little wonder Scotland’s NHS is finding it increasingly difficult to recruit and retain consultants when they are being taxed thousands more per year than they would be elsewhere in the UK.

“Sadly, it’s Scottish NHS patients who suffer as a result of this disastrous SNP double whammy.”

The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.

Robert Reich: The Most Troubling Aspect Of Monday’s Supreme Court Decision – OpEd

 March 5, 2024 

By Robert Reich

Even though Trump clearly engaged in an insurrection and even though the Constitution clearly bars insurrectionists from holding elected office, the Supreme Court Monday ruled that Trump will remain on the ballot anyway

With the Super Tuesday primaries now underway, all nine justices agreed that states (in this case, Colorado) cannot decide to keep Trump off the ballot under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment — which bars anyone who has sworn an oath to the Constitution and yet participated in an insurrection against the United States from holding office. They agreed that allowing states to make such decisions would lead to a patchwork of ballots, undercutting federal authority.

But this may not be the most troubling aspect of their decision over the long term. The five justices in the majority went further, ruling that Section 3 could only be enforced by Congress. They rested their argument on Section 5 of the 14th Amendment, which provides that Congress shall pass “appropriate legislation” to enforce the Amendment — such as, for example, procedures to identify which individuals should be disqualified under Section 3. And Congress has not done so. 

But requiring that Congress first pass such legislation would prevent the federal government’s own Justice Department from bringing a suit alleging that someone should not be allowed on a ballot because they participated in an insurrection. 

It would in effect shield any future insurrectionist candidate whose party controls at least one chamber of Congress and therefore would not enact such legislation.

Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson were also rightfully concerned that the majority’s decision could be used to prevent the Justice Department or any aggrieved plaintiff from enforcing other provisions of the 14th Amendment — such as Section 1, which prohibits states from making or enforcing laws that “abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States” or deprive “any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” or deny them “equal protection of the laws.”

Recall that these 14th Amendment provisions have been bulwarks against states that have discriminated against Black people, against LGBTQ+ people, and against women. The due process clause of the 14th Amendment was the foundation for Roe v. Wade. 

But under the majority’s view of how the 14th Amendment should be enforced, Section 5 might first require Congress to pass “appropriate legislation” to identify which defendants should be prosecuted under Section 1, before the Justice Department or any plaintiff could act against a state that’s abridging people’s rights. 

States charged with violating the privileges and immunities clause, or denying people due process of law, or denying their citizens the equal protection of the law will almost certainly use today’s ruling in attempts to shield themselves from federal prosecution.

By the way, Clarence Thomas should never have participated in the case, given his obvious conflicts of interest. His participation makes the Supreme Court’s recently adopted “ethics” guidelines look like the sham they are.

This article was published at Robert Reich’s Substack

Robert B. Reich is Chancellor's Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley and Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies, and writes at robertreich.substack.com. Reich served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, for which Time Magazine named him one of the ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the twentieth century. He has written fifteen books, including the best sellers "Aftershock", "The Work of Nations," and"Beyond Outrage," and, his most recent, "The Common Good," which is available in bookstores now. He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine, chairman of Common Cause, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and co-creator of the award-winning documentary, "Inequality For All." He's co-creator of the Netflix original documentary "Saving Capitalism," which is streaming now.

Explosive fire at site in US used by vape suppliers sends debris a mile away

Firefighters battled an industrial blaze in a Detroit suburb

 (Courtesy of WXYZ via AP)

TUE, 05 MAR, 2024 - 

A fire that destroyed a building which housed suppliers for the vaping industry caused multiple explosions that killed one person and injured a firefighter as the blasts rocked the US city of Detroit, sending gas canisters and debris shooting into the air, authorities said.

The debris fell as far as a mile away, the Clinton Township Police Department said on Facebook.

As the fire and explosions raged, authorities urged people in the area to stay inside after the explosions began at about 8.50pm on Monday. Officials said the fire was contained by late Monday.

Clinton Township fire chief Tim Duncan said that the building housed two businesses, one of them a distributor for the vaping industry called Goo which had more than 100,000 vape pens stored at the site.

Debris fell as far as a mile away (Robin Buckson/Detroit News via AP)

He said a truckload of butane canisters had arrived within the past week at the building and more than half of that stock was still on site when the fire began.

A 19-year-old man died after being struck a quarter of a mile away by one of the canisters, he said, calling his death “very unfortunate”. Mr Duncan said it is believed the man was “just observing” the fire when he was struck.

“The person was essentially about a quarter of a mile down the road here and did suffer injury from one of these flying canisters,” Mr Duncan said at a news briefing.

He said the building also housed a business called Select Distributors that he said he believed supplied gas canisters for the local vaping industry for vape pens, along with other products. He said those canisters are believed to have accounted for the explosions that littered a large area with debris.

Authorities urged people in the area to stay inside (Courtesy of WXYZ via AP)

A firefighter was also injured when one of the canisters struck the windshield of a fire vehicle. The firefighter was believed to have been struck by glass and was treated and released from a hospital, Mr Duncan said.

Mr Duncan said that as he was driving to the fire scene his car was shaken repeatedly by the distant explosions of the gas canisters.

Mr Duncan said the cause of the fire was not yet known and firefighters had not yet been able to inspect the ruined building because it was unsafe as debris was still smoking.

White smoke and an orange glow could still be seen above the remnants of the building on Tuesday morning. Earlier, news helicopter videos showed a massive, bright orange area of fire with bursts of flames within the blaze that looked like explosions.

Rural women in poor countries hit harder by climate shocks: FAO study

Gender gap translates into wide income losses, poor work conditions for women farmers, female-run households

Giada Zampano |05.03.2024 -



ROME

Women farmers and female-headed households in low- and middle-income countries suffer larger losses due to climatic shocks, such as heat and flooding, than those by male-headed households, according to a new study Tuesday by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The Unjust Climate noted that female-headed rural households on average have lost 8% more of their income during heat waves and 3% more during floods, compared to male-headed households.

The gender gap translates into a per capita reduction of $83 due to heat stress and $35 due to floods -- reaching an annual total of $37 billion and $16 billion, respectively, it said.

The report used data from 24 low- and middle-income countries across five regions and spans 70 years of daily climate data, matched with the incomes of more than 100,000 households.

Climate change is also increasing the number of hours women are required to work and since women already have a higher burden of care in almost all countries, it exacerbates the situation.

On top of all of this, there are also persistent discriminatory social norms that women and girls face in agri-food systems, which may constrain how much they can work outside the home or how far they can travel for work.

The FAO estimated that closing labor and productivity gaps between women and men could significantly affect GDP, increasing it by 1% globally and reducing food insecurity for 45 million people.

The report found that projects and policies focusing on empowerment can significantly improve resilience to climatic and other shocks. It was estimated that empowering projects could lead to an additional 235 million families having higher resilience to climate shocks.

Addressing the gaps and promoting empowerment are crucial to helping families and women become more resilient to climate change.

The UN agency then urged specific strategies to address the particular vulnerabilities of rural households headed by women.

Tesla evacuates its Germany plant. Musk blames 'eco-terrorists' for suspected arson

MARCH 5, 2024
By Esme Nicholson


The Tesla Inc. Gigafactory in Grünheide, Germany, on Tuesday. The company halted production at its factory outside of Berlin and sent workers home after suspected arson at a nearby high-voltage pylon caused power failures throughout the region.Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

BERLIN — Production at Tesla's electric vehicle plant in Germany ground to a halt and workers were evacuated early Tuesday due to a power failure caused by suspected arson, drawing condemnation from Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

André Thierig, who manages 12,500 staff at the Grünheide Gigafactory, near Berlin, said it would take several days before production would be back up and running. He said the outage would cost "in the high nine-digit euro range," meaning more than $100 million.

The incident at Tesla's first European factory poses another setback for the company, which is facing pressure from a German metalworkers union and global supply chain issues because of attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday afternoon, Thierig said, "We are very concerned about the safety of our employees," adding, though, that the outage "had not posed any danger to people or the environment."

TECHNOLOGY
Tesla's first European factory needs more water to expand. Drought stands in its way

Police say firefighters extinguished a blaze at a nearby high-voltage electricity pylon in the early hours of the morning and prevented it from spreading to the Gigafactory. The power outage also affected the surrounding area, stretching as far as some boroughs in Berlin.

Police also confirm they are investigating a confession posted online by the far-left "Volcano Group," which called for the "complete destruction of the Gigafactory" because the group alleged Tesla "eats up earth, resources, people and labor" and "spits out 6,000 SUVs, killer machines and monster trucks a week."

Judge skeptical of lawsuit brought by Elon Musk's X over hate speech research

Musk wrote on X, formerly Twitter, "These are either the dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth or they're puppets of those who don't have good environmental goals." Using the German words for "extremely stupid," he added that "stopping production of electric vehicles, rather than fossil fuel vehicles, ist extrem dumm."

German Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser issued a statement condemning the alleged attack on critical energy infrastructure, which she said is "a serious crime that cannot be justified by anything."

What Will Tesla's New German Gigafactory Mean For Germany's Auto Industry?

Musk's decision to base his most modern Gigafactory just outside Berlin has challenged Germany's domestic automakers, which are struggling to keep up with the electric vehicle (EV) market.

Swedish dockworkers refused to unload Teslas at ports in broad boycott move

Tesla has faced resistance since before it opened the Gigafactory's doors in Grünheide. Local residents are concerned about the plant's water usage and object to the automaker's latest plans to double the site's manufacturing capacity to a million electric vehicles a year.

Last week, environmental activists erected tents and built make-shift tree houses in the woodland Tesla plans to cut down in order to expand.

Far-left group claims attack on Tesla factory in Germany

Production halted at electric vehicle plant in Brandenburg after suspected arson attack causes power outage.

The fire brigade at Tesla's German factory checks one of the facility's buildings in Gruenheide southeast of Berlin after a suspected arson attack cut power to the factory [Filip Singer/EPA-EFE]

Published On 5 Mar 2024

Tesla has halted production at its German factory after power lines supplying the plant were set on fire in an act of “sabotage” claimed by a far-left group.

Emergency services were called early on Tuesday after reports of a burning electricity pylon southeast of Berlin close to the Tesla plant.

The blaze was extinguished, but damage to the lines knocked out power to the electric car factory, located in the state of Brandenburg, as well as surrounding villages.

Police said they have launched an investigation into suspected arson.

Far-left activists from the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group) claimed responsibility for the act.

“With our sabotage, we have set ourselves the goal of achieving the biggest possible blackout of the Gigafactory,” the group said in a statement.Tesla said production at the Tesla Gigafactory in Gruenheide has been stopped due to a blackout [Filip Singer/EPA-EFE]

The group highlighted concerns about the environmental impact of the plant and its effect on the local water supply.

“We feel connected to all the people who won’t let Tesla turn the tap off,” the group said.

Michael Stuebgen, Brandenburg’s interior minister, said that if arson is confirmed, it would be “a perfidious attack on our electricity infrastructure”.

“Thousands of people have been cut off from their basic supply and put in danger. The rule of law will react to such an act of sabotage with the utmost severity.”

Electricity was restored after a few hours in the nearby towns and villages, but Tesla remained without energy and authorities said it would likely take several days to restore it at the plant.

Tesla opened the factory in March 2022, launching a challenge to German automakers on their home turf.

The company wants to expand the facility to add a freight depot, warehouses and a company kindergarten. Those plans would entail felling more than 100 hectares (247 acres) of forest.

Referring to the possible attackers, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that “these are either the dumbest eco-terrorists on Earth or they’re puppets of those who don’t have good environmental goals.”

“Stopping production of electric vehicles, rather than fossil fuel vehicles, ist extrem dumm,” he added, using German to say “is extremely stupid”.

The power outage came as environmental activists have been protesting in a forest near the plant against plans by Tesla to expand. Dozens of activists have put up tents and built treehouses.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

Houthis unlikely to be responsible for damage to Red Sea cables, Indian experts say

Three fibre-optic cables carrying data between Asia and Europe have been cut, telecoms company says

There are 16 fibre-optic cables in the Red Sea. Damage to underwater cables can disrupt internet services. 

Taniya Dutta
Mar 05, 2024

Yemen's Houthi rebels are unlikely to be responsible for damage to underwater telecommunications cables in the Red Sea, where the Iran-backed group have been carrying out attacks on commercial ships.

Three fibre-optic cables carrying data data between Asia and Europe were cut in the Red Sea, Hong Kong telecoms company HGC Global Communications reported on Monday.

The cables affected were Asia-Africa-Europe 1, the Europe India Gateway, and Seacom and TGN-Gulf line, affecting 25 per cent of the data flow through the Red Sea, the company said. It did not specify where or how the cables were severed.

Seacom told AP that “initial testing indicates the affected segment lies within Yemeni maritime jurisdictions in the southern Red Sea”.

Indian company Tata Communications, which has ties with Seacom, said there was a “snag” with the undersea cables, but that communications were “automatically rerouted to other services”.

READ MORE
Britain's undersea cables vulnerable to attack

There were initial fears the Houthis were behind the severing of Red Sea lines. The group has attacked commercial vessels in the region over Israel's war in Gaza.

A social media account linked to the Houthis posted maps in December showing international cables passing through the Red Sea, prompting fears the group was planning to attack them.

Pooja Bhatt, a researcher in maritime security with the Observer Research Foundation in Delhi, said the depth of the cables made sabotage unlikely.

The cables "are not very thick but encapsulated in watertight sheets. They lie in the deep ocean and are not easy to cut," Ms Bhatt told The National.

“We can very well understand Yemenis should not have the capability to dive down that deep to physically damage cables."

While the undersea cable communication infrastructure is commercial, attacks or sabotage would prompt countries to send their militaries to protect them, Ms Bhatt said.

“Such activities will bring a lot of geopolitical focus on these issues. Until now, submarine cables that have been around for several decades were seen commercially where countries per se were not involved, but now with a focus on attacks on those activities, countries will bring their militaries into action for protection,” she said.

There are reportedly 16 fibre-optic cables in the Red Sea that carry an estimated 17 per cent of all international data traffic from East Asia to Europe.

Damage to telecommunications cables has caused major disruptions, including in 2008 and 2011, when cables were damaged in the Mediterranean, Arabian Gulf and the Indian Ocean.

 

Court rules Florida’s ‘stop woke’ law restricting business diversity training is unconstitutional

CURT ANDERSON

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

PUBLISHED 8 MINUTES AGO

Open this photo in gallery:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses the crowd before publicly signing HB7, 'individual freedom,' also dubbed the 'Stop Woke' bill during a news conference at Mater Academy Charter Middle/High School in Hialeah Gardens, Fla., on April 22, 2022.DANIEL A. VARELA/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A Florida law pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that limits diversity and race-based discussions in private workplaces is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court has ruled.

A three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld a Florida federal judge’s August 2022 ruling that the so-called “Stop WOKE” act violates the First Amendment as it applies to businesses and is impermissibly vague.

“By limiting its restrictions to a list of ideas designated as offensive, the Act targets speech based on its content. And by barring only speech that endorses any of those ideas, it penalizes certain viewpoints – the greatest First Amendment sin,” Circuit Judge Britt C. Grant wrote for the court.

The governor’s office Tuesday was considering options for a further appeal.

“We disagree with the Court’s opinion that employers can require employees to be taught – as a condition of employment – that one race is morally superior to another race,” the governor’s office said in an email. “The First Amendment protects no such thing, and the State of Florida should have every right to protect Floridians from racially hostile workplaces.”

The law prohibits teaching or business practices that it says contend members of one ethnic group are inherently racist and should feel guilt for past actions committed by others. It also bars the notion that a person’s status as privileged or oppressed is necessarily determined by their race or gender, or that discrimination is acceptable to achieve diversity.

DeSantis frequently referred to the law during his unsuccessful run for president, with the slogan that Florida was where “woke goes to die.” Other parts of the law involving education have also been challenged but have not been blocked.

Florida attorneys had argued that the law banned conduct, such as requiring employees to attend diversity meetings, rather than speech. The court disagreed.

“Banning speech on a wide variety of political topics is bad; banning speech on a wide variety of political viewpoints is worse,” Grant said in the opinion.

The lawsuit was filed by private entities, Clearwater-based Honeyfund.com and others, claiming their free speech rights are curtailed because the law infringes on company training programs stressing diversity, inclusion, elimination of bias and prevention of workplace harassment. Companies with 15 or more employees could face civil lawsuits over such practices. Honeyfund is in the wedding registry business.

Head of UNRWA Says Netanyahu and Allies Aim to Deliberately Destroy Aid Agency


Philippe Lazzarini described “a deliberate and concerted campaign to undermine its operations, and ultimately end them.”

By Jake Johnson ,

COMMONDREAMS

March 5, 2024

UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini speaks to the press after a briefing to diplomats on the situation in Gaza, at the United Nations Offices in Geneva

FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees told the U.N. General Assembly on Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his allies are intentionally trying to decimate the critical aid body as mass starvation looms in the Gaza Strip.

“UNRWA is facing a deliberate and concerted campaign to undermine its operations, and ultimately end them,” said Philippe Lazzarini, the agency’s commissioner-general. “Part of this campaign involves inundating donors with misinformation designed to foster distrust and tarnish the reputation of the agency. More blatant, is the Israeli prime minister openly stating that UNRWA will not be part of post-war Gaza.”

“The implementation of this plan is already underway with the destruction of our infrastructure across the Gaza Strip,” he continued. “Attempts to evict UNRWA from its headquarters in East Jerusalem, and from a nearby vocational training center for Palestine refugee youth, are underway. Draft legislation in the Israeli Knesset seeks to prohibit outright any activity by UNRWA on Israeli territory.”

The UNRWA, the most important aid agency operating in Gaza, has long been a target of the Israeli government. But attacks on UNRWA have escalated since October 7, with Israeli forces killing more than 150 of the agency’s employees during its war on Gaza and accusing a small number of the body’s staffers of taking part in the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel.

The Israeli government has not provided any evidence to support its claims, but the allegations alone led more than a dozen countries — including the United States — to suspend aid to UNRWA, putting its operations in Gaza and across the Middle East at risk of total collapse.

Last month, the U.S. Senate passed legislation that would prohibit any U.S. funding for UNRWA.

On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) claimed — again, without providing evidence — that 450 of UNRWA’s 30,000 employees are “military operatives in terror groups in Gaza.”

Lazzarini noted Monday that he swiftly terminated agency staffers accused of playing a role in the October 7 attack and that an independent probe into Israel’s accusations was launched by the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services.

“Despite these prompt and decisive actions, and the unsubstantiated nature of the allegations, 16 countries have paused their funding, totaling $450 million,” said Lazzarini, thanking the countries that maintained or boosted their funding as the agency faced a potentially existential threat. The European Union has also agreed to partially restore funding.

“Thanks to them, the agency, which is the backbone of humanitarian assistance in Gaza, can continue operating and remains a lifeline for Palestine refugees across the region,” he said. “But for how long? It is hard to say. We are functioning hand-to-mouth. Without additional funding, we will be in uncharted territory — with serious implications for global peace and security.”

Lazzarini said conditions on the ground in Gaza are “impossible to adequately describe” as Israel continues its bombing campaign and blockade, which have prevented badly needed aid from reaching large swaths of the territory.

“Doctors are amputating the limbs of injured children without anesthetic. Hunger is everywhere. A man-made famine is looming,” said Lazzarini. “Babies — just a few months old — are dying of malnutrition and dehydration. I shudder to think of what will still be revealed about the horrors that have taken place in this narrow strip of land.”

Ahead of Lazzarini’s speech to the U.N. General Assembly, a coalition of aid organizations issued a joint statement warning that if “funding suspensions are not reversed, the risk of a complete collapse of the already restricted humanitarian response resulting in preventable loss of lives in Gaza becomes even more likely.”

“Over 1 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering in UNRWA facilities across Gaza,” the groups said. “UNRWA’s 13,000 staff in Gaza far outstrip the collective capacity of the rest of the humanitarian sector in the territory. Their role in the facilitation and delivery of lifesaving humanitarian aid at scale in this crisis has been heroic. UNRWA’s supply of vital shelter, food, and basic services like sanitation, as well as the use of infrastructure by other aid organizations, is irreplaceable.”