Sunday, May 17, 2020
Amazon hit from all sides as crisis highlights growing power
AFP/File / Angela WeissAmazon warehouses have been the site of worker protests as the company's role to meet consumer demands during the pandemic has risen
As Amazon becomes an increasingly important lifeline in the pandemic crisis, it is being hit with a wave of criticism from activists, politicians and others who question the tech giant's growing influence.
Amazon has become the most scrutinized company during the health emergency.
It has boosted its global workforce to nearly one million and dealt with protests over warehouse safety and reported deaths of several employees.
But Amazon has also pledged to spend at least $4 billion in the current quarter -- its entire expected operating profit -- on coronavirus mitigation efforts, including relief contributions and funding research.
But Amazon has also pledged to spend at least $4 billion in the current quarter -- its entire expected operating profit -- on coronavirus mitigation efforts, including relief contributions and funding research.
Amazon's AWS cloud computing unit, which powers big portions of the internet, is also a key element during the crisis with more people and companies working online.
Amazon's market value has hovered near record levels around $1.2 trillion dollars as it reported rising revenues and lower profits in the past quarter.
"Its sheer size justifies the scrutiny," said Dania Rajendra of the activist group Athena, a coalition which is focused specifically on Amazon's corporate activity and treatment of workers.
Athena activists fret that Amazon, which also controls one of the major streaming television services, infiltrates so many aspects of people's lives.
Rankling many activists, the rise in Amazon's shares has boosted the wealth of founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos to over $140 billion even as the global economy has been battered by the virus outbreak.
Amazon has faced employee walkouts at several facilities over safety and hazard pay and has been accused of firing people for speaking out against the company.
"It's a minority going on strike but the sentiment represents thousand if not hundreds of thousands," said Steve Smith of the California Labor Federation.
While Amazon has boosted base pay to $15 an hour, above the minimum wage required, and added bonuses during the pandemic, activists say it's insufficient, especially in high-cost states like California.
"This company can afford to make these jobs middle class jobs, good jobs," Smith said.
- Tensions in Washington -
As Amazon becomes an increasingly important lifeline in the pandemic crisis, it is being hit with a wave of criticism from activists, politicians and others who question the tech giant's growing influence.
Amazon has become the most scrutinized company during the health emergency.
It has boosted its global workforce to nearly one million and dealt with protests over warehouse safety and reported deaths of several employees.
But Amazon has also pledged to spend at least $4 billion in the current quarter -- its entire expected operating profit -- on coronavirus mitigation efforts, including relief contributions and funding research.
But Amazon has also pledged to spend at least $4 billion in the current quarter -- its entire expected operating profit -- on coronavirus mitigation efforts, including relief contributions and funding research.
Amazon's AWS cloud computing unit, which powers big portions of the internet, is also a key element during the crisis with more people and companies working online.
Amazon's market value has hovered near record levels around $1.2 trillion dollars as it reported rising revenues and lower profits in the past quarter.
"Its sheer size justifies the scrutiny," said Dania Rajendra of the activist group Athena, a coalition which is focused specifically on Amazon's corporate activity and treatment of workers.
Athena activists fret that Amazon, which also controls one of the major streaming television services, infiltrates so many aspects of people's lives.
Rankling many activists, the rise in Amazon's shares has boosted the wealth of founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos to over $140 billion even as the global economy has been battered by the virus outbreak.
Amazon has faced employee walkouts at several facilities over safety and hazard pay and has been accused of firing people for speaking out against the company.
"It's a minority going on strike but the sentiment represents thousand if not hundreds of thousands," said Steve Smith of the California Labor Federation.
While Amazon has boosted base pay to $15 an hour, above the minimum wage required, and added bonuses during the pandemic, activists say it's insufficient, especially in high-cost states like California.
"This company can afford to make these jobs middle class jobs, good jobs," Smith said.
- Tensions in Washington -
AFP/File / MANDEL NGAN
The fortune of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has risen with the company's share value, but the company will be using its profits from the current quarter for coronavirus mitigation efforts
The tensions have spilled over into the US capital Washington and elsewhere. US lawmakers leading antitrust investigations asked Bezos to respond to reports that the company improperly used data from third-party sellers to launch its own products, which the company has denied.
New York state Attorney General Letitia James called Amazon "disgraceful" for firing a warehouse employee who led a worker protest over safety. Amazon said the employee refused to quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19.
In a statement to AFP, Amazon defended its actions on workplace safety, social distancing and noted that it is implementing its own employee testing program.
The company also disputed claims it was stifling employee speech.
Spokeswoman Lisa Levandowski said the employees in question were dismissed "not for talking publicly about working conditions or safety, but rather, for repeatedly violating internal policies."
Levandowski added that Amazon already provides what many unions have been seeking, including a high base wage, health benefits and career opportunities.
"She said the company seeks "a great employment experience" along with offering "a world-class customer experience (while) respecting rights to choose a union."
- Alternatives? -
Analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy said Amazon is getting heightened scrutiny because of its growing global influence and because of the wast wealth of Bezos.
Moorhead said Amazon also brought on some of its woes with its highly public search for a second headquarters which highlighted tax breaks for the tech giant.
But Moorhead said Amazon is "not profiting" from the coronavirus crisis, and should be credited for some 150 measures taken including the pooling of high-performance computing for researchers.
"If you think about the alternative of shutting down Amazon, so many people wouldn't get the supplies that they need. You'd have a tremendous number of people unemployed," he said.
The tensions have spilled over into the US capital Washington and elsewhere. US lawmakers leading antitrust investigations asked Bezos to respond to reports that the company improperly used data from third-party sellers to launch its own products, which the company has denied.
New York state Attorney General Letitia James called Amazon "disgraceful" for firing a warehouse employee who led a worker protest over safety. Amazon said the employee refused to quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19.
In a statement to AFP, Amazon defended its actions on workplace safety, social distancing and noted that it is implementing its own employee testing program.
The company also disputed claims it was stifling employee speech.
Spokeswoman Lisa Levandowski said the employees in question were dismissed "not for talking publicly about working conditions or safety, but rather, for repeatedly violating internal policies."
Levandowski added that Amazon already provides what many unions have been seeking, including a high base wage, health benefits and career opportunities.
"She said the company seeks "a great employment experience" along with offering "a world-class customer experience (while) respecting rights to choose a union."
- Alternatives? -
Analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy said Amazon is getting heightened scrutiny because of its growing global influence and because of the wast wealth of Bezos.
Moorhead said Amazon also brought on some of its woes with its highly public search for a second headquarters which highlighted tax breaks for the tech giant.
But Moorhead said Amazon is "not profiting" from the coronavirus crisis, and should be credited for some 150 measures taken including the pooling of high-performance computing for researchers.
"If you think about the alternative of shutting down Amazon, so many people wouldn't get the supplies that they need. You'd have a tremendous number of people unemployed," he said.
WHAT DO AFGHANISTAN AND ISRAEL HAVE IN COMMON?
Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani and rival Abdullah Abdullah ink power-sharing deal
DUAL PRIME MINISTERS SHARING THE OFFICE
Israel's parliament swore in a new unity government on Sunday led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former rival Benny Gantz, ending the longest political crisis in the nation's history.
https://www.afp.com/en/news/15/israel-swears-unity-govt-pm-insists-west-bank-annexation-doc-1rr3b221
Israel ends 500-day political crisis with inauguration of Netanyahu-Gantz unity government
Israel ends 500-day political crisis with inauguration of Netanyahu-Gantz unity government
After nearly 18 months without a government, Israel has sworn in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former rival Benny Gantz in a power-sharing agreement.
https://www.dw.com/en/israel-ends-500-day-political-crisis-with-inauguration-of-netanyahu-gantz-unity-government/a-53470338Afghan President Ghani and rival Abdullah sign power-sharing deal
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah signed a power-sharing deal on Sunday, ending a bitter months-long feud that plunged the country into political crisis. The breakthrough, which sees Abdullah heading peace talks with the Taliban, comes as Afghanistan battles a rapid spread of the deadly coronavirus and surging militant violence that saw dozens killed in brutal attacks last week.
Afghanistan president Ashraf Ghani and rival Abdullah Abdullah ink power-sharing deal
President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani and his rival Abdullah Abdullah have agreed to share presidential powers. The decision ends months of uncertainty that had included dual inauguration ceremonies.
Hamster tests show masks reduce coronavirus spread: scientists
AFP/File / Oli SCARFF
Hong Kong researchers found coronavirus transmission can be reduced by over 60 percent when surgical masks are used
Tests on hamsters reveal the widespread use of facemasks reduces transmission of the deadly coronavirus, a team of leading experts in Hong Kong said Sunday.
The research by the University of Hong Kong is some of the first to specifically investigate whether masks can stop symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers from infecting others.
Led by Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, one of the world's top coronavirus experts, the team placed hamsters that were artificially infected with the disease next to healthy animals.
Surgical masks were placed between the two cages with air flow travelling from the infected animals to the healthy ones.
The researchers found non-contact transmission of the virus could be reduced by more than 60 percent when the masks were used.
Two thirds of the healthy hamsters were infected within a week if no masks were applied.
The infection rate plunged to just over 15 percent when surgical masks were put on the cage of the infected animals and by about 35 percent when placed on the cage with the healthy hamsters.
Those that did become infected were also found to have less of the virus within their bodies than those infected without a mask.
"It's very clear that the effect of masking the infected, especially when they are asymptomatic -- or symptomatic -- it's much more important than anything else," Yuen told reporters Sunday.
"It also explained why universal masking is important because we now have known that a large number of those infected have no symptom."
Yuen was one of the microbiologists who discovered the SARS virus -- a predecessor of the current coronavirus -- when it emerged in 2003, killing some 300 people in Hong Kong.
Armed with knowledge from that fight, he advised Hong Kongers early in the current pandemic to adopt universal masking, something embraced by the city's residents.
At the time the World Health Organisation and many other foreign health authorities dismissed using masks widely among the public, saying they should instead go to frontline medical workers.
Four months after its first COVID-19 case was detected, Hong Kong has largely managed to contain the disease with just over 1,000 infections and four deaths.
Experts have credited widespread mask use as well as efficient testing, tracing and treatment in the city of 7.5 million for the relatively low numbers.
17MAY2020
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Tests on hamsters reveal the widespread use of facemasks reduces transmission of the deadly coronavirus, a team of leading experts in Hong Kong said Sunday.
The research by the University of Hong Kong is some of the first to specifically investigate whether masks can stop symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers from infecting others.
Led by Professor Yuen Kwok-yung, one of the world's top coronavirus experts, the team placed hamsters that were artificially infected with the disease next to healthy animals.
Surgical masks were placed between the two cages with air flow travelling from the infected animals to the healthy ones.
The researchers found non-contact transmission of the virus could be reduced by more than 60 percent when the masks were used.
Two thirds of the healthy hamsters were infected within a week if no masks were applied.
The infection rate plunged to just over 15 percent when surgical masks were put on the cage of the infected animals and by about 35 percent when placed on the cage with the healthy hamsters.
Those that did become infected were also found to have less of the virus within their bodies than those infected without a mask.
"It's very clear that the effect of masking the infected, especially when they are asymptomatic -- or symptomatic -- it's much more important than anything else," Yuen told reporters Sunday.
"It also explained why universal masking is important because we now have known that a large number of those infected have no symptom."
Yuen was one of the microbiologists who discovered the SARS virus -- a predecessor of the current coronavirus -- when it emerged in 2003, killing some 300 people in Hong Kong.
Armed with knowledge from that fight, he advised Hong Kongers early in the current pandemic to adopt universal masking, something embraced by the city's residents.
At the time the World Health Organisation and many other foreign health authorities dismissed using masks widely among the public, saying they should instead go to frontline medical workers.
Four months after its first COVID-19 case was detected, Hong Kong has largely managed to contain the disease with just over 1,000 infections and four deaths.
Experts have credited widespread mask use as well as efficient testing, tracing and treatment in the city of 7.5 million for the relatively low numbers.
17MAY2020
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If you have news to share or a question, comment or suggestion, contact us via...
MAY 18 DEMOCRACY UPRISING
Trauma endures of South Korea's Gwangju Uprising
Trauma endures of South Korea's Gwangju Uprising
AFP / Ed JONES
The only remaining photo of Jung Ki-young, one of more than 70 South Koreans who disappeared during the Gwangju Uprising in 1980
It is 40 years since Choi Jung-ja saw her husband, who has been missing since South Korea's military dictatorship killed hundreds of people when they crushed the pro-democracy Gwangju Uprising, a scar that burns in the country's political psyche to this day.
On May 18, 1980 demonstrators protesting against dictator Chun Doo-hwan's declaration of martial law confronted his troops and 10 days of violence ensued.
But conservatives in the South still condemn the uprising as a Communist-inspired rebellion backed by the North, while left-leaning President Moon Jae-in wants to enshrine it in the constitution.
It is 40 years since Choi Jung-ja saw her husband, who has been missing since South Korea's military dictatorship killed hundreds of people when they crushed the pro-democracy Gwangju Uprising, a scar that burns in the country's political psyche to this day.
On May 18, 1980 demonstrators protesting against dictator Chun Doo-hwan's declaration of martial law confronted his troops and 10 days of violence ensued.
But conservatives in the South still condemn the uprising as a Communist-inspired rebellion backed by the North, while left-leaning President Moon Jae-in wants to enshrine it in the constitution.
AFP / Ed JONESThe May 18 National Cemetery holds the remains of victims from South Korea's Gwangju pro-democracy uprising
Choi's husband was 43 when he left their house in the southern city to buy oil for a heater at the family pub, never to return.
Once the violence was over Choi frantically searched for him, even opening random coffins in the streets covered with blood-stained Korean flags.
"I couldn't continue after opening the third coffin," she told AFP. "The faces were covered with blood -- there were no words to describe them. The faces were unrecognisable."
She still takes medication to deal with the trauma, she said, and curses whenever Chun appears on television.
- 'Fuel for the fire' -
There is no agreed toll for Gwangju, with reports of secret burials both on land and at sea. The military remaining in power for another eight years offered ample opportunity to dispose of the evidence.
Choi's husband was 43 when he left their house in the southern city to buy oil for a heater at the family pub, never to return.
Once the violence was over Choi frantically searched for him, even opening random coffins in the streets covered with blood-stained Korean flags.
"I couldn't continue after opening the third coffin," she told AFP. "The faces were covered with blood -- there were no words to describe them. The faces were unrecognisable."
She still takes medication to deal with the trauma, she said, and curses whenever Chun appears on television.
- 'Fuel for the fire' -
There is no agreed toll for Gwangju, with reports of secret burials both on land and at sea. The military remaining in power for another eight years offered ample opportunity to dispose of the evidence.
AFP / Ed JONES
Official counts estimate around 160 people died in the
Gwangju Uprising, but activists say up to three times as
many may have been killed
Official bodies point to around 160 dead -- including some soldiers and police -- and more than 70 missing. Activists say up to three times as many may have been killed.
But the search for justice has gone through multiple twists and turns and Gwangju is one of the most politicised historical events in a viciously polarised country.
The South is still technically at war with the nuclear-armed North. At the time of the Gwangju Uprising, Chun's military regime described it as a rebellion led by supporters of then-opposition leader Kim Dae-jung, who comes from nearby Sinan, and pro-Pyongyang agitators.
Kim was arrested, convicted of sedition and sentenced to death. But the penalty was commuted under international pressure and he was granted asylum in the US, before being elected president himself in the 1990s after the restoration of democracy and winning the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize.
Official bodies point to around 160 dead -- including some soldiers and police -- and more than 70 missing. Activists say up to three times as many may have been killed.
But the search for justice has gone through multiple twists and turns and Gwangju is one of the most politicised historical events in a viciously polarised country.
The South is still technically at war with the nuclear-armed North. At the time of the Gwangju Uprising, Chun's military regime described it as a rebellion led by supporters of then-opposition leader Kim Dae-jung, who comes from nearby Sinan, and pro-Pyongyang agitators.
Kim was arrested, convicted of sedition and sentenced to death. But the penalty was commuted under international pressure and he was granted asylum in the US, before being elected president himself in the 1990s after the restoration of democracy and winning the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize.
AFP / Ed JONES
Jung Ho-hwa, whose father Jung Ki-young disappeared during the Gwangju Uprising
Chun was convicted in 1996 of treason over Gwangju and bribery and condemned to hang, but his execution was commuted on appeal and he was released following a presidential pardon. He still denies any direct involvement in the suppression of the uprising.
Today, the South's president Moon -- who as a student took part in other anti-dictatorship protests -- regularly highlights Gwangju, promising to reopen investigations into it and calling for it to be included in the constitution.
South Korea's opposition seeks to paint Moon as a Pyongyang sympathiser, and Hannes Mosler of the University of Duisburg-Essen said the right sought to use Gwangju to discredit liberals by linking them to the "absolute evil" of the North.
"North Korea lies at the heart of polarisation strategies in South Korea," Mosler told AFP.
Chun was convicted in 1996 of treason over Gwangju and bribery and condemned to hang, but his execution was commuted on appeal and he was released following a presidential pardon. He still denies any direct involvement in the suppression of the uprising.
Today, the South's president Moon -- who as a student took part in other anti-dictatorship protests -- regularly highlights Gwangju, promising to reopen investigations into it and calling for it to be included in the constitution.
South Korea's opposition seeks to paint Moon as a Pyongyang sympathiser, and Hannes Mosler of the University of Duisburg-Essen said the right sought to use Gwangju to discredit liberals by linking them to the "absolute evil" of the North.
"North Korea lies at the heart of polarisation strategies in South Korea," Mosler told AFP.
AFP / Ed JONES
The May 18 National Cemetery holds the remains of victims from South Korea's Gwangju pro-democracy uprising
"Once a fake narrative is built around the Gwangju Uprising that connects it with North Korea, this provides the fuel for the polarisation fire to burn further and further."
Moon's Democratic Party won a landslide election victory last month largely on the back of the government's successful handling of the coronavirus epidemic in the country.
But while the city of Daegu was at the centre of the outbreak, it is the last stronghold of the right and Moon's party lost every one of the seats there.
- Last wish -
Last year the remains of around 40 people were discovered at the site of a former prison in Gwangju, where 242 relatives of missing people have given DNA samples in the hope of identifying corpses that have yet to come to light.
Among them is Cha Cho-gang, 81, whose son never returned after setting out to sell garlic at a market in the city, aged 19.
"My husband died three years ago," she said. "His last wish was to bury our son's remains before his own funeral.
"I have the same wish, but I don't know if it will ever come true."
"Once a fake narrative is built around the Gwangju Uprising that connects it with North Korea, this provides the fuel for the polarisation fire to burn further and further."
Moon's Democratic Party won a landslide election victory last month largely on the back of the government's successful handling of the coronavirus epidemic in the country.
But while the city of Daegu was at the centre of the outbreak, it is the last stronghold of the right and Moon's party lost every one of the seats there.
- Last wish -
Last year the remains of around 40 people were discovered at the site of a former prison in Gwangju, where 242 relatives of missing people have given DNA samples in the hope of identifying corpses that have yet to come to light.
Among them is Cha Cho-gang, 81, whose son never returned after setting out to sell garlic at a market in the city, aged 19.
"My husband died three years ago," she said. "His last wish was to bury our son's remains before his own funeral.
"I have the same wish, but I don't know if it will ever come true."
Factory workers wary as Detroit's 'Big 3' begins to motor back up
AFP/File / JEFF KOWALSKY
Detroit's 'Big Three' are scheduled to resume manufacturing after shutting plants in March due to the coronavirus
Detroit's auto giants are keen to resume production this week, but there will be unease on assembly lines where social distancing is difficult and worries about the deadly coronavirus persist.
Motor City carmakers insist they are taking precautions to protect employees for the ramp-up that marks a key moment in the attempted relaunching of the US economy.
But not everyone is convinced.
"I am expecting a bumpy ride," said one United Auto Workers official, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The "Big Three," which have the experience of relaunching in Asia, have set their US restart for May 18.
That is the same day Tesla has been cleared by local regulators in California to resume full production following a faceoff between public health officials and brash Tesla boss Elon Musk that apparently was resolved with a compromise on enhanced safety measures.
Unlike California, Michigan has been the site of armed marches to the state capitol in protest over restrictions imposed by Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Under pressure from the state's automotive suppliers and carmakers, she modified her stay-at-home orders to allow for the resumption of manufacturing with social distancing.
After effectively shutting down in March to combat the deadly virus, US carmakers say they are now ready to get back to business.
"Above everything else, our top priority has always been to do what is right for our employees," Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley said in a statement this week.
"We have worked closely with the unions to establish protocols that will ensure our employees feel safe at work and that every step possible has been taken to protect them."
- Safeguarding plants -
The monumental tasks at FCA includes sanitizing 57 million square feet of production space and implementing new disinfection schedules to maintain hygiene. Some 4,700 work stations were modified to allow for social distancing.
Detroit's auto giants are keen to resume production this week, but there will be unease on assembly lines where social distancing is difficult and worries about the deadly coronavirus persist.
Motor City carmakers insist they are taking precautions to protect employees for the ramp-up that marks a key moment in the attempted relaunching of the US economy.
But not everyone is convinced.
"I am expecting a bumpy ride," said one United Auto Workers official, who asked for anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The "Big Three," which have the experience of relaunching in Asia, have set their US restart for May 18.
That is the same day Tesla has been cleared by local regulators in California to resume full production following a faceoff between public health officials and brash Tesla boss Elon Musk that apparently was resolved with a compromise on enhanced safety measures.
Unlike California, Michigan has been the site of armed marches to the state capitol in protest over restrictions imposed by Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Under pressure from the state's automotive suppliers and carmakers, she modified her stay-at-home orders to allow for the resumption of manufacturing with social distancing.
After effectively shutting down in March to combat the deadly virus, US carmakers say they are now ready to get back to business.
"Above everything else, our top priority has always been to do what is right for our employees," Fiat Chrysler CEO Mike Manley said in a statement this week.
"We have worked closely with the unions to establish protocols that will ensure our employees feel safe at work and that every step possible has been taken to protect them."
- Safeguarding plants -
The monumental tasks at FCA includes sanitizing 57 million square feet of production space and implementing new disinfection schedules to maintain hygiene. Some 4,700 work stations were modified to allow for social distancing.
GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File / BILL PUGLIANO
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has faced criticism for strict stay-at-home orders that are beginning to ease on better trends for the coronavirus in Detroit
Temperature checks and daily health self-screening are required for all employees and visitors; start times will be staggered; and break and lunch times will be altered to increase social distancing. Everyone will have to wear face masks and safety goggles, FCA officials said.
Manley said FCA was using what it has learned from opening plants in China and Italy as it resumes production in the US, Mexico and Canada.
General Motors and Ford have described similar measures.
Jim Glynn, a vice president for workplace safety at GM, said on a conference call that workers will follow a strict protocol each day beginning with filling out a questionnaire and having a temperature scan.
"We have not had one case of person-to-person spread among our employees" when the rules have been followed at GM's plants in Asia and at US plants now making medical equipment, Glynn said.
However, none of the companies will test employees regularly. Kiersten Robinson, Ford's chief human resources officer, said during a conference call there is not enough capacity for regular tests.
- Good enough? -
Lack of testing is an issue for the UAW, which has stopped short of endorsing the industry's return to work model. The union also pressed GM, Ford and FCA to relax their policies on absenteeism so workers will stay home or self-quarantine if they feel ill.
Temperature checks and daily health self-screening are required for all employees and visitors; start times will be staggered; and break and lunch times will be altered to increase social distancing. Everyone will have to wear face masks and safety goggles, FCA officials said.
Manley said FCA was using what it has learned from opening plants in China and Italy as it resumes production in the US, Mexico and Canada.
General Motors and Ford have described similar measures.
Jim Glynn, a vice president for workplace safety at GM, said on a conference call that workers will follow a strict protocol each day beginning with filling out a questionnaire and having a temperature scan.
"We have not had one case of person-to-person spread among our employees" when the rules have been followed at GM's plants in Asia and at US plants now making medical equipment, Glynn said.
However, none of the companies will test employees regularly. Kiersten Robinson, Ford's chief human resources officer, said during a conference call there is not enough capacity for regular tests.
- Good enough? -
Lack of testing is an issue for the UAW, which has stopped short of endorsing the industry's return to work model. The union also pressed GM, Ford and FCA to relax their policies on absenteeism so workers will stay home or self-quarantine if they feel ill.
GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File / SCOTT OLSON
A nearly-empty parking lot at an Illinois Fiat Chrysler Automobiles plant in March after US auto manufacturing effectively shut down due to the coronavirus
"While it is the companies that have the sole contractual right to determine the opening of plants, we have the contractual right to protect our members, and we will do so at all costs," said UAW President Rory Gamble.
"We have made it clear in our talks that we are asking for as much testing as possible at the current time."
Gamble has praised Whitmer's stay-at-home orders that have sparked gun-toting protests outside the state capitol building Michigan. The state has had about 50,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 4,800 fatalities.
The union's reticence is due in part to the fact more half of GM, Ford and FCA workers are over 50. Also, nearly three dozen auto workers have died from COVID-19, according to the UAW.
"I'm personally not ready to return to work and feel they are rushing to get us back into the plant to make a profit at the expense of those working there," said one anonymous worker in a Facebook post, adding that it is "almost impossible" to socially distance at an auto plant facing ambitious production targets.
"While it is the companies that have the sole contractual right to determine the opening of plants, we have the contractual right to protect our members, and we will do so at all costs," said UAW President Rory Gamble.
"We have made it clear in our talks that we are asking for as much testing as possible at the current time."
Gamble has praised Whitmer's stay-at-home orders that have sparked gun-toting protests outside the state capitol building Michigan. The state has had about 50,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 4,800 fatalities.
The union's reticence is due in part to the fact more half of GM, Ford and FCA workers are over 50. Also, nearly three dozen auto workers have died from COVID-19, according to the UAW.
"I'm personally not ready to return to work and feel they are rushing to get us back into the plant to make a profit at the expense of those working there," said one anonymous worker in a Facebook post, adding that it is "almost impossible" to socially distance at an auto plant facing ambitious production targets.
El Salvador quarantine centers become points of contagion
DEAR YANKEE SNOWFLAKES PROTESTING LOCK DOWN,
DEAR YANKEE SNOWFLAKES PROTESTING LOCK DOWN,
THIS IS WHAT A REAL LOCK DOWN LOOKS LIKE
By MARCOS ALEMAN and CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN
today
1 of 6
1 of 6
In this May 4, 2020 photo, men wearing protective face masks look out from a building where they are being held for violating a quarantine decreed by the government as part of measures to curb the spread of COVID-19, in San Salvador, El Salvador. The detained range from business executives returning from abroad to parents stopped by police while out to buy groceries. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez)
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has imposed some of the hemisphere’s toughest measures against the new coronavirus — closing his country’s borders, imposing a national quarantine and dispatching police and the army to detain violators.
An overwhelming majority of Salvadorans approve of Bukele’s performance, but human rights advocates complain the 38-year-old leader has ignored the country’s constitution and rulings by its Supreme Court.
At the heart of the controversy are “containment centers” where thousands of Salvadorans have been detained for more than a month at a time without judicial review, some swept off the street as they went to buy food for their families. Others had the bad luck to be traveling outside the country when Bukele imposed the quarantine and were locked up upon return.
In some 90 rented hotels, convention centers and gymnasiums hastily converted to police-guarded shelters, the government mixed the sick with the healthy, often waiting weeks before testing people for the virus, according to human rights groups and people who have been detained.
The country’s Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that the detentions are unconstitutional since no law authorizes them. But Bukele has ignored the order and accused critics of seeking the deaths of thousands of Salvadorans.
“Of course in all containment centers there’s a risk of the illness, because they are designed to hold the population that has the highest risk of suffering the illness,” Health Minister Francisco Alabà told The Associated Press. He apologized if the 30-plus day detentions resulted in “inconveniences.”
Tourism Minister Morena Valdez, who is part of the government’s containment team, said that some 7,000 people in the nation of about 6.4 million have been held in the shelters. Officials have not revealed how many of those held have tested positive for the disease, nor how many have died. Nationwide, the government has reported 1,265 cases and 26 deaths.
Bukele announced on March 11 that El Salvador was closing itself to foreigners and that Salvadorans returning to the country would be subject to 30-day forced quarantine in the new centers — a stay twice as long as that recommended by the World Health Organization.
The next day, 67-year-old Carlos HenrÃquez Cortez, a Salvadoran manager for a steel company on a two-day business trip to Guatemala, checked with his embassy there. He was told that because he was over 60 years old and suffered from hypertension he would have to quarantine at home — not in a government center — according to a detailed account by the José Simeón Cañas Central American University Human Rights Institute and his relatives.
A day later, HenrÃquez flew into a San Salvador airport in chaos. After hours of confusion, he was bused with dozens of others to a sports complex known as the Olympic Village that was being used to house those swept up in the president’s quarantine decree.
Photographs he sent to his family depict a sea of people crowded together in a large hall, clogged toilets, broken sinks and mold-coated showers. People coming from all over the world, including the most infected countries, were stuffed 10 to a room on bunk beds that touched.
HenrÃquez told relatives he felt surrounded by people getting sick. People coughed through the night.
That experience was shared by business executive Ernesto Sánchez, 38, who flew into El Salvador March 12 after a 36-hour business trip to Panama and was also bused to the Olympic Village.
“They didn’t examine us,” he told the AP. “The most they did was take our temperature.”
He said 50 to 55 men were assigned to his unit, sharing dirty communal showers and bathrooms. He said he was terrified of those around him.
“I knew they came from countries with infections,” said Sánchez, who asked that only part of his name be used to avoid retaliation. “It was more a center of contamination.”
Five days into HenrÃquez ’s stay he had a fever and began coughing. He waited in line for hours to see a doctor who gave him medicine for his fever.
“We as a family identified, after a week, the symptoms (in him) one by one,” said his son Carlos.
HenrÃquez’s condition worsened and on March 22 he was transferred to a small hotel, according to the report. A doctor saw him the following day and diagnosed him with colitis and dehydration. Under pressure from his family, the Health Ministry sent another doctor to see him. That doctor ordered his immediate transfer to a hospital.
Soon unable to talk, he sent his family desperate text messages. “Get me out of here,” “I’m scared,” “Help.” Held in a ward surrounded by COVID-19 patients, HenrÃquez wasn’t tested until March 27. The result was positive.
A week later, before heading to his second hospital, HenrÃquez wrote to his wife to say goodbye. It was the last communication his family would have with him, because the hospital took his phone. A few days later, the attending doctor told his family he was intubated and in intensive care.
At a third hospital, doctors told the family HenrÃquez’s kidneys were failing and he needed dialysis. But the dialysis machine never arrived.
On April 22, HenrÃquez died.
The human rights center concluded that HenrÃquez’s detention had been arbitrary, unsupported by any law and likely led to his death.
The case “is a clear example of the improvisation and disorganization of the government in managing the containment and prevention measures of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the institute concluded.
HenrÃquez’s relatives said they have received no response from the government since the human rights report was published last week, nor has it provided information about those who have fallen ill inside its containment centers. They believe he was infected during detention.
“My father-in-law was a very good person, a man of faith and he always fought against injustices and was a person who helped his neighbors,” said Oscar Monedero. “That motivated us to bring to light the injustices that he lived.”
Tourism Minister Valdez told the AP conditions have improved, and that the centers now separate those who test positive.
Sanchez, meanwhile, was eventually moved to another center and was tested three times, coming up negative. But officials held him for 48 days.
“They have violated my rights,” Sánchez said. “They told me it would be for 30 days and it was 48. ... I had not committed any crime and I had a right for them to tell me what was happening.”
__
Sherman reported from Mexico City.
SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has imposed some of the hemisphere’s toughest measures against the new coronavirus — closing his country’s borders, imposing a national quarantine and dispatching police and the army to detain violators.
An overwhelming majority of Salvadorans approve of Bukele’s performance, but human rights advocates complain the 38-year-old leader has ignored the country’s constitution and rulings by its Supreme Court.
At the heart of the controversy are “containment centers” where thousands of Salvadorans have been detained for more than a month at a time without judicial review, some swept off the street as they went to buy food for their families. Others had the bad luck to be traveling outside the country when Bukele imposed the quarantine and were locked up upon return.
In some 90 rented hotels, convention centers and gymnasiums hastily converted to police-guarded shelters, the government mixed the sick with the healthy, often waiting weeks before testing people for the virus, according to human rights groups and people who have been detained.
The country’s Supreme Court has ruled repeatedly that the detentions are unconstitutional since no law authorizes them. But Bukele has ignored the order and accused critics of seeking the deaths of thousands of Salvadorans.
“Of course in all containment centers there’s a risk of the illness, because they are designed to hold the population that has the highest risk of suffering the illness,” Health Minister Francisco Alabà told The Associated Press. He apologized if the 30-plus day detentions resulted in “inconveniences.”
Tourism Minister Morena Valdez, who is part of the government’s containment team, said that some 7,000 people in the nation of about 6.4 million have been held in the shelters. Officials have not revealed how many of those held have tested positive for the disease, nor how many have died. Nationwide, the government has reported 1,265 cases and 26 deaths.
Bukele announced on March 11 that El Salvador was closing itself to foreigners and that Salvadorans returning to the country would be subject to 30-day forced quarantine in the new centers — a stay twice as long as that recommended by the World Health Organization.
The next day, 67-year-old Carlos HenrÃquez Cortez, a Salvadoran manager for a steel company on a two-day business trip to Guatemala, checked with his embassy there. He was told that because he was over 60 years old and suffered from hypertension he would have to quarantine at home — not in a government center — according to a detailed account by the José Simeón Cañas Central American University Human Rights Institute and his relatives.
A day later, HenrÃquez flew into a San Salvador airport in chaos. After hours of confusion, he was bused with dozens of others to a sports complex known as the Olympic Village that was being used to house those swept up in the president’s quarantine decree.
Photographs he sent to his family depict a sea of people crowded together in a large hall, clogged toilets, broken sinks and mold-coated showers. People coming from all over the world, including the most infected countries, were stuffed 10 to a room on bunk beds that touched.
HenrÃquez told relatives he felt surrounded by people getting sick. People coughed through the night.
That experience was shared by business executive Ernesto Sánchez, 38, who flew into El Salvador March 12 after a 36-hour business trip to Panama and was also bused to the Olympic Village.
“They didn’t examine us,” he told the AP. “The most they did was take our temperature.”
He said 50 to 55 men were assigned to his unit, sharing dirty communal showers and bathrooms. He said he was terrified of those around him.
“I knew they came from countries with infections,” said Sánchez, who asked that only part of his name be used to avoid retaliation. “It was more a center of contamination.”
Five days into HenrÃquez ’s stay he had a fever and began coughing. He waited in line for hours to see a doctor who gave him medicine for his fever.
“We as a family identified, after a week, the symptoms (in him) one by one,” said his son Carlos.
HenrÃquez’s condition worsened and on March 22 he was transferred to a small hotel, according to the report. A doctor saw him the following day and diagnosed him with colitis and dehydration. Under pressure from his family, the Health Ministry sent another doctor to see him. That doctor ordered his immediate transfer to a hospital.
Soon unable to talk, he sent his family desperate text messages. “Get me out of here,” “I’m scared,” “Help.” Held in a ward surrounded by COVID-19 patients, HenrÃquez wasn’t tested until March 27. The result was positive.
A week later, before heading to his second hospital, HenrÃquez wrote to his wife to say goodbye. It was the last communication his family would have with him, because the hospital took his phone. A few days later, the attending doctor told his family he was intubated and in intensive care.
At a third hospital, doctors told the family HenrÃquez’s kidneys were failing and he needed dialysis. But the dialysis machine never arrived.
On April 22, HenrÃquez died.
The human rights center concluded that HenrÃquez’s detention had been arbitrary, unsupported by any law and likely led to his death.
The case “is a clear example of the improvisation and disorganization of the government in managing the containment and prevention measures of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the institute concluded.
HenrÃquez’s relatives said they have received no response from the government since the human rights report was published last week, nor has it provided information about those who have fallen ill inside its containment centers. They believe he was infected during detention.
“My father-in-law was a very good person, a man of faith and he always fought against injustices and was a person who helped his neighbors,” said Oscar Monedero. “That motivated us to bring to light the injustices that he lived.”
Tourism Minister Valdez told the AP conditions have improved, and that the centers now separate those who test positive.
Sanchez, meanwhile, was eventually moved to another center and was tested three times, coming up negative. But officials held him for 48 days.
“They have violated my rights,” Sánchez said. “They told me it would be for 30 days and it was 48. ... I had not committed any crime and I had a right for them to tell me what was happening.”
__
Sherman reported from Mexico City.
Albanian protesters, police clash over theater demolition
By LLAZAR SEMINI
1 of 6
Protesters scuffle with police during the demolition of the national theater building in Tirana, Sunday, May 17, 2020. The government's decision to destroy the old National Theater, built by Italians when they occupied Albania during World War II, was opposed by artists and others who wanted it renovated instead. (AP Photo/Gent Onuzi)
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian police clashed Sunday with opposition supporters who were protesting the demolition of the country’s crumbling National Theater building in the capital.
Police pulled a group of artists and some opposition leaders away from the building in Tirana early in the morning before heavy machinery started to bring it down. The country is in a lockdown because of the coronavirus outbreak and no mass gatherings are allowed.
A new 30 million-euro ($32.4 million) theater will be built in its place — a modern design by Danish architects from the Bjarke Ingels Group.
The government’s decision to destroy the old National Theater, built by Italians when they occupied Albania during World War II, was opposed by artists and others who wanted it renovated instead. Workers started building the theater in 1938 and finished it the following year before it opened as a cultural center in 1940. Albania’s government took the decision to tear it down two years ago and shuttered it. Actors and artists continued to use it even after that despite the dilapidated condition of the theater.
The theater had many names over the years. When it first opened, the Italians named it Savoia, and then during the German occupation it was called Movie Theater Kosova before being renamed the People’s Theater during communist times and finally the National Theater.
It’s not clear when the project to build the new theater will begin. Initially, a local construction company was going to build and fund it in exchange for the government giving the firm a nearby land plot to build towers on it. But the government abandoned that plan because of protests, and the construction of the new theater will now be funded by Tirana’s city hall.
Hundreds of protesters continued to stay near the site of the demolished theater as they tried to break through the police cordon. The demonstrators chanted “Down with the dictatorship!”
Later in the day, police tried to move a group of young people sitting on a boulevard close to the site. Officers used pepper spray and took away some of the demonstrators, and police also tried to stop local television crews from reporting on it.
Opposition leaders joined the group and pledged to stage a sit-in with them in solidarity.
President Ilir Meta denounced the move of the left-wing government of Prime Minister Edi Rama as “a constitutional, legal and moral crime.”
In a Facebook post, the prime minister compared old and renovated views from the capital, saying, “They cannot stop Tirana!”
A statement from the European Union office in Tirana deplored the demolition of the theater at a time when they had called for negotiations with civil society, and for political parties to avoid “an escalation of the situation.”
Police said 37 people, including a journalist, were briefly detained before being released and reminded that mass gatherings were prohibited because of the virus outbreak.
Two policemen were injured and television stations showed a bloodied citizen too.
Television footage showed Monika Kryemadhi, leader of a small opposition party and wife of the country’s president, being put into a police van. The position of president is mostly a ceremonial post in Albania. Kryemadhi was later freed.
The leader of the opposition Democratic Party, Lulzim Basha, urged residents to topple the government over the theater’s demolition.
Basha called on all citizens to start nationwide protests “to get rid of this bandit and this great evil,” adding that demonstrations would be held “respecting hygienic conditions.”
Albania, which earlier this year got approval from the EU to launch full membership negotiations to join the bloc, has been in a tense political situation since last year when opposition parties left their seats in the parliament.
By LLAZAR SEMINI
1 of 6
Protesters scuffle with police during the demolition of the national theater building in Tirana, Sunday, May 17, 2020. The government's decision to destroy the old National Theater, built by Italians when they occupied Albania during World War II, was opposed by artists and others who wanted it renovated instead. (AP Photo/Gent Onuzi)
TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Albanian police clashed Sunday with opposition supporters who were protesting the demolition of the country’s crumbling National Theater building in the capital.
Police pulled a group of artists and some opposition leaders away from the building in Tirana early in the morning before heavy machinery started to bring it down. The country is in a lockdown because of the coronavirus outbreak and no mass gatherings are allowed.
A new 30 million-euro ($32.4 million) theater will be built in its place — a modern design by Danish architects from the Bjarke Ingels Group.
The government’s decision to destroy the old National Theater, built by Italians when they occupied Albania during World War II, was opposed by artists and others who wanted it renovated instead. Workers started building the theater in 1938 and finished it the following year before it opened as a cultural center in 1940. Albania’s government took the decision to tear it down two years ago and shuttered it. Actors and artists continued to use it even after that despite the dilapidated condition of the theater.
The theater had many names over the years. When it first opened, the Italians named it Savoia, and then during the German occupation it was called Movie Theater Kosova before being renamed the People’s Theater during communist times and finally the National Theater.
It’s not clear when the project to build the new theater will begin. Initially, a local construction company was going to build and fund it in exchange for the government giving the firm a nearby land plot to build towers on it. But the government abandoned that plan because of protests, and the construction of the new theater will now be funded by Tirana’s city hall.
Hundreds of protesters continued to stay near the site of the demolished theater as they tried to break through the police cordon. The demonstrators chanted “Down with the dictatorship!”
Later in the day, police tried to move a group of young people sitting on a boulevard close to the site. Officers used pepper spray and took away some of the demonstrators, and police also tried to stop local television crews from reporting on it.
Opposition leaders joined the group and pledged to stage a sit-in with them in solidarity.
President Ilir Meta denounced the move of the left-wing government of Prime Minister Edi Rama as “a constitutional, legal and moral crime.”
In a Facebook post, the prime minister compared old and renovated views from the capital, saying, “They cannot stop Tirana!”
A statement from the European Union office in Tirana deplored the demolition of the theater at a time when they had called for negotiations with civil society, and for political parties to avoid “an escalation of the situation.”
Police said 37 people, including a journalist, were briefly detained before being released and reminded that mass gatherings were prohibited because of the virus outbreak.
Two policemen were injured and television stations showed a bloodied citizen too.
Television footage showed Monika Kryemadhi, leader of a small opposition party and wife of the country’s president, being put into a police van. The position of president is mostly a ceremonial post in Albania. Kryemadhi was later freed.
The leader of the opposition Democratic Party, Lulzim Basha, urged residents to topple the government over the theater’s demolition.
Basha called on all citizens to start nationwide protests “to get rid of this bandit and this great evil,” adding that demonstrations would be held “respecting hygienic conditions.”
Albania, which earlier this year got approval from the EU to launch full membership negotiations to join the bloc, has been in a tense political situation since last year when opposition parties left their seats in the parliament.
ON THIS DATE IN HISTORY
In 1973, the U.S. Senate Watergate Committee opened hearings into a break-in at Democratic National headquarters in Washington.
File Photo by Alexis C. Glenn/UPI
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