2 delivery companies in Oregon reportedly stopped working for Amazon, their only client, alleging 'intolerable' conduct and unsafe working conditions

sjackson@insider.com (Sarah Jackson) 

 Provided by Business Insider Patrick Fallon/Getty Images

Two delivery companies reportedly cut ties with Amazon, accusing it of poor pay and work conditions.

Triton Transportation and Last Mile Delivery say Amazon changed rules and routes without notice.

They're reportedly seeking $36 million and won't resume deliveries unless their conditions are met.

Two delivery companies in Oregon made the decision to effectively shut down rather than keep delivering for Amazon, according to Vice.

Last Mile Delivery and Triton Transportation stopped working with Amazon, which is their only client, last week, The Oregonian reported.

"Amazon has been nickel and diming us so bad that if we don't make change we can no longer offer the support and incentives that thus far we have been able to provide," wrote Last Mile Delivery co-owner Tracy Bloemer in a letter to workers seen by The Oregonian. "We believe most of the routes are unsafe and require drivers to deliver in an unsafe manner."

The companies sent a letter to Amazon accusing the e-commerce giant of "intolerable, unconscionable, unsafe, and most importantly, unlawful" conduct in the past two years, according to Vice. Together, the delivery companies employ roughly 150 drivers and make more than 20,000 Amazon deliveries in the Portland area on average every day, The Oregonian reports.

The companies said Amazon nixed delivery routes and changed rules without notifying them, according to Vice. The letter, obtained by Vice says that, because drivers commit to routes ahead of time, Last Mile and Triton are still on the hook for wages even if Amazon cuts routes at the last minute due to low inventory or warehouse staffing.

In the letter, the companies also accused Amazon of accessing drivers' personal information, reducing reimbursements, firing drivers without giving the companies a say in the matter, and allocating deliveries unevenly among workers. Because deliveries weren't evenly divided, some workers ended up needing to drive faster, potentially endangering other drivers or pedestrians, and work 12-hour shifts, even though Amazon only reimburses them for 10-hour shifts, according to Vice.

Last Mile and Triton are seeking $36 million to cover company damages and pay for laid-off drivers, Vice reports. They told the news outlet they won't resume Amazon deliveries unless the company agrees to its terms regarding pay and working conditions.

"Earlier this week, two Delivery Service Partners abruptly threatened to stop servicing the Amazon account and jeopardize the livelihood of their drivers if we did not pay them $35MM within 48 hours along with a string of other demands," Amazon spokesperson Kate Kudrna told Insider in an email response on Friday. "We refused their demands and they followed through with their threat, terminating their contract with us, leaving their employees confused and looking for answers. We're doing everything we can to support the affected employees including connecting them with other Delivery Service Partners in the area who are hiring."

Amazon says it has more than 2,000 delivery service partners employing more than 115,000 delivery associates across the US. These workers earn more than $17.50 an hour on average, according to the company.

Amazon came under fire earlier this year after drivers said they had to pee in bottles because they didn't have time to use the restroom on their routes. Amazon has denied those claims. Delivery workers have also expressed frustration with surveillance cameras that Amazon said it installed in vans for workers' safety.

Working conditions for the company's warehouse workers are also under scrutiny, with one analysis finding that these Amazon workers were almost twice as likely to be injured than their counterparts at Walmart.

Last Mile Delivery, and Triton Transportation did not respond to requests for comment.
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RCMP union first-ever tentative deal with Ottawa could mean $20,000 hike for constables

Christopher Nardi 

OTTAWA – RCMP constables will receive a $20,000 hike to their top salary by next April if the first ever tentative agreement signed between the national police service and its new union is approved.

© Provided by National Post According to the latest numbers on the RCMP’s website, there are currently 11,913 constables within its ranks, meaning that the raise could add up to $238 million to the force’s annual payroll.

According to documents obtained by the National Post, constables — which represent over half of the RCMP’s 20,000 police officers — will see their maximum salary jump from $86,110 as of April 2016 to $106,576 in April 2022 if the agreement is ratified by National Police Federation members.

According to the latest numbers on the RCMP’s website, there are currently 11,913 constables within its ranks, meaning that the raise could add up to $238 million to the force’s annual payroll if all constables reach the top salary echelon (generally after three years of service) beginning next year.

The documents do not contain numbers regarding raises for other uniformed RCMP members, such as corporals, sergeants and inspectors.

RCMP constables, also referred to as 1 st class constables, last received a pay increase in 2016, and no further pay raises were to be given until union negotiations were concluded. The tentative agreement thus contains a 1.5 per cent annual salary increase effective April 1, 2017, as well as a “market adjustment” worth between 1.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent each year until 2022, according to the documents.

If approved, the agreement also stipulates that the annual increases since 2016 will be paid retroactively to members, who are expected to vote on the tentative deal over the summer.

A spokesperson for the NPF declined to comment on details of the tentative deal except to say that it is being submitted to union members for review and discussion ahead of the ratification vote for which there is no fixed date yet.

But in a letter to members obtained by this newspaper, union leadership says the potential deal comes after a “long year of intense and at times contentious negotiations” between the NPF, which is the first ever union to represent federal police members, and the RCMP via the Treasury Board of Canada.

“This Collective agreement ends 4.5 years without a raise and an unprecedented 148 years without a negotiated contract,” reads the letter. “We at the NPF recognize that this has been a roller coaster 5 years, from inception of the NPF, our membership drive, the drawn-out certification and ultimate bargaining process.”

According to union leadership, members’ sick leave and benefits remain “unchanged” in the new agreement, which they say bolsters pay so that it’s “competitive with other police agencies across Canada.”

The letter also explains that process took time because NPF negotiators wanted the “best” deal, not the “fastest”, and that Treasury Board officials originally offered a new salary that was many thousands of dollars below $106,576.

According to each municipal police service’s website, a constable in Ottawa will max out their salary at $100,420.02, a constable in Toronto can earn up to $104,491.87, and a constable in Edmonton can be paid upwards of $112,000.

The boost in salary also comes at a time when critics are calling for a review or even a decrease of police funding in Canada and the United States, a call that has come on the heels of intense scrutiny and protests regarding police use of force following the deaths of a number of people of colour while in custody.

If ratified, the new agreement will also put new pressures on municipal and provincial governments who have struck deals with the RCMP to cover their local policing needs.

For example, the Alberta government is currently studying the feasibility of establishing an Albertan provincial police service to replace the RCMP. In a statement, Jason van Rassel, a spokesperson for Alberta Justice and Solicitor General, said that a “significant increase” to the government’s payments for the police force’s services caused by a new collective bargaining agreement “will be extremely relevant to the ongoing study and discussion of this issue.”

“It’s too early to say what the precise financial impact will be until the Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General analyzes the distribution in rank among officers funded by the Provincial Police Service Agreement (PPSA). Suffice to say, the financial impact will be significant,” van Rassel wrote.

Craig Hodge, a city councillor for the city of Coquitlam, B.C., and a member of the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) executive, says cities and towns are likely to feel an even stronger pinch after the COVID-19 ran roughshod on many local economies.

In many cases, municipalities will likely have no choice but to pass the increased cost on to real estate owners via property tax increases, Hodge said. That hike may be particularly sharp for municipalities that have not heeded the UBCM’s warnings for over a year now to prepare for a “substantial” RCMP salary increase.

“This is going to have a really big impact for those 63 municipalities (in B.C.) that do currently contract with the RCMP. Protective services are probably the single biggest item in local governments’ budgets,” Hodge said.

“Local governments really only have one main source for revenue, and that’s property tax,” he added. “Essentially operational expenses, such as emergency services, are paid by through property taxes. So ultimately, this will flow through property tax increases.”

In a statement announcing the tentative agreement (but which contained no financial details) on Monday, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki congratulated both sides for reaching a potential deal. She also highlighted that this was the “first time in history” that there will have been a collective agreement between the force and its uniformed members.

Posthaste: Labour shortages are set to get worse in Canada — and you can blame immigration

Victoria Wells 

© Provided by Financial Post Canadian firms are starting to catch up with the U.S. when it comes to labour shortages.

© Provided by Financial Post

Good morning!

Canada may not be suffering from a labour shortage the way the U.S. is, but that doesn’t mean it won’t in the near future.

And the reason isn’t because available workers lack skills, but rather, because of muted immigration levels.

According to Capital Economics, Canada’s job recovery is in pretty good shape. The labour force has rebounded faster than in the U.S., thanks to a quicker reopening of schools, fewer retiring workers and also because many returning employees are able to keep collecting the Canada Recovery Benefit.

In fact, Capital Economics expects employment in Canada to return to its pre-pandemic levels by October. It’s after that, though, that things start getting dicey.

Stephen Brown, senior Canada economist at Capital Economics, points to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business’s latest small business survey , which shows that Canadian firms are starting to catch up with the U.S. when it comes to labour shortages. Forty-one per cent of businesses surveyed in the June CFIB Business Barometer said a lack of skilled labour was limiting sales and growth. Another 28 per cent said a shortage of un- or semi-skilled labour was affecting operations.

Brown says the reason for these shortages is ultimately a lack of newcomers to Canada.

“The big issue is immigration has slowed sharply,” he said.

Last week, Canada announced it would begin letting 23,000 people who’ve been approved as permanent residents into the country. But, it will take some time to get those people into the workforce.

“For the past year, they have only been processing applications for people working in Canada,” Brown says. “So while the government announced last week that migrants are allowed to travel to Canada again, the processing backlog means immigration will remain low into 2022.”

A report from RBC Economics breaks down the immigration issue a bit further and explains why getting more people into Canada is so critical for the labour market.

Before the pandemic, an aging population was one of the biggest problems facing the Canadian economy. That hasn’t changed. And while Canada has some of the highest immigration inflows in the world, it’s still not enough to offset the decline in the working-age population.

The report says the country will need a steady stream of immigrants with “future-focused skills” post-pandemic. Jobs in advanced tech, skilled trade and health care will be more important than ever. And training current Canadians won’t be enough to meet demand.

Tapping into Canada’s temporary resident population — people who come here as international students or to work short-term — might be one way to increase immigration numbers and make sure skilled workers fill jobs. Historically, only 25 per cent of these people go on to become permanent residents. And, RBC says, evidence has shown that immigrants with prior experience in Canada go on to do “significantly” better than those that don’t.

“Over the longer term, Canada would benefit from a more responsive approach to immigration: one that addressed labour-force gaps and targeted the world’s best talent all while helping to offset domestic aging,” Andrew Agopsowicz, a senior economist at RBC, said in the report.

In the meantime, labour shortages appear inevitable.

More people than ever are unemployed because they quit their jobs. It shows Americans are getting pickier about pay

 and benefits.

insider@insider.com (Juliana Kaplan,Andy Kiersz) 

© Provided by Business Insider A "now hiring" sign at a BevMo store on April 2 in Larkspur, California. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

In June, 942,000 people were unemployed because they voluntarily quit, a pandemic-era high.

It reflects labor-market tightness, which is strange when 9.5 million are out of work.

Wages ticked up in June, but they remain relatively low for leisure and hospitality workers.

While the number of jobs added in June trounced expectations, another measure also paradoxically ticked up: More unemployed people said their reason for being jobless was quitting than in any other month of the pandemic.

In June, 164,000 more unemployed people quit or voluntarily left their jobs, data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated, bringing the total number of so-called job leavers to 942,000 for the month. That latter figure is a new pandemic-era high for people who quit and remain unemployed.

It continues a trend of elevated quits throughout the past couple of months, showcasing that while recovery may be on the horizon, the labor market is still pretty weird.

Video: 40% of Workers Would Think About Quitting Their Jobs If They Weren’t Allowed to Work Remotely (Veuer)

Job vacancies reached record highs in April, the BLS said, a month when the total number of Americans leaving their positions hit a 20-year record: 4 million Americans quit their jobs that month. That data included people who quit and found new jobs.

The number of people quitting might show that workers are still choosier about their jobs and work, especially as employers vie to lure them in with everything for $50 to show up for an interview to hiring bonuses. The number of quits also comes as 26 states move to end their participation in federal unemployment benefits, a measure that many governors explicitly implemented to compel workers back into the workforce.

Some workers had been "rage quitting" their positions during the pandemic amid poor working conditions and low wages, Insider's Áine Cain previously reported.

Wages also ticked up in June, potentially indicating that employers are being forced to increase wages to lure in and retain workers. The average hourly earnings for all workers rose by $0.10 to $30.40 in June, following increases in April and May, In fact, the jump between April and May marked the fastest rate of wage growth since 1983 (excluding a 2020 lockdown-driven spike).

For instance, leisure and hospitality made up a large chunk of gains in June, adding 343,000 jobs. That industry has seen consistent strong wage growth over the past few months, and just hit $16.21 in hourly earnings. It's also an industry that saw elevated quits in April, before wages climbed up even higher. That could support claims that raising wages across the board might be one solution for bringing workers back.
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Biden's Labor Secretary is watching 'very closely' after Indiana tried to cancel federal unemployment benefits and a judge intervened

insider@insider.com (Juliana Kaplan) 

© Provided by Business Insider Labor Secretary Marty Walsh. Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Indiana moved to cancel extra unemployment benefits, but a judge has halted that.

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told Insider he's watching the situation closely.

The state has since said that it can't start up those benefits again, HuffPost reports.

In Indiana, federal unemployment benefits ended early - until they didn't. Biden's Labor Secretary told Insider that he's on the case.


After the state's announcement that the $300 weekly benefits would end on June 19, instead of the scheduled September end date for the program nationwide, impacted Hoosiers brought a lawsuit against the state and won a preliminary injunction last week that would preserve benefits for thousands as the case proceeds.

But, as HuffPost's Arthur Delaney reported, the state's Department of Workforce Development "claims it can't bring back the benefits." Scott Olson, a spokesman for the agency, told Delaney in an email that Indiana is "is determining how to proceed because the federal programs in Indiana no longer exist after their termination on June 19."

When asked if the Department of Labor has any plans to step in and ensure impacted Indiana residents receive their benefits, Labor Secretary Marty Walsh told Insider, "we've been in contact with the state, and we're watching this unfold very closely."

"I was actually in Indiana last week - I was at a vaccine site - and I was talking to a mother, with her son, to get vaccinated, and she talked to me about the unemployment benefit piece and that she was having a hard time finding a job," Walsh said. He added: "We're gonna monitor the situation as we move forward here."

The case represents one of the latest attempts by unemployed workers to retain their benefits. Over half of the states in the country have opted to end their federal benefits early, cutting off workers throughout the summer.

Many jobless workers who were newly eligible for unemployment insurance under the expanded federal programs could now lose all benefits.

Broadly, 4 million workers will be impacted by benefits ending early. Some politicians and advocates - including Sen. Bernie Sanders - have argued that the Department of Labor is obligated to continue paying out Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA), which made gig workers, among others, eligible for benefits. However, the Labor Department concluded it probably can't step in and continue those payments in states that have ended the program early.

When asked about the impact that benefits ending early had on jobs, Walsh said that, "in the states that have threatened or have cut unemployment benefits, we have not seen an uptick of job searches."

He added: "I think that what's driving our economy is not the threat of cutting unemployment benefits. What's driving the economy is confidence in people coming back to work."

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Fast-food workers describe melting food and air so hot it 'felt like the grease from the kitchen was sliding down our throats' as record heat pummels parts of the US

gkay@businessinsider.com (Grace Kay) 1 hour ago

© Courtesy of Fight for $15 McDonald's workers protest heat conditions at a Los Angeles store. Courtesy of Fight for $15

Workers at McDonald's and Jack in the Box protested working in 100-degree temperatures.

Jack in the Box workers filed an OSHA complaint after their manager said they were exaggerating.

Workers at a Hooters and a Voodoo Doughnut shop also held walkouts over the high temperatures.

Fast-food workers are struggling to beat the heat as many areas in the US continue to face record temperatures.

"It was uncomfortable and hard to breathe," Laura Pozos, a Los Angeles McDonald's worker, told Insider after she said her location went several months without an air conditioner or working kitchen ventilator, with the in-store temperature hitting about 100 degrees. "It felt like the grease from the kitchen was sliding down our throats."

The heat wave has prompted several walkouts across the West Coast. On Tuesday, workers at a Sacramento, California, Jack in the Box went on strike when conditions inside the restaurant hit as high as 109 degrees, according to a complaint the workers filed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Sacramento County Public Health.

In the complaint, the group said that the air conditioning at the store was frequently broken and that management had not implemented any strategies to keep workers safe from excessive heat exposure.

© Provided by Business Insider Jack in the Box workers protest heat conditions in Sacramento, California. Courtesy of Fight for $15

"She said we were exaggerating and hot because of menopause," one worker said in the OSHA complaint.

The location is one of many fast-food sites in California that has faced backlash from employees who say they have been forced to work in extreme heat.

On Sunday, workers at a Voodoo Doughnut store in Portland, Oregon, staged a walkout over heat conditions. The union Doughnut Workers United said in a Facebook post that temperatures were so high that doughnuts were melting and the frosting wouldn't dry. A Voodoo Doughnut spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from Insider but told HuffPost that they had kept the store air conditioner running and altered the store schedule to keep employees from working under peak temperatures.

Earlier in June, Hooters workers in Houston held a walkout, saying the location went a month without air conditioning. A waitress told local news the store was so hot that the workers would gather in the ice cooler.

Similarly, a McDonald's off Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles staged a protest on June 17 to demand the company repair its air-conditioning unit.

Pozos told Insider the heat poses an imminent risk to fast-food workers. She said that while the air conditioning and kitchen-ventilation system were fixed when her store hired a new manager, workers' health should not be dependent on the generosity of their managers.

Pozos pointed to workers' support of a bill introduced in the state Legislature at the beginning of the year that would create a California Fast-Food Sector Council and give workers a voice in setting industry standards for fast food in California.

"We need a better place to go," Pozos said. "We need to go directly to the people who would help enforce these issues or we will definitely continue to keep having these issues."

McDonald's, Jack in the Box, and Hooters did not respond to requests for comment. Insider reached out to the individual stores, but the managers said they were not able to provide statements without corporate approval.
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'Apocalyptic': Out-of-control fire consumes B.C. town, First Nation reserve amid record heat

Adrian Humphreys 

An out-of-control fire that continues to rage after consuming almost the entirety of a small town and a First Nations reserve in British Columbia spread so quickly and fiercely that people scrambled to escape with just the clothes they were wearing.

© Provided by National Post Flames rise from a burning building along a street during a wildfire in Lytton, on June 30 in this still image obtained from a social media video.

And it is not certain everyone made it out alive, officials said.

By late Thursday, 24 hours after the first alarm, residents of the Village of Lytton and a reserve of the Lytton First Nation in the B.C. interior were still searching for neighbours and relatives, taking stock of what they had lost and searching for answers on what brought such devastation in so little time.

Mike Farnworth, B.C.’s public safety minister, said most homes and buildings in the town of Lytton have been destroyed by a fire that forced the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people, including the RCMP detachment and ambulance station.

Several residents remain unaccounted for, he said.

“The town has sustained structural damage and 90 per cent of the village is burned, including the centre of town,” said Brad Vis, MP for Mission-Matsqui-Fraser Canyon, in a Facebook message. Nearby electrical, cellphone, rail and highway infrastructure were also damaged, making travel and communication difficult.

Photos show one of the town’s main intersections almost devoid of buildings, just littered with burnt debris and gutted vehicles where a village core once stood.

© Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press Structures destroyed by the wildfire are seen in Lytton on July 1, 2021.

“I’m very worried,” said Rosanna Stamberg, whose son and daughter, Alfred and Marjorie Nelson, live eight kilometres from the centre of town.

“I don’t know which direction they went. I don’t know if they went down towards Chilliwack. I don’t know if they went to Lillooet. I don’t know if they went to Spencer’s Bridge or Merritt or Kamloops. I have no idea,” she said.

“Or if they stayed home.”

John Haugen, a deputy chief with the Lytton First Nation, said there is “devastation and loss” on reserve land and officials are still trying to account for all its members.

Lytton is 150 kilometres northeast of Vancouver as the crow flies, but a winding, rugged 310-kilometre drive by car.

Dry air, low elevation helped create record-breaking hot spell in Lytton, B.C.: meteorologist

An Oregon town's daunting challenge: How to rebuild when wildfires left almost nothing behind

An evacuation order was issued Wednesday at 6 p.m., a day after the village posted a Canadian record temperature of 49.6 C as a heat wave gripped the province.

The heat may have already had a devastating impact across much of British Columbia, with elderly and other vulnerable residents appearing to have been hit hardest.

British Columbia’s Coroners Service had received reports of 486 sudden and unexpected deaths between June 25 and Wednesday afternoon, Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe said, well over double the usual number.

At the time of the fire, Lytton had set records for high temperatures for three days in a row — surpassing the highest temperature ever recorded in Las Vegas.

Lytton Mayor Jan Polderman said the fire spread so swiftly that within 15 minutes people had to run, leaving behind belongings and pets.

© Jennifer Gauthier / Reuters A view shows a wildfire burning in the mountainous area outside the town of Lytton.

Scott Hildebrand, chief administrative officer of the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, said billows of smoke filled the air and buildings started to erupt in flames within minutes.

Many residents fleeing the town set out for Lillooet or Merritt, where emergency shelters were set up and hotels were asked to find space for evacuees.

Photos and videos posted on social media revealed the dramatic and horrifying scenes, both from afar and terrifyingly close.

An aerial photo shows the widening plume of smoke, starting white and narrow above the tree line, then widening into a panorama of grey haze across the horizon.

Photos from a small convoy of vehicles leaving the area showed two separate fires, with white smoke from a wildfire that has been burning for two weeks on the mountainside above town, and a second plume, darker and denser, in the valley, consuming the town itself.

A dramatic video posted on Vimeo shows a harrowing escape along a curving road, racing past burnt and burning buildings, cars, trucks, RVs and tall trees as the vehicle is repeatedly buffeted by blowing smoke and ash, that sometimes came so thick that visibility was reduced to almost nothing.

© Jennifer Gauthier / Reuters Martha Van Dyke of Lytton was fortunate to rescue her cats, Tigger, and Kona (in the cage).

“I am incredibly overwhelmed by the news of the fire. It happened so fast and is completely devastating almost everyone I’ve ever known,” Shianna McAllister, a Nlaka’pamux from the Lytton First Nation, said on Twitter. She said several residents chose to stay to try to protect their houses.

“The town itself and surrounding reserves have been severely hit. Fire continues up towards other surrounding reserves between Lytton and Lillooet and Lytton and Shackan,” she said.

Lytton has a “quirky tourist draw,” McAllister said: it is one of the few places where the Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway lines cross, leaving Lytton nestled between the two railways.

While rail buffs find that intriguing, it brings danger to the community, including regular fires set by sparks from the metal wheels of passing trains grinding on metal rail lines lighting dry areas of brush along the tracks, McAllister said.

“Many people in the community expressed concerns that the railways were still up to their usual traffic when the temperatures in Lytton were reaching the high 40s (Celsius) this week,” she said.

© Karin Schmidlin via Reuters The Lytton wildfire as seen from an airplane.

There is no cause for the fire announced, or confirmation if the Lytton fire is separate from the wildfires around it. Meteorologists said the unusual weather contributed to thousands of lightning strikes in the B.C. interior. The tremendous, unrelenting heat seems a likely reason why it spread quickly.

Jo-Anne Beharrell said the heatwave made the area “very dry, very dusty.”

“I’m telling you, it was like being in the desert.”

When she drove into town to check on friends and neighbours there was smoke hanging over the area, she said.

“It definitely feels apocalyptic.”

Edith Loring-Kuhanga, an administrator at the Stein Valley Nlakapamux School, says she and fellow staff members were forced to end a Zoom interview with a prospective teacher as fire burned down their block.

“This is so devastating — we are all in shock,” she wrote in a Facebook post. “Our community members have lost everything. I understand our Band office is also gone.”

Jean McKay said she smelled smoke at her home about 15 km from Lytton, a sign for her that it was time to leave.

“I was still sitting there and wondering what to pack — emotionally walking out my door but thinking, ‘I’m leaving all this behind,’ it’s hard, very hard — when my girlfriend told me her house was burning, it really hit home,” McKay said.

“My daughter phoned before we lost services and stuff, she’s telling us, ‘Get out of there, get out of there.’”

For McKay and her daughter, Deirdre, 22, leaving home was hard.

“I cried. My daughter cried. She said, ‘I don’t even know why I grabbed my key. We might not even have a home.’”

Before leaving, her daughter grabbed a photo of her grandfather off the wall to hang on to, McKay said.

“As long as we’re together we’ll survive,” McKay said. “I just pray that our houses are OK.”

The BC Wildfire Service said the blaze is raging out of control over an area spanning roughly 80 square kilometres.

To help the victims of Lytton, a GoFundMe campaign has been set up .

With additional reporting by Vancouver Sun, Canadian Press, Reuters

• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | Twitter: AD_Humphreys

Alaska's Extreme Heatwave Triggered an Ice Quake

An extreme heatwave has been sweeping the Pacific Northwest, and now the region has gotten so hot, it caused an ice quake in Alaska.

© Provided by Travel + Leisure Melting glaciers caused a 2.7-magnitude ice quake on Tuesday.

A 2.7-magnitude ice quake was recorded 25 miles east of Juneau on Tuesday, caused by melting glaciers, according to Gizmodo. While it is normal for melting to cause flooding, the site reported it is rarer that the water refreezes and expands as ice, triggering enough stress to cause seismic activity.

The quake is known as a cryoseism, or a non-tectonic seismic event, and was recorded at a depth of about 8 miles, Gizmodo noted.

Temperatures in the Last Frontier have been hot over the past several days. On Monday, a temperature of 92 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded in Hyder, Alaska, according to the National Weather Service Juneau, causing the agency to dub it Hyderzona. And in Ketchikan — renamed Los Ketchikangeles — temperatures reached 84 degrees.© Provided by Travel + Leisure Sergi Reboredo/VW PICS/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Video: Alaska's Extreme Heatwave Just Triggered an Ice Quake (Travel + Leisure)

"The heat wave continues today possibly making you question what city you are in," the NWS tweeted.

The rise in temperatures in Alaska comes as hundreds of deaths have been reported in Canada and throughout the Pacific Northwest as a record-breaking heatwave swept the area, CNN reported. On Tuesday, British Columbia recorded a temperature of 121 degrees, the highest ever recorded in Canada.

"While it is too early to say with certainty how many of these deaths are heat related, it is believed likely that the significant increase in deaths reported is attributable to extreme weather (British Columbia) has experienced and continues to impact many parts of our province," British Columbia chief coroner Lisa Lapointe told the network in a statement.

The extreme heat also comes just months after The Weather Channel predicted the summer of 2021 would be hotter than average, especially in the western and central parts of the United States.

While Alaska's glaciers might be disappearing (and even rumbling), it's not too late to see them, go for a glacier hike, or even jump in a helicopter to land on top of one.

Alison Fox is a contributing writer for Travel Leisure. When she's not in New York City, she likes to spend her time at the beach or exploring new destinations and hopes to visit every country in the world. Follow her adventures on Instagram.

Nuclear-powered superyacht aims to host cutting-edge climate research

THE BILLIONAIRES CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTION

Isabella O'Malley 

WEATHER NETWORK

Many researchers are exploring solutions to problems like soaring greenhouse gas emissions, collapsing ecosystems, plummeting biodiversity levels — but few of them are doing so aboard a scientific superyacht. That’s where the Earth 300 comes i

Entrepreneur Aaron Olivera and superyacht specialist Ivan Salas Jefferson designed Earth 300, a nuclear-powered exploration vessel that will stretch 300 metres long and features a 13-storey Science Sphere. The groundbreaking design includes 22 laboratories fully equipped for approximately 160 scientists that can collect and analyze data as the ship travels around the world.

In addition to accommodations for the scientists, there will be room for 20 ‘Experts-in-Residence,’ 20 students, 40 VIP guests, and 165 crew members. The company strives to foster an intermingling of the scientific community, artists, and citizens to promote knowledge-sharing and collaboration.

© Provided by The Weather Network

The company plans on featuring the latest quantum computer on board, which will be the first time this technology has ventured out to the high seas. (Earth 300)

“We are combining exploration with education so that consumers become contributors. The interaction is immediate and constant. Imagine embarking on one of the most exhilarating and meaningful voyages of a lifetime where you’ll witness the cutting edge of science – you’re sitting under the tree with Newton when the apple falls, you’re walking on the moon with Armstrong and Aldrin, you’re holding Galileo’s telescope with one hand and a fine libation with the other. You will create and imagine with some of the most eminent thinkers of the day. You’ll make history,” Earth 300’s website states.

The massive vessel will be around the same size as the world’s largest cruise ship, and powering the superyacht will require a significant amount of energy. The designers plan on using Molten Salt Reactors, a type of nuclear energy that releases zero carbon emissions.

“We have considered the Molten Salt Reactors because you can literally fuel up and go at 32 knots for 30 years without refuelling, not to mention that they are safe and sustainable. There’s no way at present that solar or wind or geothermal can deliver that,” Earth 300 told The Weather Network. However, the company says that other technologies are being considered and they will monitor how various energy sources develop over the next four years before an official decision is made.

 

Provided by The Weather Network

The 300 metre vessel aims to reframe the capabilities of floating research laboratories. (Earth 300)

Some of the main areas of research that Earth 300 will focus on include energy independence, education, water and food security, global health resilience, and climate change. The ship’s Science Sphere will house the labs where this research will take place and each one will be dedicated to a specific topic, such as Indigenous maritime economies, cultures and strategies, robotics, visual arts and architecture, and quantum sciences and technologies.

The superyacht will also act as an open platform repository for oceanic and terrestrial data and aims to launch in 2025.

“Our vessel promises to reframe what a floating research laboratory can achieve. The capabilities that our scientists will have at their disposal are exceptional: artificial intelligence, robotics, machine learning, real time data processing. We will also have the latest quantum computer on board, the first to take to the high seas,” their website says.

“It is by acting together, collectively, leaving no one out, that we can achieve breakthroughs and bring the right solutions quickly to market, ensuring the survival of humanity for generations to come. Welcome to Earth 300. Come aboard and help us protect the planet.”

USA Boy Scouts reach $850M settlement with thousands of sex abuse survivors



The deal states that the plan has "significant" support of those representing about 60,000 abuse survivors, and provides a framework to resolve their complaints. File Photo by torbakhopper/Flickr

July 2 (UPI) -- The Boy Scouts of America have reached an $850 million settlement with tens of thousands of people who sued the organization saying they were sexually abused while under its care, according to court documents late Thursday.

The settlement follows the Boy Scouts of America filing for bankruptcy in February 2020 to restructure its finances and compensate those who were harmed while members of the 110-year-old organization.


The agreement was announced in a court filing entered late Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware concerning resolutions met with official and major creditors as part of its bankruptcy.

The deal states that the plan has "significant" support of those representing about 60,000 abuse survivors, and provides a framework to resolve their complaints.

The agreement is the result of months of "intensive negotiations" between BSA and creditors, the document says.

"This agreement ensures that we have the overwhelming support of survivors for the BSA's proposed Plan of Reorganization, which is a key step in the BSA's path toward emerging from bankruptcy," the organization said in a statement emailed to UPI.

"Bringing these groups together marks a significant milestone and is the biggest step forward to date as the BSA works toward our dual imperatives of equitably compensating survivors of abuse and preserving the mission of scouting.

"As part of this agreement the national organization has agreed to contribute assets with up to $250 million in value to a trust that will provide compensation to survivors of abuse."

Ken Rothweiler, one of the attorneys representing more than 16,800 people suing the organization, said he's "pleased that both the Boy Scouts of America and their local councils have stepped up to be the first to compensate the survivors.

"We will now negotiate with the insurers and sponsoring and chartering organizations who have billions of dollars in legal exposure, of which a substantial portion is necessary to fairly compensate the survivors," he said, according to NBC News.

Out-of-work Americans can now receive aid to pay for ACA health coverage


An unemployed man is seen at the California Employment Development Department office in Canoga Park, Calif., on August 6, 2020. Thursday, Americans who were out of work in 2021 are able to apply for significant federal aid in acquiring health coverage under the Affordable Care Act. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

July 1 (UPI) -- Unemployed Americans on Thursday will be able to start signing up for medical coverage under the Affordable Care Act, with significant federal subsidies that could help lower premiums to as little as $0 per month.

The help in coverage is part of President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan, which was passed by Congress in March.

Under the aid package, Americans who received or are approved to receive unemployment compensation for any week in 2021 are now eligible for subsidized coverage under the healthcare law, also known colloquially as Obamacare.

"Consumers can view 2021 plans and prices and submit an application to see if they are eligible for enrollment and financial assistance. If eligible, they can enroll in a plan that best meets their needs," the Health and Human Services Department said in a statement.

RELATED Supreme Court declines to hear bid by insurers to recoup ACA payments

An average of three out of five Americans will be able to access zero-cost plans after advance payments of tax credits and four out of five will have access to plans at a cost of no more than $10 per month, the department notes.

"The Biden-Harris Administration is focused on providing relief to millions of families who need to access health insurance coverage because they have been impacted by job losses or underemployment during the pandemic," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.

"We are doing everything we can to remove financial barriers to comprehensive health care," added Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure.

RELATED ACA slowed healthcare out-of-pocket spending growth, study says

"The American Rescue Plan provides consumers with additional savings and will make coverage even more attainable for those most in need. We welcome people who received unemployment benefits in 2021 to check out their health coverage options on HealthCare.gov on July 1."

The front page of HealthCare.gov is seen on Thursday on the first day unemployed Americans are allowed to apply for federal assistance to pay for coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Image courtesy HealthCare.gov/Health and Human Services Dept.

Uninsured Americans in states that use the federal portal HealthCare.gov can sign up for the lower cost plans through Aug. 15, while those who have already enrolled in healthcare coverage but have received or are eligible for unemployment can update their information to receive a potentially larger subsidy.

The subsidies available to help unemployed with coverage are tied to the ACA's benchmark silver plan, meaning those who select higher-level plans or live in states that require plans to cover additional benefits, including abortion, may have to pay a premium.

RELATED Biden announces extension of ACA special enrollment to Aug. 15

In April, new ACA subsidies were made available by the American Rescue Plan for Americans who were already eligible and who had ACA coverage but earned too much to qualify for subsidies.

Uncovered Americans who received unemployment benefits in 2021 are encouraged to visit HealthCare.gov to see if they are eligible for subsidies to help pay for coverage.

Progressive South Korean governor vows to tackle inequality in presidential bid


South Korea's Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung launched his presidential bid Thursday in a prerecorded video statement. File Photo by Yonhap/EPA-EFE

July 1 (UPI) -- A left-wing South Korean politician launched his presidential bid Thursday, vowing to "quash the powerful and help the vulnerable."

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung, 56, said in a prerecorded, 14-minute video statement that socioeconomic disparities in South Korea must be addressed so that "everyone prospers together," local network YTN reported.

"Society has a future only when people or regions don't get to suffer a loss for abiding by the rules, the opportunities are fair, and a reasonable reward is given as the result of fair competition," Lee said, according to Yonhap.

The South Korean politician also said he would implement forceful economic policies to stimulate new growth.

"I will immediately launch a powerful economic revival plan that will turn a crisis of paradigm shift into a chance for another leap forward," Lee said. "Moving into innovative future-oriented economic industries ... will increase the creation of quality jobs and replenish state finances to lay the ground for a country with universal welfare.

"I have only made promises I intend to keep, and I have kept promises I have made."

Lee said he advocates universal basic income and building a "society where anyone can enjoy minimum economic prosperity and pursue jobs they want."


Segye Ilbo reported Thursday that Lee's approach to the South Korean economy draws its inspiration from U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, citing sources from Lee's campaign. Roosevelt's New Deal provided relief for the unemployed and launched reforms including universal retirement pensions.

"It is because of inequity and inequality that we suffer from low growth despite having more capital, better technology, a better workforce and stronger infrastructure than ever before," Lee said, referring to problems dogging South Korea's economy.

Lee is expected to continue a policy of engagement with North Korea, the report also said.


Local pollster Realmeter showed support for Lee at 22.8% last week, trailing behind former prosecutor Yoon Seok-youl at 32.3%.

Yoon launched his presidential bid Tuesday.

Samsung chief to stand trial over alleged propofol abuse
By Nam Gyeong-sik & KimTae-gyu, UPI News Korea


Lee Jae-yong (C), vice chairman of Samsung Electronics Co., arrives to the office of the Independent Counsel for questioning in Seoul, South Korea, in February 2017. File Photo by JUNG UI-CHEL/EPA


SEOUL, July 2 (UPI) -- Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong will undergo a formal trial on charges of receiving illegal propofol injections.

The Seoul Central District Court said Tuesday that the de facto chief of Samsung Group, who is currently imprisoned for bribery, will face an official trial over the charges instead of merely paying a fine.

Early last month, the prosecution slapped him with a $45,000 fine in a summary indictment. Prosecutors typically seek a summary indictment in less serious offenses, in which proceedings are executed in a written format and do not go to court.

But the Seoul Central District Court said the 53-year-old billionaire should stand an official trial -- a move that may potentially elongate the scion's prison term.

RELATED Samsung leader summarily indicted for propofol abuse

Lee was accused of having routinely taken illegal propofol shots at a plastic surgery clinic in Seoul in 2017 and 2018. Then, in January 2020, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission received a complaint about the issue.

Lee's legal representatives claimed that he used propofol solely for medical purposes. It is illegal to prescribe or consume the drug for non-medical purposes in Korea.

South Korea classified propofol as a type of psychotropic medication in 2011 because many people have become addicted to the short-acting, sedative-hypnotic agent.

Observers have pointed out that the Seoul court's decision may negatively affect the possibility of Lee's pardon.

Lee is serving a 30-month prison term for bribing former South Korean President Park Geun-hye, who is also behind bars for corruption charges, to help him with a smooth succession.

He is scheduled to be released in mid-2022, barring any changes to his sentence.

Business organizations have proactively lobbied for his pardon, and President Moon Jae-in also recently displayed sympathy toward the scion.

"I expect that even in the worst-case scenario for Lee, the court would deliver a suspended jail term. But nobody knows what will happen at the court," Prof. Son Tae-gyu of Dankook University told UPI News Korea.

"On a more negative note for Lee, President Moon may not as easily grant Lee a pardon since he will be standing a formal trial now," he added.

Samsung Electronics did not comment.

Propofol: the drug that killed Michael Jackson - Harvard Health

https://www.health.harvard.edu › blog › propofol-the-d...

Nov. 7, 2011 — Propofol is used as an “induction agent”—the drug that causes loss of consciousness— for general anesthesia in major surgery. In lower doses it ...

Propofol, marketed as Diprivan, among other names, is a short-acting medication that results in a decreased level of consciousness and a lack of memory for events. Its uses include the starting and maintenance of general anesthesia, sedation for mechanically ventilated adults, and procedural sedation. Wikipedia

GM invests in California lithium miner in bid to produce EV batteries

GM said the deal is part of $35 billion it's spending globally in the EV market and gives it first rights to the California company's lithium. File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI | License Photo


July 2 (UPI) -- General Motors announced Friday that it's made a "strategic investment" into a California lithium miner in its effort to produce more batteries for electric vehicles.

The vast majority of lithium is produced outside of the United States, putting most American automakers at a disadvantage in growing electric vehicle market. Lithium is key to making the batteries that power EVs.

California-based Controlled Thermal Resources said it hopes to start yielding lithium from its Hell's Kitchen Lithium and Power development in Imperial, Calif., by 2024.

GM's investment will go to speeding the company's lithium extraction methods to cause less environmental impact.

GM said the deal is part of $35 billion it's spending globally in the EV market and gives the automaker first rights to the company's lithium.

"Lithium is critical to battery production today and will only become more important as consumer adoption of EVs increases, and we accelerate towards our all-electric future," Doug Parks, GM executive vice president for global product development, purchasing and supply chain, said in a statement.

"By securing and localizing the lithium supply chain in the United States, we're helping ensure our ability to make powerful, affordable, high mileage EVs while also helping to mitigate environmental impact and bring more low-cost lithium to the market as a whole."

Australia, Chile and China are some of the top lithium-producing countries in the world.

GM said EVs are key in meeting its goal to eliminate carbon emissions from light-duty vehicles by 2035.

Reaction pours in after Morinville church razed in suspicious fire
Jonny Wakefield , Anna Junker 13 hrs ago

© Provided by Edmonton Journal St. Jean Baptiste Parish in Morinville was burned to the ground on Wednesday, June 30, 2021. Police are investigating the suspicious fire at the historic Catholic church.

Investigators continue to probe the cause of a fire that left a century-old Catholic church in Morinville in ruins.

Before dawn Wednesday morning, St. Jean Baptiste Parish Church in the community north of Edmonton caught fire and burned to the ground. Police believe the blaze may have been deliberately set.

On Thursday afternoon, RCMP Cpl. Candace Hrdlicka said fire investigators and RCMP were still on scene. No suspects had been identified and the cause of the fire had not been determined.

The church is one of several Catholic churches in Canada to burn amid the ongoing discoveries of hundreds of unmarked graves at the sites of former residential schools . Others have been vandalized with red and orange paint .

Premier Jason Kenney toured the scene in Morinville Wednesday and said the fire “appears to have been a criminal act of hate inspired violence.”

Archbishop Richard Smith of the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton called the fire “heartrending” and urged empathy for Indigenous communities and local parishioners.

“That’s a monument to their faith,” he said of the church in a video message . “It’s also a very, very important monument in life in that whole city. They’re reeling right now, they’re in a lot of grief.”

A statement attributed to chief and council of nearby Alexander First Nation also mourned the loss of the church.

“We extend our sympathies to all those affected by this loss,” the statement reads. “The leadership of Alexander will continue to work with the town and support where we are able.

“Neither community has much to celebrate on this Canada Day … we ask that you give us the grace to pause and reflect on the issues before us without speculation and rumour.”

© Larry Wong St. Jean Baptiste Parish in Morinville, Alberta was burned to the ground on Wednesday June 30, 2021. Police are investigating the suspicious fire at the historic Catholic church.

‘Sounds of collapse’

During a press conference at the Morinville Town Hall Wednesday morning, Mayor Barry Turner said the loss of the church has been “overwhelming.”

“I can’t begin to describe the range of emotions that no doubt we’re all feeling in Morinville here today,” Turner said. Construction of the church was completed in 1907.

“It’s really the heart and soul of a lot of what went on in our community. And as I said before, we cannot replace what was lost.”

The Morinville Fire Department responded to the structure fire at the church, 10034 100 Ave., at around 3 a.m. Wednesday. Iain Bushell, Morinville director of emergency management, said first responders attempted to enter the building through a side door but were “faced immediately with flame and smoke and the sounds of collapse on the inside of the building.”

“They thus backed out of the building and the remainder of the firefight was conducted from (the) exterior, using exterior operations.”

Video: Fire at Morinville, Alta., church very advanced when firefighters arrived: emergency official (cbc.ca)

At the height of the firefight, there were approximately 10 trucks and 50 firefighters. The fire was contained to the church and was declared under control just before 7 a.m.

Bushell said there was no damage to the rectory building next door. There was minor ember damage to the roof of the nearby Notre Dame Apartments — a former convent and residential school which contains 38 apartment units — as well as the Morinville Museum.

Residents of the building were safely evacuated and the Morinville Legion is acting as a reception centre for displaced residents.

“We’ve asked them to be prepared to stay out of their homes for 48 hours, but we hope to get them back in their residence as quickly as possible,” Bushell said Wednesday.

Fire crews remained on scene late Wednesday morning dousing hot spots. Bushell said it will be some time before a final report including the cause of the fire is available.

© Larry Wong Firefighter Graham Glaubitz (Legal Fire Dept.) walks past St. Jean Baptiste Parish in Morinville, Alberta, which was burned to the ground on Wednesday June 30, 2021. Police are investigating the suspicious fire at the historic Catholic church.

Canada Day festivities cancelled

Fire investigators and RCMP are treating the case as suspicious. Anyone with information about the fire, including those who may have video, is asked to contact Morinville RCMP or local police

Turner said the town council conducted a special meeting and decided to cancel Canada Day festivities in light of the fire. A community centre was instead opened to allow community members “to get together, share their stories, and move forward together.”

Kenney, Morinville-St. Albert MLA Dale McNally and Justice Minister Kaycee Madu toured the site Wednesday afternoon and announced the province will double funding for the Alberta Security Infrastructure Program , from $1 million to $2 million, to help protect churches and other faith communities targeted by vandalism and violence.

“This scale of violence attacking a faith community is an attack on constitutionally protected freedom of religion, it is an attack on Canadian values,” Kenney said. “It is an attack that could have had lethal effect right next to this church.”

“We hope that the law enforcement agencies will leave no stone unturned to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.”

The Morinville case follows another Alberta church fire Monday. RCMP were called to the Siksika First Nation Catholic Church shortly after midnight. The Siksika fire department was able to put out the flames before there was major damage. That fire is also being investigated as deliberately set.

The fires come on the heels of four recent Catholic church fires in B.C.’s southern interior after the discovery of the remains of 215 children in unmarked graves at the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Many were in Indigenous communities.

Other churches, including Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Edmonton and at least ten churches in Calgary , have been vandalized with paint.

Two Catholic churches in Saskatoon were similarly vandalized after the discovery of 751 unmarked graves at the Marieval Indian Residential School, which the church operated.

Some accused Kenney of jumping to conclusions about the Morinville fire. In a statement Thursday, the Chiefs of the Sovereign Nations of Treaty 8 said Kenney’s claim the fire was a “hate crime” was premature.

“This was a surprise to many Albertans and Indigenous communities who had not heard from the RCMP the official cause of the fire.”

Turner said the investigation into the fire is ongoing and would not speculate about whether this fire was connected to the other recent church fires.

“At the end of the day, what’s happened is a terrible and tragic event for our community,” he said.

Morinville is located 40 kilometres north of Edmonton.

—with files from Lauren Boothby

© Greg Southam The Roman Catholic Church of the St. Jean Baptiste Parish was built in 1907. Taken on June 7, 2011 in Morinville .

The Bezos Theory of Value Is Deeply Disturbing

BY WILLIAM BANKS  ALEX N. PRESS

JACOBIN

In his final letter to shareholders as Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos offers a novel — and profoundly disturbing — conception of value creation: a handful of visionaries are the sole source of all “real value.” This aristocracy mercifully blesses customers, clients, and even Amazon workers with social goods.

Jeff Bezos laughs as he participates in a discussion at the 

Economic Club Of Washington on September 13, 2018 in

 Washington, DC. (Alex Wong / Getty Images)

Since readers of this magazine are not likely to be among the roughly 14 percent of Americans who actively buy and sell stocks, you may not be familiar with the spring ritual that is the CEO’s Letter to Shareholders. And if you are aware of the genre, you may be forgiven for never having paid much mind to what is, almost by definition, an exercise in cheerful banality; according to one recent survey, indeed, a mere 3 percent of CEO letters qualify as “worth reading.”

One of the handful of executives who fall into this small category is Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, whose annual musings have since 1997 consistently bucked the norm, so much so that business and thought leaders around the world have long mined his letters not only for actionable intelligence on Amazon’s prospects, but even more so for the gnomic bits of managerial and entrepreneurial wisdom he so generously dispenses.

Expectations for his most recent letter, issued on April 15, were unusually high. On the one hand the COVID-19 crisis and the recent union drive in Bessemer had brought extraordinary scrutiny down upon the company’s labor practices, and on the other, just as importantly, the 2021 edition would be his last, given his announced plans to step down as CEO, effective July 5. That Bezos does not disappoint is rather an understatement, for in this remarkable document we are provided with a rare glimpse into the recesses of the mind of this singular figure who has done so much to shape the world we inhabit.

Among the more curious aspects of our unhappy age is that so many of our contemporary tech titans appear to find little satisfaction in the unprecedented fortunes they have accumulated and the immense power that tends to follow such wealth. Instead they demand even more of our attention, often, as in the case with Bezos, by insisting on being taken seriously as thinkers, as men of great vision and bold ideas in the mold of Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosopher-artist-saint. For those of us who remain unpersuaded by this gesture, such exercises as Bezos’s final shareholder letter come off as rather pathetic, as incoherent patchworks of management speak dressed up as profundity.

Think here of John Cassavetes’s The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, in which the burlesque-club owner Cosmo Vitelli conceives of his productions as nothing less than serious works of stagecraft, always chafing at how his patrons can’t see the art for the flesh. That Bezos’s letter is characterized by its intellectual paucity, its ethical bankruptcy, its rhetorical clumsiness, is immediately evident to anyone outside the triumphalist bubble of the business and tech press. And yet we ignore it at our peril.Bezos seeks to portray Amazon as not merely a profit-generating machine, but also a fount of social goods that in the firm’s absence would never have materialized.

In the end it matters little that Bezos’s talents do not include the ability to express himself coherently and persuasively, for unlike Vitelli he possesses the financial resources and the political muscle to exert an almost incalculable influence over our lives, up to and including the very future direction of our species. However absurd it may seem, Bezos’s final shareholder letter demands the scrutiny of close reading and rigorous critique, for much indeed is at stake here.

In a document as filled with misrepresentations and rhetorical sleights of hand as the 2021 shareholder letter, we are going to need to pick and choose our quibbles; the analysis that follows, accordingly, is thus limited to the second and third sections of the text, for it is here that the author rises far up above the pablum typical of the genre.

It is customary for the CEO to offer a summary of the firm’s performance in the previous year, with emphasis on profit, the figure in which shareholders are most if not exclusively interested. Bezos, however, gives us much more, indeed a careful if rather questionable accounting of the “total value” created by Amazon in 2020, which he estimates at no less than $301 billion, only $21 billion of which, he stresses, constitutes net income. For a full measure of the company’s impact on the economy, we must add to this the $25 billion paid out to third-party sellers; the $91 billion dispersed in salaries, wages, and benefits; and the $164 billion in time-savings and increased efficiency provided to Prime members and Amazon Web Services (AWS) clients.

His intent is clear: to portray Amazon as not merely a profit-generating machine, but also a fount of social goods that in the firm’s absence would never have materialized.

Thus in the commentary following the “total value” table, Bezos, perhaps unwittingly, provides us with nothing less than a full-blown theory of value. Of the $301 billion, he says:

These numbers are part of the reason why people come to work for us, why sellers sell through us, and why customers buy from us. We create value for them. And this value is not a zero-sum game. It is not just moving money from one pocket to another. Draw the box big around all of society, and you’ll find that invention is the root of all real value creation. And value created is best thought of as a metric for innovation.

On the surface there is nothing controversial about this, especially since mainstream economists have long taken it as an article of faith that “value created tracks with innovation,” or, more commonly, that “innovation drives growth.” But Bezos says far more, insisting that “invention” is the ultimate source of all value — or at least his curious conception of “real value.”

What precisely he means by “real value” remains unclear, but there might be clues in the history of political economy, for the odor of the Austrian School, and particularly of Friedrich von Hayek, is strong here. As Corey Robin has argued, the Marginal Revolution of the late nineteenth century was motivated principally by dissatisfaction with the old labor theory value, which animated not just Karl Marx and the broader socialist movement, but the Classical School of Adam Smith and David Ricardo. At its heart, marginalism was the effort to recenter our understanding of economic life on the figure of the consumer rather than, as had been the case for a century, the worker.

While there is nothing inherently reactionary or conservative in this gesture, later marginalists, specifically those who emerged out of fin de siècle Vienna — Ludwig von Mises, Joseph Schumpeter, Hayek — would self-consciously employ the doctrine as a means to beat back the rising assertiveness of ordinary workers, who as Robin notes increasingly saw themselves as “the centerpiece of modern civilization” and the primary motor of not only “the economy but culture and society as well.”

It was Hayek who took this furthest, effectively inverting the social-democratic understanding of Marginalism, according to which it was “the worker — in his capacity as consumer — who gave value to capital.” For Hayek and the Austrians, in absolute contrast, it is capital that provides value to labor; indeed the figure of the man of capital, previously the model of sober rationality, is recast as nothing less than a promethean visionary, as a “heroic legislator value” possessed of the intuitive capacity to sense the dim outlines of the not-yet and the force of will to make it reality. When Bezos reminds us that Amazon executives “live in the future,” he is calling back to this older conception of the men of capital as a kind of benevolent aristocracy, as creators of “real value” of which all us ordinary souls are the ungrateful beneficiaries.

That Bezos sees himself and his colleagues as a new form of aristocracy is evident in his curious employment of the first-person plural pronoun, as in the above excerpt, in which he claims that “people work for us” because “we create value for them” and that “we need a better vision for how to create value for employees – a vision for their success.”

What this suggests is Bezos does not consider the hundreds of thousands of hourly employees and contractors who pick and pack and deliver the goods to play any significant role in the creation of “real value.” It is rather the prerogative of “we” the “inventors” up in the C-suite or over in the R&D lab. Mere “employees” are hardly different from the customers, clients, and third-party sellers; the only significant distinction is that rather than providing goods and services for a fee, we provide you with a living in exchange for your labor.It is customary for the CEO to devote at least a token paragraph of the shareholder letter to acknowledging that the employees constitute the heart and the soul of the firm. But this Bezos cannot bring himself to do.

While it is not uncommon for those atop the commanding heights of the capitalist economy to harbor such views, it is unusual to state them so openly, so brazenly. It is indeed customary that the CEO devotes at least a token paragraph of the shareholder letter to acknowledging that the employees constitute the heart and the soul of the firm, that they are its greatest asset, that nothing would be possible without them.

But this Bezos cannot bring himself to do, even in the wake of intensifying scrutiny of his firm’s abysmal labor record. After the firing and the defamation of rank-and-file organizer Christian Smalls, after the headlines about workers’ inability to use restrooms while on the clock, and after the millions lavished on beating back the union challenge in Bessemer, the smallest gesture, the mere acknowledgement that no packages would have arrived at doorsteps without the toil of hundreds of thousands of human beings, might very well have gone a long way.

Bezos’s reticence in this respect is all the more galling given that of the Big Five tech firms, Amazon is by far the most “traditional.” Facebook, Google, and Microsoft produce few if any material goods; Apple most certainly does, but its production has largely been outsourced to the Global South, far away from the prying eyes of meddling US labor unions and journalists.

Amazon is something wholly different. It arguably should not be considered a tech company, but rather a logistics giant, an online emporium hardly distinct from eBay, and, with the establishment of AWS, a utility. Its fulfillment centers dot the deindustrialized landscape of America’s hinterlands, and its dark-blue vans are everywhere, their hard-pressed drivers emerging at breakneck pace in the increasingly vain effort to make quota.

In one of the more disingenuous passages in his letter, Bezos notes that “we’re also proud of the fact that Amazon is a company that does more than create jobs for computer scientists and people with advanced degrees. We create jobs for people who never got that advantage.” This conveniently conceals the fact that the majority of Amazon employees are engaged in fulfillment and delivery, and that the disparity between the “advantaged” and the “disadvantaged” increases dramatically when we account for the multitudes of seasonal temps and the so-called “independent contractors” who drive the vans.

It also inflates one of the more insidious myths of meritocracy: the patently absurd suggestion that if only we can live up to our ideals, if only we might provide an advanced degree to all, then somehow the demand for toil in the fulfillment centers and out on the roads would mysteriously vanish. There may have been a moment when Amazon.com really was a scrappy upstart dream, a small handful of brilliant and highly educated dreamers out to change the world. But that moment passed long ago; what the company predominately is now, and has been for a long time, is a globe-spanning logistics empire. The hundreds of thousands of pickers and packers and drivers are the company, no matter how distasteful this is to its founder.When Bezos reminds us that Amazon executives ‘live in the future,’ he is harking back to an older conception of the men of capital as a kind of benevolent aristocracy.

Jeff Bezos in 2018. (Wikimedia Commons)

That Bezos is profoundly uneasy about what his company has become is clearly evident in the painfully awkward third section of the letter, in which he responds to the torrent of recent bad press on his company’s abysmal record of workplace injuries. At the very least he is compelled to reassure the shareholders that senior leadership is aware of the issues and is taking appropriate measures for their remedy.

But as always he does much more than expected, although unsurprisingly he cannot be moved to offer up any sort of apology for the well-documented fact that Amazon warehouse employees suffer serious injury at more than twice the rate of the industry average. Instead he returns to the curious logic of “real value,” implicitly conceding that the “company” has failed to serve its “employees” with the same obsessiveness it has lavished on its customers. But this is soon to change:

In my upcoming role as Executive Chair, I’m going to focus on new initiatives. I’m an inventor. It’s what I enjoy and what I do best. It’s where I create the most value. I’m excited to work alongside the large team of passionate people we have in ops and help invent in this arena of Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work. We have never failed when we set our minds to something, and we’re not going to fail at this either.

Let us pass over the astounding effrontery of all this, the baronial refusal to acknowledge that workers themselves might have some insight into their own well-being, might have some role to play here. Instead we get that signal feature of contemporary techno-capitalist thinking, the insistence that whatever the problem, the best solution is “innovation.”

Much of the negative press coverage this past year, for example, concerned the scandalous rate of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) among Amazon workers. While Bezos does acknowledge the problem, he does so at the noticeable expense of pronoun discipline, remarking that “MSDs are common in the type of work that we do,” as if he himself is not above occasionally taking a place on the packaging line.

Now that he and his team are on the problem, however, it is surely only a matter of time before novel techniques, such as last year’s WorkingWell program and the more recent, much-lampooned AmaZen initiative, will begin to whittle down the numbers; indeed, Bezos proudly notes, the company’s efforts already reduced the rate by 32 percent between 2019 and 2020.

These comments would seem to suggest that the thousands of “safety professionals” employed by the company are at the very bleeding edge of MSD mitigation, that just as Amazon previously “led the way on wages,” they now do the same with respect to workplace injuries. The typical reader of the letter might very well be led to believe that MSDs are something new.

The truth, however, is that the condition has been a part of established scientific consensus for more than three decades; modest OSHA regulations for ergonomic health were first proposed during the Clinton administration and appeared well on their way to becoming law, before a furious Chamber of Commerce lobbying campaign and the election of George W. Bush put them to bed for good.

OSHA’s voluntary guidelines, however, are readily available, and Amazon could very well have “led” on the issue by implementing them, by employing their much-celebrated capacity for innovation toward the design of a work environment optimized for worker health. Instead, as has been widely covered in recent years, they did the precise opposite, developing novel techniques for the extraction of labor from the human body not seen since the high tide of Taylorism a century ago.

As Will Evans described in his Reveal expose last September, Amazon’s safety crisis reached peak intensity in the years after the introduction of robots into its warehouses in 2014. At least nominally intended to reduce the stress on workers’ bodies, the robots instead dramatically increased the injury rates — they are simply too efficient, the human body incapable of keeping up with them without serious health risks.

Amazon’s internal records, which were inspected by Evans, show that the company’s safety experts were aware of this almost immediately, and as early as December 2015 it caught the attention of OSHA, which issued a sternly worded hazard letter specifically linking the robots to a long series of ergonomic risk factors. All of this was roundly ignored by the company, as the ops department, aided and abetted by the “safety professionals,” continued to tighten the screws, the injury rate steadily climbing, year after year, until finally the damage to the company’s reputation became too costly.The ‘passionate people’ now committed to remaking Amazon as Earth’s Safest Place to Work are the very same people who knowingly made it among the world’s more unsafe.

It’s still too early to judge the results of WorkingWell and AmaZen, but there is every reason to be skeptical; the “passionate people” now committed to remaking Amazon as Earth’s Safest Place to Work are, after all, the very same people who knowingly made it among the world’s more unsafe.

In one of Donald Trump’s more memorable bits from the 2016 campaign, he often suggested that since he had been paying off politicians for decades, no one was more qualified to put an end to political corruption. Bezos’s promise to innovate his way out of a crisis directly resulting from the company’s own innovation rings similarly hollow.

Arguably the last thing Amazon’s hundreds of thousands of workers need is more innovation; indeed, as Dania Rajendra has argued, the company’s much-praised reinvention of the warehouse and delivery sectors is better understood as the revival of once-discredited labor practices: the company town, Taylorist surveillance, churn and burn.

Our nineteenth- and twentieth-century ancestors, we must always remind ourselves, found such conditions intolerable. They began to organize themselves, to fight back against capital with whatever meager means at hand, and gradually they won for us, at least for a brief moment, a brighter world.

Bezos and his like among the new aristocracy of capital seek to take that away from us, to return to a far uglier, far crueler mode of being in the world, in which we ordinary souls constitute so much human clay to be molded and used up by those few who know better, who indeed are better. We must not allow them to succeed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

William Banks is a writer, editor, and translator. His latest book, Brandes contra Høffding: Nietzsche, Individual Greatness and the Welfare Society, is forthcoming in 2022.

Alex N. Press is a staff writer at Jacobin. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Vox, the Nation, and n+1, among other places.