City's animal care, including Edmonton's zoo, should face audit: Coun. Rutherford

Story by Lauren Boothby • Yesterday 

Three puppies and their mother were siezed last year after a complaint was filed that the dogs had inadequate shelter from the cold.© Provided by Edmonton Journal

As Edmonton’s independent auditor plans for next year, one councillor wants to see more scrutiny of how the city cares for animals, including at the municipally-funded Edmonton Valley Zoo .

How waste collection, Blatchford redevelopment, green energy transit vehicles, capital projects, and external civic agencies are performing are already part of the external auditor’s plans for review next year. Audits of the Valley Line LRT public-private model and information technology are also underway.

But during Tuesday’s audit committee meeting, Ward Anirniq Coun. Erin Rutherford said animal care should be added to the list, particularly because a funding request in the operating budget suggests the city may not be meeting its legal requirements.

“We need to be making sure they’re getting the best care possible in any context, whether it’s animal care and control, or whether it’s at the (Edmonton) Valley Zoo,” she told Postmedia after the meeting.

“It’s important for us to be the voice of our most vulnerable and, for me, animals that can’t speak are our most vulnerable. And when they’re in our care, somebody needs to advocate for them, and I feel passionate about being that voice.”

A funding request for animal welfare — hiring peace officers and animal care personnel, and providing grant funding for animal welfare — is in the draft 2023-2026 operating budget, but so far it’s unfunded.

A third-party assessment of the city’s capacity to care for animals would also be part of that work.

However, the funding request says approving this would “ensure adequate animal welfare and care for all species of animals in custody as required by legislation under the Animal Protection Act.” One result to come from the funding would be “organizational capacity to meet legislated standards for animal care and welfare,” it states.

Rutherford said she’s concerned this package isn’t funded in the draft budgets despite some language she interprets to mean that an independent assessment of whether or not standards are being met could be needed.

She plans to request this package be approved during this month’s budget debates. For 2023, the funding request is $3.3 million with 28 full-time equivalent staff.

The Edmonton Valley Zoo is asking for $10.9 million in the city’s four-year capital budget to upgrade and repair enclosures to meet requirements for animal care standards, and risks losing accreditation , closure, or having to send animals away if work isn’t completed.

Zoo spokeswoman Debi Winwood said in an email Tuesday they aren’t aware of an interest in an audit, but the zoo is accredited by Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) and adheres to very high animal care standards. “Our team is made up of dedicated animal care professionals who take care standards very seriously. With respect to an audit, we would await city council’s direction.”

Capacity for distress-free environment ‘inadequate’: city

Other councillors are also asking questions.

In written questions to city administration about the 2023-2026 budget, Ward Métis Coun. Ashley Salvador asked to what extent legal requirements for animal care aren’t being met. Ward Karhiio Coun. Keren Tang also asked why the service package is unfunded if it is required.

According to the city, the Animal Care and Control Centre (ACCC) was built to shelter stray and lost dogs and cats in 2010 for short-term stays, but after they began enforcing the Animal Protection Act (APA) in 2019, the volume and species of animals being sent there has changed “dramatically.”

“The facility design, staffing, capacity and equipment are insufficient to deal with the diversity of species, their varied medical and environmental needs, the volume of animals, and the length of stay required in the APA investigations,” the city said.

“The City of Edmonton continues to incur reputational and legislative risk because the capacity to maintain animals in an environment free from distress is inadequate.”

For instance, 77 birds and 75 reptiles were seized recently, overburdening staff and leaving them scrambling to fill in unbudgeted overtime, buy equipment and pay for veterinary consultations ad-hoc.

The ACCC has the capacity to hold 84 cats and 47 dogs comfortably, according to the city’s website. Lost animals without ID are kept for up to three days, or up to 10 days with ID. After that, “adoptable” pets are transferred to the Edmonton Humane Society.

Postmedia’s request for an interview with city staff was not granted by deadline.

lboothby@postmedia.com

@laurby

COP15

Hard talks on hard targets: real work begins at Montreal biodiversity conference

MONTREAL — Representatives from nearly 200 countries are to begin the real work Wednesday at a crucial meeting on global biodiversity — hard talks on hard targets for saving enough of the world's ecosystems to keep the planet functioning.


Hard talks on hard targets: real work begins at Montreal biodiversity conference© Provided by The Canadian Press

Observers say they're optimistic the 196 countries at the COP15 meeting in Montreal can agree that nearly a third of Earth's lands and waters should come under some form protection by 2030.

"There is huge support for it," said Stephen Woodley of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, a high-profile group of governments and civil society organizations advising conference delegates.

"I believe there is really significant support for 30 per cent in quality areas."

The 30-per-cent goal is the result of years of scientific study and consensus.

"If current land conversion rates, poaching of large animals and other threats are not markedly slowed or halted in the next 10 years, 'points of no return' will be reached for multiple ecosystems and species," said a 2019 paper published in the journal Science.

Aerin Jacob of the Nature Conservancy of Canada said 30 per cent is the result of 50 years of research.

"Scientists have studied this for years and years, and we know with a great deal of evidence that 30 per cent is the lower limit."

The same Science paper said the real target should be 50 per cent.

Momentum toward that goal has been building for years. It's been endorsed by the G7 industrialized countries and is supported by 112 countries from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas, including Canada.

Still, much remains to be done. The text on conservation targets being debated by delegates has more brackets in it than agreed wording.

"We've made some progress," said Woodley. "It's tough sledding."




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Some of the disputed text concerns Indigenous people.

"There is a significant group who want to ensure that protecting 30 per cent of the Earth is not negative on Indigenous people or community-owned lands," Woodley said. "It certainly has been in the past, in some cases."

Others want to ensure that areas being conserved actually contribute to saving species, promoting ecosystem function, protecting against floods or wildfires or storing carbon.

"Those are all value judgments," said Jacob.

"I would argue we need to protect ourselves against all those things. We can't pick and choose."

Other issues to be settled include what constitutes protection. It doesn't need to be a park. It could be what is known as "other effective area-based conservation measures," known in COP-speak as OECMs.

The Vancouver watershed, managed to ensure water quality, is an OECM. So is Manitoba's wildlife-rich Canadian Forces Base Shiloh.

Private groups or land trusts will protect some lands. Others will be conserved by Indigenous management, an approach on which Canada is increasingly relying.

Woodley's group recognizes seven different types of conservation areas, some allowing limited resource extraction, with four different governance models.

In developed countries where natural areas are scarce and small, efforts will focus on restoration.

"There are so many solutions," Jacob said. "It's about making sure those things can survive and thrive."

And much will depend on how any plan is implemented. Discussions on finance are to begin later this week.

"An agreement without any action won't help us protect the life of the planet," said Jacob.

But both she and Woodley agree some kind of deal on conservation targets is likely to happen.

"We absolutely have to do this," Jacob said.

"It's not a question of no agreement. It's more a question of what the agreement will look like."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 7, 2020.

— By Bob Weber in Edmonton

The Canadian Press

'Exaggerated' pandemic benefits fuelled 'excess demand,' driving steeper rate hikes: Scotiabank

AU CONTRAIRE IT MAKES CASE FOR 

UBI & WAGES FOR HOUSEWORK

Story by Stephanie Hughes • Yesterday 

COVID-19 benefit cheques. Scotiabank says the generous benefits likely fuelled excess demand in the economy.© Provided by Financial Post

One of Bay Street’s top economists estimates that the Bank of Canada’s benchmark interest rate is headed to 4.25 per cent, and more than a percentage point of the increase will have been necessitated by a need to offset “excess demand” created by what appears to have been overly generous COVID benefits.

“Pandemic support programs for firms and households are creating the excess demand that the country is experiencing,” Bank of Nova Scotia chief economist Jean-François Perrault concludes in a new assessment of Canada’s inflation scare , published Dec. 5. “Absent from these support measures, Canada would still be in excess supply.”

By “excess supply,” Perrault, a former assistant deputy minister at the Finance Department, means the economy would be weaker than it is today: suppliers of goods and services wouldn’t be struggling to fill orders as they have been for much of the year, and there would be less upward pressure on inflation.

The thrust of the Scotiabank report was to assess what’s driving inflation, not pass judgement on Ottawa’s response to the COVID recession. Perrault and and his co-author, René Lalonde, the bank’s director of modelling and forecasting, wrote that the main fiscal rescue programs — the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and its successor benefit, the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB ), along with Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy — had a “large and welcome impact on the economy,” as an extraordinary economic collapse was followed by the engineering of an equally extraordinary recovery.

Still, with hindsight, they said Ottawa’s response was “likely exaggerated,” and the “inflationary impulse” created by that spending is what Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem is now trying to offset with the most aggressive series of interest-rate increases since the central bank began targeting inflation in the 1990s.

“The Bank of Canada’s policy rate would not need to be above neutral were it not for these programs,” Perrault and Lalonde wrote.

The neutral rate is the theoretical rate at which the central bank and economists estimate that borrowing costs would be neither impeding nor encouraging economic growth. The Bank of Canada estimates the neutral rate is between two per cent and three per cent, and the Bank of Nova Scotia’s economics team puts the rate at 2.5 per cent.

In other words, if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had ended his rescue programs sooner, or made them less generous, interest rates probably would be lower, according to Perrault and Lalonde, who used their in-house economic model to produce an estimate on the main sources of inflation.

They found that half of the upward pressure on prices since the end of 2019 was the result of global factors over which the central bank has little or no control, including U.S. inflation, commodity prices and a weaker exchange rate. And they found that supply constraints caused by the pandemic explain another 35 per cent of the increase in prices.

That means purely domestic factors such as the pandemic programs account for a relatively small amount of the inflation, but they had a “major impact” on the “output gap,” a concept that the Bank of Canada uses to take the temperature of the economy, as it measures the difference between policymakers’ estimate of the value of all goods and services the economy can produce without stoking inflation, and the actual level of economic output.

The CERB, which was swiftly put in place in March 2020 to provide $2,000 in monthly payments to Canadians who lost income from the pandemic; the wage subsidy, which supported employers; the CRB; and the Canada Rent Relief Program all helped the one million Canadians who lost their jobs during the onset of the pandemic, as well as many more struggling with shelter costs and running their businesses.

Those programs pushed tens of billions of dollars into the economy, lifting the output gap by 1.3 percentage points alone, according to the Scoitabank study. It’s the demand generated by that spending that the Bank of Canada is now trying to offset with higher interest rates, Perrault and Lalonde concluded.

The recovery had lots of momentum by the end of 2021, suggesting rescue programs could have been wound up. The CRB ended on Dec. 23, 2021, and the last of the pandemic-era supports, the Canada Recovery Caregiving Benefit (CRCB) and the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit (CRSB), concluded on May 7, 2022 .

While there’s little Macklem can do about the global drivers of inflation, interest-rate policy has considerable influence over domestic demand. If not for the excess demand stoked by the COVID rescues, Perrault and Lalonde estimate that the Bank of Canada could have stopped raising interest rates when the benchmark reached 2.5 per cent.

The target rate is currently at 3.75 per cent, and Scotiabank’s economics team predicts Macklem will lift borrowing costs to 4.25 per cent when he and his deputies conclude their latest round of deliberations on Dec. 7.

Scotiabank expects a gradual decline in the pace of inflation over the next year to year and a half, averaging about 6.8 per cent for 2022. The team then expects inflation to fall to four per cent next year before returning to the Bank of Canada’s two per cent target in 2024. Scotia sees higher interest rates combining with weaker demand for exports from China and Europe combining to cause a “very mild recession, akin to a stall in growth” in the first half of 2023, followed by “very modest” growth over the rest of the year.

“Much of the reduction in inflation stems from a reversal of the global factors that have pushed inflation up in Canada and elsewhere,” Perrault and Lalonde said in the report. “These factors (largely commodity prices and supply bottlenecks) have mostly unwound the gains made over the last year and appear to be slowly working their way through to inflation. That is expected to continue.”

• Email: shughes@postmedia.com | Twitter: StephHughes95

MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M

Congress wants to grill Live Nation’s CEO over the Taylor Swift Ticketmaster fiasco


By David Goldman, CNN Business
Published Tue December 6, 2022

Congress wants answers from the CEO of Ticketmaster’s parent company after a ticketing snafu ahead of Taylor Swift’s Eras tour left millions of unhappy Swifties without the ability to see the the singer-songwriter perform.

In a letter addressed to Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino Tuesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee demanded a briefing on what went wrong and what steps the company is taking to fix the problems. The committee members want to meet with Rapino by December 15.

“The recent pre-sales ticketing process for Taylor Swift’s upcoming Eras tour – in which millions of fans endured delays, lockouts, and competition with aggressive scammers, scalpers and bots – raises concerns over the potential unfair and deceptive practices that face consumers and eventgoers,” the committee wrote in its letter.

The committee noted it had previously raised concerns about the industry’s business practices and said it wants to meet with Rapino to discuss how the company processes tickets for concerts and major tours. It also wants answers about how Ticketmaster plans to improve in the future.

Swift’s Eras tour kicks off March 17 and will have 52 concerts in multiple stadiums across the United States over five months. Overwhelming demand snarled the ticketing site last month, infuriating countless fans. Customers complained on social media about Ticketmaster not loading, saying the platform didn’t allow them to access tickets, even if they had a pre-sale code for verified fans. Ticketmaster ultimately canceled ticket sales to the general public.

More than two dozen Taylor Swift fans sue Ticketmaster

Ticketmaster apologized to Swift and her fans who were unable to secure tickets and blamed the debacle on its “Verified Fans” system, a mechanism aimed at eliminating bots that gives presale codes to individuals. The system couldn’t keep up with the intense demand, Ticketmaster said last month. Roughly 3.5 million people signed up for the program to buy Swift tickets, its “largest registration in history.” That unprecedented demand, combined with a “staggering number of bot attacks as well as fans who didn’t have invite codes” drove “unprecedented traffic” to its site, Ticketmaster said, and, essentially, broke it.

But the House committee said the company’s explanation wasn’t sufficient.

“This statement raises questions over your bot management solution and its ability to adequately protect consumers,” the committee wrote.

The committee pointed out that the BOTS Act of 2016 allows the Federal Trade Commission to fine Ticketmaster with “steep” penalties if it “knowingly sold tickets that were improperly purchased” by bots.

In its letter to Rapino, the committee also said it wants information about the fees Ticketmaster charges customers. It also asked to learn more about dynamic pricing. ticket availability limits, restrictions on transferabiity and the company’s efforts to thwart bots and scammers.

Ticketmaster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Justice Department has launched an antitrust investigation into Live Nation, the owner of Ticketmaster, to look at whether the company has a monopoly in the market for concerts, including ticket purchasing, a source familiar with the matter told CNN last month. Last week, more than two dozen Taylor Swift fans sued Live Nation for “unlawful conduct” in the pop star’s chaotic tour sale, claiming the ticketing giant violated antitrust laws, among others.

Rapino and Live Nation have caught the ire of Congress before. Senator Amy Klobuchar criticized Ticketmaster in an open letter Rapino in the days following the ticket snafu, saying she has “serious concerns” about the company’s operations. The chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, wrote that complaints from Swift fans unable to buy tickets for her upcoming tour, in addition to criticism about high fees, suggests that the company “continues to abuse its market positions.”

Rail workers warn of exodus after Congress forces through deal

BY KARL EVERS-HILLSTROM - 12/06/22 6

Railroad workers could leave the industry after Congress forced through a contract that does not provide them any paid sick days, an exodus that would ripple through an economy reliant on freight railroads to transport goods.

The exit of thousands of train conductors and engineers would be felt by major corporations and U.S. consumers alike. It could slow the delivery of food, fuel and online orders while strangling already-shaky supply chains.

The economy was almost upended by a nationwide strike before lawmakers intervened last week to enforce a deal many workers found lacking.

Those who were holding out hope for a strong contract might look for a new job after the deal failed to provide paid sick leave or put an end to strict attendance policies and strenuous schedules that require workers to be on call constantly, rail workers say. 

“I don’t think you’ll just see half of the workforce disappear, but you’ll see a good percentage, and we can’t afford for anybody to leave because we’re so undermanned as it is,” said Hugh Sawyer, an Atlanta-based engineer at Norfolk Southern.

Any exodus of workers would only exacerbate staffing shortages brought on by railroads laying off around 30 percent of their workforce over the past six years. That, in turn, has led to exhausted workers and persistent delays and cancellations when demand for shipped products spiked. 

Business groups have warned that the disruptions, which are driven by staffing shortfalls, helped fuel inflation.

Sawyer, who serves as treasurer of grassroots rail reform group Railroad Workers United, said that younger workers who place more emphasis on work-life balance will be the first to leave.

“Most of these people live in or around metro Atlanta. The economy’s booming. They will find a job elsewhere,” Sawyer said.

Workers say that some employees could leave as soon as they receive back pay and cash bonuses, which will average roughly $16,000 per person. Railroads will dole out that money within 60 days.

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) said in a statement that carriers hear workers’ concerns and agree that “conversations about work-life balance issues must continue.” The industry group said that railroads’ train and engine workforce has grown 8 percent since January. 

“The benefits and compensation packages are part of why that is the case — both of which are seeing historic increases through this deal with average wages and compensation rising to $160,000 over the course of the contract,” an AAR spokesperson said. “Railroading is difficult work, and our employees are compensated accordingly in recognition of that.” 

The contract signed into law Friday, negotiated with the help of the Biden administration, provides 24 percent raises over five years and allows workers to take three unpaid days off for medical appointments, a provision that wasn’t included in previous proposals. 

But it doesn’t offer any paid sick days, adjust schedules or remove attendance policies that penalize workers for missing time to attend family gatherings or other scheduled events.

“They talk about the money in this contract. It’s just not worth it to have to give up what these people have to give up,” said Jeff Kurtz, a Railroad Workers United member who worked as a locomotive engineer in Iowa for 40 years. 

Kurtz said that railway workers might take less money to work factory or trucking jobs that offer consistent hours and are always hiring. 

Congress last week overrode four unions that had not ratified agreements with railroads. Those include train and engine workers at SMART-TD, the largest rail union, who rejected the tentative contract last month. 

Unions lobbied lawmakers to add seven days of paid sick leave to the deal, while railroads pushed back, arguing that Congress would set a dangerous precedent by modifying the contract. 

The House passed the sick leave measure with the support of every Democrat and three Republicans. Just six GOP senators voted for the proposal, dooming its chances in the upper chamber. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) was the only Democrat to vote against it. 

“The senators who opposed the measure all have paid sick days, as do their staff. Apparently, they believe the nation’s rail workers are ‘essential’ to the American economy and supply chain, but not essential enough to deserve the same protection as them when becoming ill,” SMART-TD said in a statement following the vote.

Union officials have sought to keep hope alive by assuring workers that they are still pushing for paid sick leave. That could come in the form of another legislative effort or an executive order that requires federal contractors, including railroads, to provide paid sick days.

At the bill signing, President Biden said he would continue to fight for paid sick leave, but didn’t offer specifics on how he would go about it. 

“It’s a really good bill lacking only one thing, and we’re going to get that one thing done before it’s all over,” Biden said. 

And on Monday, activist investors filed proposals requesting that Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific provide paid sick leave, arguing that the companies must provide the benefit to stay competitive and keep workers safe.

“Focusing on the short term at the expense of workers poses potential risks to the company and the economy,” Kate Monahan, who leads shareholder advocacy at Trillium Asset Management, said in a statement. “As shareholders, we are asking management to reprioritize and take the longer-term view that safeguarding the health and safety of their workers will better position them for the future.”

Paid sick leave would represent a significant consolation prize for rail workers who are fed up with a system that they believe allows railroad executives to ignore their demands. 

Railroads and unions engaged in tenuous negotiations for more than three years and remained at a standstill until a Biden-appointed board of experts released contract recommendations in July.

While workers in other essential industries took part in a wave of strikes this year, rail unions must overcome a series of roadblocks authorized by Congress that are explicitly designed to make a walkout difficult, if not impossible, taking away a key source of leverage. That system won’t change anytime soon. 

“The federal government inserted itself into the dispute between the railroads and the railroad workers under the premise that it must protect the American economy. Yet, when the federal government makes that decision, its representatives have a moral responsibility to also protect the interests of the citizens that make this nation’s economy work — American railroaders,” Tony Cardwell, president of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division, said in a statement. 

GAO releases report blasting colleges for misleading financial aid letters

BY JULIA SHAPERO - 12/06/22

New graduates walk into the High Point Solutions Stadium before the start of the Rutgers University graduation ceremony in Piscataway Township, N.J., on May 13, 2018. President Joe Biden’s student loan cancellation offers a life-changing financial break for millions of Americans. But for future students heading to college under the same conditions that created today’s debt, critics say it offers little help. Chief among the causes of today’s rising student debt is the cost of college.

 (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) blasted colleges in a new report for misleading students in financial aid letters about the total cost of attendance.

Ninety-one percent of colleges underestimated or did not include the net price of attending their institution in financial aid offers to students, according to the GAO report released on Monday.

About half of universities omitted key costs — like housing and meals, books and supplies, or transportation — in their aid letters and/or factored loans into the net price alongside grants and scholarships, making college appear less expensive. Another 41 percent did not provide an estimated net price at all, the report found.

Only 9 percent correctly calculated the net price for students in their aid letters. However, no college reviewed by the GAO followed all the Department of Education’s best practices for financial aid offers. The agency urged Congress to mandate these best practices, which are currently encouraged but not required.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) — who requested the study as the leading Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee — introduced legislation alongside Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) in response to the report

“This is egregious and unacceptable,” Foxx and McClain said in a joint statement. “Colleges and universities must do better. Prospective students deserve to have all the information necessary to make informed decisions about their education.”

“Since these institutions refuse to hold themselves accountable, Congress must pass legislation to protect students and families,” they added.

The report comes as President Biden’s controversial effort to relieve student loan debt remains on hold as it heads to the Supreme Court. Biden’s debt relief program sought to forgive up to $10,000 in loans for borrowers making less $125,000 a year and up to $20,000 for those who received Pell Grants.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Mississippi grain company’s ex-CEO indicted on fraud charges

yesterday

GREENVILLE, Miss. (AP) — The former leader of a Mississippi grain storage and processing company has been indicted on federal and state charges, more than a year after the company filed for bankruptcy, prosecutors said Tuesday.

John R. Coleman, 46, of Greenwood, Mississippi, is the former CEO of Express Grain Terminals, LLC.

A federal grand jury indicted Coleman on charges of defrauding farmers, banks and the Mississippi Department of Agriculture, U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner and Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch said in a news release.

Coleman made his initial appearance Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jane M. Virden in Greenville. Federal court records did not list an attorney for him.

Federal court documents say that from June 2018 to October 2022, Coleman altered Express Grain’s audited financial statements to receive a state warehouse license and lied about the amount of debt he owed on corn, wheat, soybeans or other crops held at the facility.

The federal indictment said farmers delivered grain to Express Grain throughout the 2021 harvest season but did not receive payment.

The indictment said that Express Grain sent an email to customers on Sept. 28, 2021, with wording approved by Coleman. The message said the company was in good financial shape.

“We have funding from multiple sources to make sure everyone gets paid on time,” the company email said. “Stay safe out there and keep those combines rolling!”

The next day, Express Grain eventually filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

“Coleman’s fraud caused widespread financial hardship and suffering throughout the Mississippi Delta and elsewhere,” the federal indictment said.

In September 2021, Express Grain had $70 million in outstanding loans from UMB Bank in Kansas City, Missouri.

If convicted on the federal charges, Coleman would face up to 180 years in prison.

Fitch also said a Leflore County grand jury has indicted Coleman on five counts of making false representations to defraud government and one count of false pretenses.

The FBI, the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General and the Internal Revenue Service are investigating the case.

Law enforcement agents raided the Express Grain offices and Coleman’s home in February, days before the company’s properties were sold at auction, the Greenwood Commonwealth reported. A legal battle over Express Grain’s proceeds was settled earlier this year. Farmers who chose to participate in the settlement were able to claim a share of $9 million.

Tech firms plan more Bay Area job cuts: Juul Labs, Astra Space, Intel

Bay Area tech job cuts top 7,900 as layoffs widen

People take photos in front of the Meta sign as an employee-shuttle bus drives into the Meta/Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif. on October 20, 2022. Teamsters union members held a protest outside Meta/Facebook headquarters over plans to lay off up to a third of Meta’s Bay Area employee-shuttle bus drivers. Meta said the layoffs are because fewer employees are going to the office in Menlo Park and instead working remote.

 (Douglas Zimmerman/Special to the Bay Area News Group)

By GEORGE AVALOS | gavalos@bayareanewsgroup.com | Bay Area News Group

PUBLISHED: December 6, 2022 

Tech companies are eyeing layoffs that will eliminate the jobs of hundreds of Bay Area workers, a new round of terminations poised to jolt the region’s employment sector.

All told, tech companies have decided to chop 270 more Bay Area jobs, according to official notices that the firms sent to the state labor agency.

The tech and biotech job cuts in the Bay Area: an estimated 7,959 in October, November and December, according to this news organization’s review of numerous WARN letters to the state Employment Development Department.

The waves of cost-cutting could stagger the region’s increasingly woozy economy.

Even worse, other tech titans such as San Jose-based Cisco and Palo Alto-based Hewlett Packard have warned that they are considering the elimination of several thousand jobs worldwide.

This is how the current crop of layoffs breaks down, according to this news organization’s review of several WARN notices filed by the tech companies with the state EDD:Juul Labs is cutting 116 positions in San Francisco.
Intel has revealed plans to cut 90 jobs in Santa Clara.
Astra Space is chopping 64 jobs, primarily in Alameda, although one job is being cut in Mountain View.

Since Oct. 1, and including the most recent WARN notices on file with the EDD, tech and biotech companies have revealed plans to eliminate more than 7,900 jobs in the Bay Area.

Three tech or biotech companies have revealed plans to eliminate at least 1,000 jobs in the Bay Area, this news organization’s review of the WARN notices to the EDD shows.

Facebook app owner Meta Platforms has decided to cut 2,564 jobs, affecting workers in Menlo Park, Burlingame, Fremont, Sunnyvale and San Francisco.

Twitter is eliminating 1,126 positions, affecting employees in San Francisco and San Jose.

Cepheid is cutting 1,003 jobs, primarily in Newark, although positions are being lost in Sunnyvale and Santa Clara.

Intel has disclosed plans to cut hundreds of Northern California jobs. Besides the 90 jobs in Santa Clara, the chipmaker is planning to eliminate another 111 in Folsom.

Juul reported that its layoffs are slated to begin on or around Jan. 17, 2023, and could continue through April 7 of next year, the company’s WARN notice stated.

The companies all stated that they expected the job cuts to be permanent.

Among other high-profile tech companies that have revealed plans to reduce their staffing: Amazon is cutting 263 jobs in Sunnyvale, Lyft is eliminating 227 positions in San Francisco, Oracle is cutting 200 jobs in Redwood City and Belmont, Roku is laying off 93 workers in San Jose and PayPal is cutting 59 positions in San Jose, the WARN notices show.

Alameda-based Astra Space stated that its layoffs occurred on Nov. 9. The company makes launch vehicles for commercial and military customers that week to deliver payloads into space.

At least two of Astra Space’s launch vehicles have successfully reached orbit. Several launch vehicles, however, have experienced an array of failures.

“While we remain committed to building our company, we cannot continue our business operations at its current levels,” Carla Supanich, Astra Space’s chief people officer, wrote in the company’s WARN notice to the state EDD.

Astra Space indicated in the WARN notice that the cutbacks were necessary to help keep the company’s finances on a stable trajectory.

During 2019, 2020 and 2021, Astra Space generated no revenue, according to the Yahoo Finance site. Over the one-year period that ended in September, Astra Space generated $9.4 million in revenue and lost $418.4 million.

“To ensure we have the financial runway to deliver for our customers and on our mission to Improve ‘Life on Earth From Space,’ we need to refocus our business operations,” Supanich wrote in the WARN letter.

New York Times union members set to walk out on Thursday after talks fail

Reuters
December 06, 2022


(Reuters) - More than 1,100 union employees at the New York Times Co are set to walk out on Thursday for 24 hours as negotiations with the news publisher for a "complete and equitable contract" failed on Tuesday, the union said in a tweet.

The NYTimes NewsGuild last week had pledged to walk out on Dec. 8 if a contract was not reached by then.

The NYTimes NewsGuild has sought "complete and equitable contract" wages that "keep up with inflation" as well as to preserve and enhance health insurance and retirement benefits that were promised during hiring, according to a letter signed by 1,036 members last week. The number of signatories has since topped 1,100, the union said on Tuesday.

"Unless the company changes their tune and a deal is reached before Thursday, the work stoppage will officially start from midnight on December 8th and go for 24 hours," the union said in a statement posted on Twitter.

The union said the New York Times during a meeting earlier in the day refused to meet for additional negotiating sessions to resolve the contract dispute by Thursday.

The New York Times in an emailed statement to Reuters said the union's claims were inaccurate and negotiations were ongoing.

The union said that the walkout would be the first full-day work stoppage at the New York Times since the late 1970s.

The Times Guild represents journalists as well as ad sales workers, comment moderators, news assistants, security guards and staffers at The Times Center, the company's events venue and virtual production studio.

Tech employees of the Times voted last March to unionize and have been trying separately to negotiate their first contract.

(Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler)