Random Business News

[Disciple of Fate]

More like Tesco suing people that no longer want to visit the store, because of recent redecorating with Nazi flags and playing the Horst Wessel Lied over the speakers.

He will probably file somewhere without anti-SLAPP like laws.

[Haighus]

Aug 7, 2024 2:18:31 GMT -5 Disciple of Fate said:

More like Tesco suing people that no longer want to visit the store, because of recent redecorating with Nazi flags and playing the Horst Wessel Lied over the speakers.

He will probably file somewhere without anti-SLAPP like laws.

Or somewhere that does but has a chance of a particularly corrupt judge like Cannon.

[redchimera]

Free Speech Absolutionist upset at expressions of Free Speech. More on that story at 10!

He really does think that everyone should just give their money to him. Telsa should pay him a fortune's fortune, verified Twitter users should pay a fee, companies should advertise on his awful social media site, whether they want to or not.

Looking forward to 'X' being fined a proportion of it's global income - that should pay for a hospital or two.

[Peregrine]

Aug 7, 2024 3:27:59 GMT -5 Haighus said:

Or somewhere that does but has a chance of a particularly corrupt judge like Cannon.

This is exactly why he filed the suit in that particular district in Texas. It's an obvious nonsense case, especially given his own statements telling advertisers to leave, but he's lined up the right conservative rubber stamp to give him a free win in the initial trial. And then after that we'll see if he's kept current on his bribes to SCOTUS.

[easye]

Securing affordable child care as a business priority?

www.npr.org/2024/09/04/nx-s1-5049979/child-care-wisconsin-ceo-working-parents

This boss vowed to help his workers with child care. It hasn't been easy

There’s growing recognition in the U.S. that child care is an essential good, something that should be far more accessible and affordable for working parents.

It's an issue that's garnered attention in this year's Presidential election, especially among Democrats.

But progress toward that goal has been elusive.

Many child care providers are barely keeping their doors open, while working parents struggle to afford care. A recent Care.com survey of parents with kids 14 years or younger who pay for professional care found American families spend nearly a quarter of their household income on child care.

I recall this issue in my own family after my child was born. My wife wanted to keep working, but the cost of child care would have eaten up any salary she made. Therefore, we decided to open our own bakery so that she could work and still watch our child. It was pretty precarious.

[herzlos]

We did similar calculations - with 1 kid on minimum wage she'd make some money after travel and expenses, but with 2 kids in full time child care she'd lose money so she stayed at home until the youngest went to school (edit: nursery).

Taking a min wage of £8.72/hour in 2020 and childcare costs of *only* £3.50/hour/child into account. An 8 hour day was £69.76, but to factor in an hours travel to work that would be 10 hours of childcare @ £70. Net loss of 24p/day before you factor in commuting costs, lunch, national insurance, tax, etc.

For a professional with a decent wage and a need for continuous certification/experience/training where a 5 year gap would leave you falling behind, I can see it making sense to pay for child care, but for a lot of people it just doesn't work.

[mdgv2]

Gonna gently weigh in on this. And hopefully positively.

Pre-school education is, I swear, what made me the man I am today. Not just socialisation, but structure and a very basic intro to formalised education. As in, you sit down, you shush, and listen to teacher/carer.

Mum and Dad put Shithead and I through Nursery, and I turned out OK, we’re at least both very intelligent.

Did Mum and Dad in early 1980’s Edinburgh have to pay for that? I honestly don’t know and frankly without an ouija board it’s not like I can ask them these days. Maybe I can ask my Aunt. Hmm.

But yeah. Pre-school things are a net positive, and should be, like primary and secondary, state funded. Not only does it give tiny wee people a good start? But from a purely capitalist POV, means parents can at least get some sort of job and help contribute (from a socialist POV) to the benefit of the whole.

[herzlos]

I don't know what the deal is in England, but in Scotland you get free nursery places for ages 3 & 4, something like 1440 hours a year which means you can do shorter days year round or longer days within school terms.

I think when nurgling #1 was in nursery it was half days (9-12 or 1-4) but by the time nurgling #2 hit nursery it was 9-3. So when #2 was at nursery full days Mrs H went back to (re-training and then) work, not primary school. Without the free* nursery placements I'm not sure that'd have been possible.

I don't think nursery was free when I went in the 1980's, I don't think there were state nurseries or many options at the time.

*I know someone pays for it, but I'm a lot happier about my tax money going to nursery places than nuclear warheads.

[crispy78]

There's similar for ages 3-4 I think, but not for younger. Round our way the costs are about £80 a day. Also with the major caveat of even being able to find a place. People tend to register as soon as they know they are pregnant. Same goes for stuff like Beavers, Brownies... We didn't do childcare, my wife just gave up work for best part of 10 years...

[skyth]

For what it's worth, there's a tax credit for daycare in the US based on income, but if memory serves, it's not refundable so only really helps the middle class and not the poor...

[mdgv2]

My nursery years were indeed ages three and four. Weird I can still remember certain bits of nonsense that went on there!\

Of course that was a very different socioeconomic time. Dad worked full time and basically paid out way. Very early years Mum had a part time job around the corner stocking the co-op (well, Scotmid) shelves. Didn’t bring in a lot like, but every penny helped. And the overall economic background allowed, more or less, a single earner to support a family of four.

These days? Forget it.

[easye]

Many employers also have Flexible Spending programs to set aside pre-tax money just to pay for daycare. It was in the realm of the possible at the time, and I am happy we have it; but it is not a fix to the issue at all.

[easye]

Hot union summer is not winding down....

www.npr.org/2024/09/05/g-s1-21081/at-t-cwa-southern-states-telecom-strike-collective-bargaining

17,000 AT&T workers have been on strike for three weeks. Here's why.

About 17,000 AT&T workers in the southeast are still on strike after the Communications Workers of America union withdrew from negotiations over a new contract.

Internet service technicians, customer service representatives, and thousands of other workers in nine states—Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee—walked off the job after contract talks stalled last month.

The CWA, which represents the striking AT&T workers, says its members are looking for a contract that delivers increased wages and benefits, including more for healthcare, and claims the company violated the National Labor Relations Act by not bargaining in good faith to come up with a contract that addresses these demands.

[easye]

A pretty good story about the rising cost of groceries......

www.npr.org/2024/09/09/nx-s1-5103935/grocery-prices-inflation-corporate-greedflation

Are greedy companies to blame for grocery inflation? We looked at the data

Companies' financial disclosures cover global operations, meaning lots of variety in costs and prices. But for almost all companies that NPR analyzed, between 2018 and 2023 the margins either declined or grew less than 1%.

Several government data sources offer similar takeaways. Take the Census Bureau's report on corporations, which tracks total sales and most operating costs. At food manufacturers, it shows profit margins climbing and falling dramatically during the pandemic before settling near pre-pandemic levels at the start of this year.

Supermarkets, liquor stores and convenience stores are much less profitable businesses overall. Their profit margins climbed more gradually in recent years but got sticky at the top, meaning companies kept a slightly bigger share of the money from sales as time went on, and they've been slower to give up those gains.

Yet that's not quite the smoking gun to explain grocery inflation, according to New York Federal Reserve researcher Thomas Klitgaard.

"Even though profit margins for grocery stores have gone up," he wrote in a July report, "the increase appears to be only a small contributor to the rise in food prices relative to the increase in their operating costs."

[easye]

Hot Union Summer turns into Pumpkin Spiced Striking!

www.npr.org/2024/09/16/nx-s1-5111647/boeing-strike-union-machinists-contract-labor

The Boeing Strike: 4 moments the company fractured its bond with workers

Last week, an overwhelming majority of Boeing's some 33,000 members of the machinist union — 94.6% to be exact — rejected the company's tentative contract and even more — 96% — voted to walk off the job.

The stunning tally came even after it was called "the best contract we've negotiated" by Jon Holden, the president of the machinist union, IAM District 751.