Random Business News

[easye]

Interesting story about the Boeing strike being about the loss of a pension plan. I hope more unions try to win them back.

www.npr.org/2024/10/28/nx-s1-5163629/boeing-pension-strike-machinists-union

At the heart of the Boeing strike, an emotional fight over a lost pension plan

“When I'm out on the picket line, I ask everybody, what is the strike about to you?,” he said.

Allen didn’t even have a chance to answer his own question before the machinists in the room interrupted.

“Pension! Pension! Pension!,” they chanted.

Pensions are a major sticking point between Boeing and the union. The machinists want the company to restore the traditional pension plan they lost a decade ago. But Boeing hasn’t budged.

The strike is now in its seventh week after union members rejected the company’s latest proposal. The union said late Sunday night it's "been in communication with the U.S. Department of Labor in an effort to spearhead getting back to the table." The work stoppage has hobbled production at Boeing’s airplane factories in the Pacific Northwest, contributing to a $6 billion dollar quarterly loss for the company.

[easye]

I found this story funny and infuriating at the same time.....

www.npr.org/2024/11/02/g-s1-31893/mcdonalds-broken-ice-cream-machine-copyright-law

A new copyright rule lets McDonald's fix its own broken ice cream machines

The soft-serve machines at McDonald's restaurants are so often out of order that their reliable unreliability have long been the butt of jokes, memes — and now even a rallying cry in this year’s presidential race.
The widespread issue has even spurred the creation of McBroken, an online tracker for broken machines across the U.S.

A new exemption to a copyright law could pave the way for quicker repairs to the machines, sweetening the McFlurry maker's sour reputation.

Before this week, most of the McDonald's ice cream makers could only be fixed through the machine’s manufacturer. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which protects the code embedded in the ice cream machines, made it illegal for third parties, like McDonald’s employees and franchisee owners, to break the digital locks installed by manufacturers.

[Disciple of Fate]

I wonder what the story behind sticking with this specific manufacturer is, given the reputational damage it did to the McDonald's brand.

[easye]

Sad to see the best named convenience store and gas station in history is going away.....

www.cnn.com/2024/11/12/business/kum-and-go-name-change/index.html

Kum & Go is going away. Its new owner is rebranding all of its locations

[easye]

Now is the time! Why not?

www.npr.org/2024/11/18/nx-s1-5192918/spacex-amazon-nlrb-labor-board-elon-musk

Accused of violating worker rights, SpaceX and Amazon go after labor board

In the nearly four years that Joe Biden has been president, the National Labor Relations Board has taken an assertive — some say overly aggressive — approach to protecting workers' rights to organize and collectively bargain.

Now, SpaceX and Amazon are at the forefront of a corporate-led effort to monumentally change the labor agency. On Monday, attorneys for the two companies will try to convince a panel of judges at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that the labor agency, created by Congress in 1935, is unconstitutional.

Their lawsuits are among more than two dozen challenges brought by companies who say the NLRB's structure gives it unchecked power to shape and enforce labor law.