A debate is raging in the US over the value of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Some argue that DEI programs, which cost an estimated $8 billion annually, are divisive and ineffective, while others maintain they are crucial for addressing historical discrimination.
Critics, like Rich Lowry in National Review, claim DEI training promotes the idea of inherent victimhood or oppression based on race and gender, fostering resentment rather than understanding.
Conversely, proponents argue that dismantling DEI efforts is a setback for progress. David Plazas, writing in The Tennessean, acknowledges flaws in some DEI programs but advocates for reform rather than complete abandonment. He suggests corporate decisions to cut DEI are driven by fear of backlash from certain groups rather than a genuine concern for fairness.
Public opinion on corporate diversity efforts, while still generally positive, is becoming more divided, according to Jessica Guynn in USA Today. Recent boycotts against companies like Bud Light and Target for LGBTQ+ inclusive marketing illustrate this division.
Amazon Disregarded Internal Warnings on Injuries, Senate Investigation Claims
A staff report by the Senate Labor Committee, led by Bernie Sanders, uncovered evidence of internal concern about high injury rates at the e-commerce giant.
For years, advocates for workers and some government officials have claimed that Amazon's stringent production quotas contribute to high injury rates among its warehouse staff. Amazon has consistently dismissed these claims, asserting that it does not enforce strict quotas and that its injury rates are comparable to or lower than the industry average. However, a recent investigation by the majority staff of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, led by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, has revealed that Amazon itself acknowledged a connection between its quotas and increased injury rates.
Internal documents gathered by Sanders' team indicate that Amazon's health and safety personnel recommended easing production quotas to reduce injuries, but senior executives rejected these suggestions due to concerns about their impact on company performance. The report corroborates findings from a union-backed group, which showed that Amazon's injury rates were nearly double those of the industry average. Sanders stated, "The shockingly dangerous working conditions at Amazon’s warehouses revealed in this 160-page report are beyond unacceptable," emphasizing that Amazon's leadership prioritized profits over worker safety.
In response, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel argued that the internal studies referenced in the report were later deemed invalid by the company. She criticized Sanders' report as factually incorrect and based on outdated documents and unverifiable anecdotes. Nantel pointed to a recent court ruling in Washington State that dismissed allegations of unsafe work pace requirements at Amazon and claimed that injury rates have improved.
Last year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited several Amazon warehouses for exposing workers to high risks of injuries related to repetitive motions and heavy lifting. OSHA proposed fines exceeding $100,000 for these violations, while Amazon has contested these citations. In California, regulators fined the company nearly $6 million for failing to disclose quotas that could impede compliance with health and safety laws.
Amazon has conducted internal studies like Project Elderwand and Project Soteria, which found that excessive repetition of motions increased injury risk. Despite recommendations from these studies to adjust work practices and provide more breaks, Amazon executives ultimately rejected them due to fears of decreased productivity. A separate study within the company disputed the link between work pace and injury rates, asserting that some workers are more prone to injuries regardless of pace.
The Senate report also criticized Amazon's methodology for comparing its injury rates with industry averages, arguing that including Amazon in those calculations skews the data. When excluded from comparisons, Amazon's injury rates were found to be over 1.8 times higher than those of other companies in each of the past seven years.
Furthermore, the investigation highlighted challenges workers face in obtaining proper medical care for injuries sustained on the job. It noted that Amazon often discourages seeking external medical attention and directs employees to internal facilities lacking adequate treatment capabilities. While Amazon maintains its policies meet legal standards regarding worker accommodations, the report suggests otherwise.
With Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s Day fast approaching, more than half of all Americans are planning to give a special holiday season tip to their childcare providers, children’s teachers, and housekeepers, a recent report from consumer financial services company Bankrate revealed.
Eighty percent of respondents who plan to give holiday tips said their intention was to express their gratitude, while 47% said it was to reward especially good service, and 40% said they left gratuities to be generous.
Callie Fruit, one of the survey’s respondents, told Bankrate that she prioritized the service providers she planned to tip based on the frequency of her interactions with them.
“The only one I see regularly is our USPS mail carrier,” she said. “She’ll interact with my kids, which I appreciate.”
Despite increasing numbers of Americans complaining about tipping culture writ large, more people plan to give holiday gratuities this year than they had in any of the Bankrate’s previous end-of-year surveys.
In another departure from the typical tipping culture, Gen Xers and Millennials actually plan to give more money to service providers than Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. In five of Bankrate’s six service provider categories, Gen Z – the youngest adult cohort – either led the generations or tied for first in the amount they planned to give as an end-of-year tip.
“Traditionally, younger Americans have been viewed as lesser tippers than older adults, largely because they don’t tend to have as much money and also because they aren’t as ingratiated with those social norms,” Ted Rossman, a Bankrate senior industry analyst, said in a statement.
“It’s still true that Gen Zers and Millennials are worse tippers at restaurants and other year-round tipping venues. But when it comes to the holidays, young adults are the most generous tippers.”
Although Boeing (BA+2.01%) has been slow to restart production of the planes built by its unionized workforce and has been laying many of them off amid a year of struggles, the company announced it would be making a big investment in a non-unionized plant.
The planemaker said last week that it would be sinking $1 billion in the South Carolina plant where it builds 787 Dreamliners and creating 500 jobs there.
“I’m thrilled for this next phase of growth, which is made possible by our incredible teammates and the confidence our customers have in our airplanes,” said Scott Stocker, the Boeing executive in charge of building 787s, in a statement accompanying the announcement. “This decision reflects Boeing’s commitment to the workforce, the 787 program, and the community.”
When a nearly two-month-long International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers strike shut down much of Boeing’s commercial airline production this fall, the company’s South Carolina plant was not affected because its workforce is not unionized. Though the facility’s safety inspectors formed a union with the IAM in 2018, a 2017 effort to bring the majority of workers there under a collective bargaining agreement failed.
South Carolina’s status as a so-called “right to work” state may in fact have been a selling point for Boeing to build a factory there in the first place. Right-to-work states, many of them onetime pro-slavery members of the Confederate State of America, have legal frameworks that make union organizing much harder. Boeing announced a plant in South Carolina in 2009, about a year after the last machinist strike on the West Coast ended.
“Boeing’s decision to expand in Charleston County further solidifies South Carolina’s position as a leader in the aerospace industry,” South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster said. “This significant investment and the 500 new jobs it will bring to the Lowcountry reflect Boeing’s confidence in our workforce and highlight the strength of our pro-business environment.”
One big win for the IAM that came out of its strike, however, was a commitment from Boeing that the company would build the next plane it debuts near its Washington State manufacturing base.
“If the company launches a new commercial airplane program during the agreement, the company commits to building the new airplane model here,” the union told members ahead of the vote that ratified their contract. “All final assembly, wing fabrication and assembly, major components, fabrication, and delivery operations will be IAM work.”
Additionally, the union wants to make clear that Boeing’s South Carolina workers still benefit from better pay and working conditions that they believe the company would not have offered without a union presence.
“In Boeing South Carolina, non-union employees have benefitted from this ratified agreement by receiving a 9% standard wage increase and a $12,000 retention bonus,” the union said last week. “This recent pay increase and retention bonus payout demonstrates how union contracts are a rising tide that uplifts all workers in an industry, whether unionized or not.”
Shortly after the 2016 election, the tech world’s biggest names largely didn’t care for Donald Trump. This time around, they can’t get enough of him.
“In the first term, everybody was fighting me. In this term, everybody wants to be my friend,” the president-elect said Monday after announcing that Japanese investment firm Softbank plans to invest $100 billion in the U.S.
In what has been characterized as paying fealty to Trump, tech companies have rushed to donate $1 million to his inauguration committee and wine and dine with the president-elect.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta (META+1.49%) was the first to give $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee, followed by Amazon (AMZN+2.30%), which also plans to make a $1 million in-kind donation by streaming the Jan. 20, 2025, event on Amazon Video. Meta had declined to donate in 2017, while Amazon gave just $58,000 at the time. (President Joe Biden’s administration declined to accept tech donations for the 2021 inauguration, according to the Wall Street Journal.)
OpenAI’s Sam Altman followed suit, donating $1 million to the fund as he tries to curry favor with the next administration.
Although Altman has said he isn’t worried about rival Elon Musk’s tight-knit relationship with Trump, he’s worked behind the scenes with Trump associates including Jared and Josh Kushner to meet with the incoming administration, according to the Journal. That includes a meeting with Commerce Secretary nominee and Trump transition co-leader Howard Lutnick, where Altman touted OpenAI’s investment plans.
“President Trump will lead our country into the age of AI, and I am eager to support his efforts to ensure America stays ahead,” Altman said in a statement.
In recent weeks, a number of CEOs have made the trip to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, which was called his “Winter White House” during his first administration.
Apple (AAPL+0.98%) CEO Tim Cook joined him for dinner on Friday, in his first meeting with Trump since the election. That came just a day after Google (GOOGL+4.14%) CEO Sundar Pichai and Google founder Sergey Brin made their own visits. Pichai told Semafor ahead of the trip that he was excited to work on a “Manhattan Project” for artificial intelligence with Trump. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is set to meet with Trump later this week.
The most prominent of Trump’s tech supporters is Musk, who has become an almost constant presence in Trump’s orbit since the election and has been handed his own task force. Several of his allies, including Jared Isaacman, David Sacks, and the next head of the Federal Communications Commission have been selected for roles in the new Trump administration.
Marc Andreessen of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, who endorsed Trump, told the Free Press last week that he has spent “half my time” at Mar-a-Lago since the election and will join Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency in an unpaid position.
“It’s morning in America, so I’m very happy,” he said, adding that “people are finally poking their heads out of the frozen tundra of the culture and realizing that it’s actually okay to build things, hire on merit, celebrate success, and fundamentally be proud of the country and be patriotic.”