Large corporations intensify anti-union efforts - April 14, 2022

Elon Musk launched a takeover bid for Twitter, offering to buy it for $54,20 a share, weeks after he became the social media company’s largest shareholder. The offer would value the company at about $43 billion. Musk – the world’s richest man – is currently worth about $260 billion. Facebook remains the most widely-used online platform among U.S. adults but overall growth among most social media platforms, including Twitter, has plateaued in recent years. Starbucks ramped up the company’s campaign against a unionization push in its U.S. stores, saying new benefits being developed for chain employees legally can’t be extended to unionized locations. Amazon has also been accused of intensifying its anti-union efforts following years of cracking down on workers’ attempts to organize. Last year, the company spent $4.3 million on anti-union consultants. The National Labor Relations Board reported that from October 2021 through last month, 1,174 petitions were filed seeking union representation – up 57% from the same period a year earlier. Amazon sellers who use the company’s packaging and delivery service will see a 5% surcharge on shipping due to growing inflation, compounding on a fee hike that took effect in January. In 2021, sellers paid Amazon about $103 billion in fees, making up about 22% of Amazon’s revenue. The move puts pressure on sellers to raise their own prices as the U.S. already sees an increase in U.S. consumer prices. Uber and Lyft added fuel surcharges last month and FedEx and the USPS also increased prices. A bipartisan group of retired public officials is urging Congress to fund a program that would prepare the nation to meet any future viral threat head-on. The $100 billion, 10-year effort includes creating vaccine candidates, developing antiviral medications, building out manufacturing capacity and improving security in laboratories that deal with dangerous viruses. Bill Gates recently outlined steps for preventing another pandemic, including a yearly $1 billion investment in a global epi