Venice new entrance tax

If a romantic gondola ride in Venice is on your bucket list for 2019, it will cost you slightly more since the Italian city has introduced a new ‘tax’ on tourists.

The new charge - known as contributo di sbarco or disembarkation contribution - was announced in a tweet by the city’s mayor Luigi Brugnaro at the end of December with the words: “Now the landing contribution to #Venezia is law!”

It will cost up to $11.50 to enter the World Heritage site known for its intricate network of canals and alleyways, which will be used to meet the costs of cleaning and maintaining the city.

The tax forms part of Italy’s 2019 budget and was brought in after long discussions with Brussels. The city council now has two months to work out how it will operate the charge, which could be included in the cost of a bus, train or cruise ship ticket.

Venice already charges tourists for staying overnight in its hotels - which brought in $ 38.6 million in 2017. But this new tax is designed to target day-trippers, many of whom come on cruise ships, and make up more than half of the estimated 30 million tourists visiting the city each year.

But there will be exemptions - including students, those travelling to Venice briefly on business, as well as regional residents.

And it’s not yet clear whether the ‘landing tax’ will replace the hotel tax.

Venetians have long been concerned and have even protested about the impact of over-tourism on the character of their city, including additional wear and tear on historic monuments such as St Mark’s Basilica and the Rialto Bridge.

It’s also harder and more expensive to clear up after tourists in Venice than in other Italian cities, since materials must be brought in and out by boat.

In the summer, tourists generate so much waste, the council has to empty bins every 30 minutes, according to reports.

Tourist taxes are becoming increasingly common in parts of Europe and around the globe, as local governments try and mitigate the environmental impacts of tourism.

Elsewhere in Italy, other cities have imposed a tax on visitors, including Florence, which charges up to 5 euros ($5.70) for overnight stays. The mayor of Florence recently called on other Italian cities to follow Venice’s example by charging day-trippers too.

“What the government has done in Venice is a great idea and can be a template for a national law that introduces a tourist congestion charge across Italy,” he is reported  as saying.

While in Spain’s Balearic Islands, the Sustainable Tourist Tax doubled in May 2018  to 4 euros ($4.60) per person, per night. The money is used to protect the islands’ natural resources.

Tourism, travel and its enabling ecosystem is an important driver for growth - according to the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017, accounting for 10% of global GDP and 1 in 10 jobs on the planet.

But taxes in popular destinations such as Venice will help balance this appetite for travel with the needs of the environment.

Venice residents protest against tourist influx

From World Economic Forum (edited)

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Cathay Pacific fare error

It was a travel sale that appeared to be too good to be true: business and first-class flights on Cathay Pacific from Vietnam to New York for $675 (£534), rather than the standard $16,000.

The flight offer was picked up by Gary Leff, a travel blogger, who wrote: “Oh my goodness - this is an amazing fare. You can fly Cathay Pacific’s from Vietnam to US starting at $675.”

Leff warned his readers not to book any additional travel or hotels around the deal, as he suspected Cathay “might get seller’s remorse” and not honour the fares. “I would wait a few days after buying additional travel or making additional non-refundable plans around the fare,” he said.

Another blog, One Mile at a Time, saw it was possible to buy first-class flights from Hanoi to Vancouver for $988 return. In a blogpost it said “Wow! Hurry, this won’t last.” There were also first-class return flights from Hong Kong to New York offered for $1,450. The price of those flights is more than $31,000.

It turned out to be a ticketing error, but Cathay Pacific promised to honour the sale. “Yes – we made a mistake, but we will not go back on our promise to our customers. We look forward to welcoming you onboard with your ticket issued!”

The airline did not respond to requests for comment about the number of flights sold at the steep discount. Cathay has removed all business and first-class flights for August – the month of the cut-price fares – from its website, but the same flights in September are listed for $16,000.

The South China Morning Post tracked down 11 passengers who collectively bought 18 first and business-class tickets at the discounted prices. They paid a total of £21,700 for flights that should have cost £540,000.

It is not the first time airlines have mistakenly offered premium-class flights at economy prices.  Singapore Airlines made the error in 2014 and Hong Kong Airlines last year, and both honoured the errors. But in 2015, United Airlines cancelled hundreds  of tickets it sold for $100 by mistake. United said it would not honour the fares because the error was caused by a “third-party software provider”. 

And off-topic  last year, Cathay Pacific had to repaint one of its Boeing 777-367 jets after customers noticed the airline had spelled its name wrong – “Cathay Paciic”.

From The Guardian 

Patek Philippe may be up for sale

Patek Philippe, the closely held maker of $10,000-plus Calatrava watches, may be coming up for sale.

The 180-year-old Swiss watchmaker could fetch 7 billion to 9 billion euros ($8 billion to $10 billion).

Patek Philippe has been owned by the Stern family for almost a century, and Thierry Stern became the company’s chairman in 2009.

A sale of Patek Philippe would upend the watch industry and could lead to a bidding war, as it’s one of the last prize assets that hasn’t fallen into the hands of a luxury conglomerate. Swatch Group AG, which has bought up brands including Omega, and Richemont, which owns Cartier, make more than half of Swiss watches.

Patek Philippe has sales of 1.5 billion francs.

In 2014, Stern told Swiss newspaper Le Temps that the company may eventually need to leave Geneva or put itself up for sale if its tax burden wasn’t reduced. 

Stern’s wife, Sandrine, works in design at Patek Philippe. Their children are in their teens, and Patek’s chairman says he won’t push them into the business if they don’t want to join.

Chairman Thierry Stern

From Bloomberg (edited)

Photographer: Michele Limina/Bloomberg

Huawei demoted 2 workers for.......tweeting!!

 Just before midnight on December 31, 2018, two Huawei employees sent a tweet from the company’s official account wishing a “Happy #2019 from all of us at Huawei.”

 It was a nice tweet, but the problem was the employees sent it from Huawei’s official account…. with an iPhone! The tweet was quickly removed, but not before being screen-capped and widely shared on Twitter.

It was an embarrassing snafu for China’s biggest telecoms gear maker, which replaced Apple Inc as the world’s No. 2 smartphone brand in 2018 and is now gunning for the top spot.

While Huawei blamed the faux pas on an agency it hired to handle social media overseas, the company also came down hard on the two workers. has decided to punish the two employees involved in the tweet by docking their monthly salaries by 5,000 yuan (about $730 a month) as well as demoting them a level in the company’s hierarchy.

One of the workers punished for the mix-up is the head of Huawei’s digital marketing team. Besides shaming the two employees involved, the memo also said Huawei departments must now “tighten management of suppliers and partners” after “the incident exposed flaws in our processes and management.”

Huawei declined to comment for this story.

From Bloomberg News (Edited)

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One-letter difference :-)

Construction Worker Sues Company (Part 2)

Construction company owner Joel Dahl (left) sued by worker Ryan Coleman (right)  

Last week Ryan Coleman, 34, filed an $800,000 lawsuit against Dahled Up Construction, a company based in Albany, an hour south of Portland, Oregon.

According to the complaint, he was hired as a painter in October 2017 and later discovered that he was required to attend Christian Bible study as part of his employment.

Coleman expressed his discomfort with attending the Bible study meetings and said the requirement was illegal, but business owner Joel Dahl insisted that he had to go anyway.

Coleman, who has a felony conviction in his past, attended the sessions for a few months, believing he had no other choice.

After several months, Coleman finally refused to go to the religious sessions and was fired from the job, according to the filing. He is suing for $50,000 of alleged loss of income and $750,000 from "mental stress, humiliation, inconvenience and loss of enjoyment of life."

His lawyer said "A nonreligious employer cannot obligate employees to attend Bible study whether they are paid for their time or not. They can make it voluntary but they can't make it a condition of employment."

Coleman suffered religious discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination, the lawsuit says.

Kent Hickam, the attorney representing Dahled Up Construction claims that the suit was without merit. "We believe that this requirement was not illegal. These are at-will employees and they were paid to go to the religious sessions. It was part of their job, so they were expected to attend."

The Bible study took place once a week for about an hour in the afternoon. The meetings were meant to help employees, many of whom were felons and people recovering from addiction, Hickam said.

"It was arranged through a pastor to provide some appropriate motivation for them to stay the course. To maintain their recovery," Hickam said.

Because of his own history with drugs and alcohol, Dahl, the construction company's owner is a second-chance employer who hires felons and recovering addicts.

 Part A – Please ask questions so as to get the underlined answer

• 1.      Dahl pays workers to attend Bible study classes.
• 2.      The hour-long classes are held at the Helping Hands homeless shelter on Southeast Ninth Avenue in Albany.
• 3.      Dahl answered reporters’ questions in front of some of his 15 employees outside his home.
• 4.      They wore shirts decorated with the company's logo on one side and a cross on the other.
• 5.      Dahl has around 30 days to file an official response.

         Part B – Fill in the blanks with the most suitable words. Do not use “so” - “because” -”but”  - “then”

• 1.      Coleman, a 34-year-old man, has filed an $800,000 lawsuit against an Albany construction company  _________the owner fired him after he refused to attend weekly Bible study.
• 2.      _________ Coleman felt very uncomfortable, he attended the Bible study.
• 3.      "It's religious discrimination," Coleman said. "He wrongfully terminated me _________ my religious beliefs."
• 4.      Dahl struggled with drugs and alcohol and served time in prison for attempted second-degree assault. He said he’s been clean and sober _________seven years. He started his company in 2016 and _________then he has been helping other convicted felons or people who’ve battled addictions rebuild their lives.
• 5.      “This is so illegal,” said Corinne Schram, a Portland attorney representing Coleman. “_________ you are a religious organization like a church, you cannot force your employees to participate in religious activities.”

Part C – Fill in the blanks with a suitable preposition

Coleman worked _________ the small construction company _________ October 2017 _________ April 2018, when he was fired.

Coleman, who is half-Native American (Cherokee and Blackfoot), is not a practicing Christian and told Dahl multiple times that he wasn't comfortable _________the Bible study.

     _________April, Coleman told Dahl_________a phone call that he had a right not to attend the Christian Bible study, at which point he was fired, according _________court documents.

Deborah Widiss, a law professor_________ Indiana University at Bloomington, said federal law prohibits companies_________firing or hiring based_________an employee's religious beliefs. Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers cannot discriminate against workers _________ the basis of sex, race, color, national origin or religion. 

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Construction Worker Sues Company (Part 1)

Objective: Building up the news.  Since you don’t have any previous background, you will have to rely on your intuition, creativity as well as your imagination.

Main Fact: A construction worker has sued a company.

Tips:  The guys above are the main characters. One is the worker. The other is the construction company owner. Who’s who?

Character A asked Character B to do something. Character B accepted reluctantly for a while. Then he changed his mind.

Imagine what the case is about: who did what, when, where, and why.

Mind the gap

The salaries of some London Tube drivers have broken the £100,000 barrier - more than most airline pilots – even though their jobs are getting easier as many only have to open and close the doors.

The figures, which include overtime, bonuses and employer pension contributions, show the highest paid driver in 2018 received £103,374 - 69% more than in 2012 - while nine were paid upwards of £100,000.

The role of a Tube driver is getting easier, requiring less human input. However, the basic salary of an average Tube driver is now double that of a London nurse. The total remuneration of most drivers is between £60,000 and £70,000, according to figures released by Transport for London. Some 900 - mainly part-timers - received less than £60,000.

They also get a free annual travel pass, eight and a half weeks of paid holiday and full pensions at 60. Those retiring at 50 get a reduced pension. 

Airline pilots serving as first officers receive between £36,000 to £48,000, while captains on medium-sized airlines start on between £57,000 and £78,000. Salaries at major carriers can rise above £140,000.

What Tube drivers take away each year

Highest paid driver -  £103,374.

Nine others - more than £100,000.

Around 30 - more than £80,000.

Around 900 (mainly part-timers) - less than £60,000.

Most drivers (more than 3,000) - between £60,000 and £70,000.

Edited from The Daily Mail

"Only" one meaning?