If you want to read the “Working Conditions Survey” presentation that triggered a workplace debate, click on the slide below
3/29/2021
Goldman Sachs Working Conditions Survey
Goldman Sachs workplace debate (captions)
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NY and NJ offshore wind zone
The Biden administration will designate an area between the South Shore
of Long Island and the New Jersey coast as a priority offshore wind zone, in an
effort to accelerate a growing industry in the United States.
Officials also announced $3 billion in loan guarantees available to
offshore wind projects.
Separately, the White House is setting a goal of deploying 30,000 megawatts of offshore wind in the United States by 2030 — a goal that will create about 75,000 jobs.
According to the White House, the offshore wind plan will avoid 78 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Officials estimate it will create 44,000 jobs directly in the offshore wind sector, like building and installing turbines, and 33,000 indirect jobs.
“We have an enormous opportunity in front of us to address the threats of climate change and to create millions of good-paying jobs,” Gina McCarthy, the White House national climate adviser, said in a statement.
From The New York Times (edited)
3/27/2021
3/21/2021
Zoom - a pandemic winner (audio)
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Aged 118 she will carry the Olympic flame in Japan
At 118 years old, the world's oldest living person is preparing to carry the Olympic torch this May in Japan.
Kane
Tanaka, who has twice survived cancer, lived through two global pandemics and
loves fizzy drinks, will take the flame as it passes through Shime, in her home
prefecture of Fukuoka.
While
Tanaka's family will push her in a wheelchair for most of her 100-meter leg,
the supercentenarian is determined to walk the final few steps, as she passes
the torch to the next runner.
Previous
record holders for the oldest Olympic torchbearers include Aida Gemanque of
Brazil, who lit the torch at the 2016 Rio Summer Games age 106, and table
tennis player Alexander Kaptarenko, who ran with the torch at the 2014 Sochi
Winter Games at 101 years old.
Tanaka was
born in 1903 -- the year aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur
Wright made history by completing the world's first powered flight.
She went on
to have four children with the rice shop owner she married at 19 years old, and
worked in the family store until she was 103. She has five grandchildren and
eight great-grandchildren.
She lived
through two world wars and the 1918 Spanish flu, although her grandson Eiji
said: "I don't remember her talking much about the past ... She's very
forward thinking -- she really enjoys living in the present."
And she is
almost as old as the modern Olympic Games, which began in 1896.
Tanaka is
by no means Japan's only centenarian.
For the
first time last year, Japan recorded more than 80,000 centenarians,
according to the country's Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry -- marking the
50th consecutive annual increase.
In 2020,
one in every 1,565 people in Japan was over 100 years old -- more than 88% of
them women.
In Japan,
women have a life expectancy of 87.45 years compared to 81.4 for men,
government figures released in July 2020 showed.
In 2019
the Guinness Book of World Records certified Tanaka as the world's oldest
living person, and now she has her sights on another milestone -- the record
for the oldest person to ever live is held by a French woman, who died age 122.
She wants to break that record.
The
pandemic-delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch Relay starts in Fukushima prefecture
on March 25.
The torch
will first go through regions affected by the devastating 2011 Tohoku
earthquake and tsunami, marking the disaster's 10th anniversary, before
traveling "around every corner of Japan," officials said.
Those who
wish to view the relay from the roadside must wear masks.
Spectators should
support with applause, rather than by shouting or cheering.
From CNN (edited)
3/17/2021
Coca-Cola company first paper bottle
In a year, Coca-Cola uses around three million metric tons of plastic packaging,much of which isn’t recycled.
The company is beginning to
test alternative packaging—including a new paper bottle made by Paboco (“Paper
Bottle Company”), a Danish startup.
“Our vision is to create a paper bottle that
can be recycled like any other type of paper, and this prototype is the first step
on the way,” Stijn Franssen, R&D packaging innovation manager for Coca-Cola
EMEA, said in a statement when the project was announced.
After seven years of development, Paboco will now test the bottle on one of Coca-Cola 500 brands—a drink called Adez sold in Hungary. Initially, this will involve 2,000 bottles distributed via a local retail chain.
Paboco envisions that the
material will be used for any type of plastic packaging and will someday
replace other materials.
“All plastic packaging, glass bottles and metal cans will one day disappear” the company writes on its site. “And all packages will be recycled or will return to nature without harm.”
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Article from Fast Company (edited)
A winter storm experience goes viral
When temperatures plunged during a deadly winter storm in Texas last month, Ezell Holley was one of millions to lose power.
The 91-year-old from North Dallas joined his son
and daughter-in-law at their Irving home, also powerless, and they huddled near
a fireplace for warmth.
His granddaughter Alex Holley, co-host of the morning news show Good Day Philadelphia, chronicled the ordeal on social media, sharing pictures of him bundled up inside and eating an ice cream bar in front of the fire. Then she shared an update with her more than 300,000 followers on Twitter and Instagram that she was able to find them a hotel in Texas.
As Alex detailed in posts and in a news segment, the family joked that she had found them the best hotel money could buy: a Waldorf Astoria. It was a term Ezell had used frequently to represent a high standard, though he had never stayed in one.
“Well, Grandpa, if you close your eyes really tight, maybe it’ll seem like the Waldorf,” Alex told him in a video call. “Because at least you have heat, and at this point that might feel like the Waldorf.”
The family made a sign for their hotel room door that said “Waldorf Astoria” and “Welcome.” They referred to the hotel that way — though it was a decidedly non-luxury property — until they checked out several days later.
What Ezell didn’t know was that an actual Waldorf
Astoria hotel in Italy had noticed his granddaughter’s coverage and messaged
her on Instagram with an offer. The Rome Cavalieri, a Waldorf Astoria
Hotel wrote that when travel was safe again, they wanted to invite him to stay.
“We need more of his attitude in the world to get through these tough times and would love to see him smile some more,” the message said.
In a statement, general manager Alessandro Cabella said the invitation came from the hotel’s marketing team
“When we saw Ms. Holley’s segment about her grandfather, we were taken by his humor and positive spirit during the extremely challenging times in Texas,” Cabella said. “We would be honored to welcome him back to Rome and look forward to his good cheer lighting up our hotel.”
“I never dreamed that I might spend a night in a place like that,” Ezell said. When he was a soldier in the Army stationed in Germany in 1957, he had visited Rome and threw some coins in the Trevi Fountain. As legend goes, throwing a coin in the fountain means you’ll get to come back.
“I was wondering if I’d ever return,” he said.
The luxury hotel brand, part of Hilton’s portfolio, offered Ezell another three nights at any other Waldorf property around the world and will pay for the round-trip flight to Rome for him and a guest.
“I’d like to go as soon as possible, probably as soon as the pandemic is over,” Ezell said in an interview. “I would like it to be the first thing on my agenda. Remember I’m 91 years old”
In the meantime, the hotel sent a package with a bathrobe, slippers and a luggage tag. His granddaughter posted a video showing him eating grapes, drinking from a wine glass and practicing Italian phrases — with varying degrees of success.
She added a winking emoji and wrote: “Good thing we have plenty of time to work on his Italian …”
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Article from The Washington Post (edited)
3/07/2021
The pandemic and the oil industry (audio)
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The new blue pickup truck emoji (audio)
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Accenture to hire 150 moms
(CNN) One of the largest consulting companies in the world is making a major commitment -- to moms.
Accenture will hire 150 mothers for positions at its Midwest division as soon as possible, the company tells CNN Business. The newly created positions will be in technology, strategy and consulting out of the company's offices in Chicago. The company said the roles will offer the new hires flexibility, support, training and mentorship.
To help find and hire candidates, Accenture is partnering with The Mom Project, a marketplace that connects professional women with companies. The Mom Project will screen applicants and put forward candidates for the roles. The organization said it is focusing on mothers who are unemployed and looking to make a career change.
"The jobs that we're talking about for these moms are careers. They're highly coveted roles in technology and in consulting, they're the type of roles that enable them to support their family," said Lee Moore, senior managing director for Accenture Midwest, who is heading up the partnership.
This comes at a time when women have been disproportionally affected by the pandemic. Women have lost 5.3 million jobs in the last year, compared to 4.6 million jobs lost by men. And some 2.5 million women have left the workforce all together, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"Those of us in positions to do so must take bold action to reverse this backslide," said Allison Robinson, co-founder and CEO of the Mom Project. "I think our partnership with Accenture sets such a strong message to corporate leaders across the country, and I hope it will embolden them to do more."
In 2017, Accenture set a goal to become a gender equal workplace by 2025. Of its 514,000 global employees, 215,000 are women. The partnership with the Mom Project is one way the company believes it can reach their goal, and the 150 new hires is just the start, said Moore.
From CNN
Going home after four years stranded at sea
The crew of an oil tanker who have not
set foot on dry land for nearly four years after being abandoned on board their
ship, which later ran aground off the United Arab Emirates, are finally going home to see their families.
The seafarers, who said they experienced
“living hell” on board the 5,000-ton MT Iba after the tanker’s owner hit financial problems and stopped paying
salaries almost three years ago, have been given a settlement for wages owed to
them. They hope to be repatriated next month.
The
five-man crew had a brief and emotional trip to dry land to meet with
representatives of Alco Shipping, the vessel’s owner, on the beach at Umm Al
Quwain, on Monday. Two cheques from a new buyer, Shark Power Marine Services,
were handed over to the crew via the Mission to Seafarers charity, which has
been negotiating on their behalf. They agreed to accept $165,000 (£119,000) in
unpaid wages, around 65% to 70% of the wages they were owed.
Work
is under way to assess the damage to the oil tanker when it broke anchor and
drifted from the busy port, before beaching two and a half weeks ago.
Nay
Win, the 53-year-old chief engineer, who is from Myanmar, said: “The buyer has
promised us we will get home and I hope I will get home after 5 March. My
family are really happy.”
Win
and Riasat Ali, a 52-year-old second engineer from Pakistan, have been on board
since July 2017. Monchand Sheikh, 26, a cook from India, joined in late 2018,
while Vinay Kumar, 31, another second engineer, and Nirmal Singh-Bora, 22, both
from India, joined in late 2019.
The
Rev Andy Bowerman, Mission to Seafarers regional director in the Middle East
and south Asia, said: “Hopefully, all being well, 15 days from now, they will
be at the port of Dubai and ready to go home.”
It
was an emotional meeting at the beach, Bowerman said, marking the first time some
of the seafarers had been ashore in almost four years.
“The
crew came off and swam to the shore. Nay Win was in tears. He was off the boat,
there was a cheque in my hands. But unfortunately they could not just step down
and go home.”
The
seafarers have agreed to stay on to do essential work on the ship before it is
towed to Dubai, where they will wait 15 days for legal work on the sale of the
vessel to be completed.
They
will then be paid the other half of the money they are owed, and repatriated.
A
spokesperson for the UAE Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure said the
authorities were helping the seafarers renew passports via their embassies, so
they could be quickly repatriated. The crew will require a PCR Covid-19 test,
and will be allowed to fly if the test is negative; otherwise, arrangements
will be made for quarantine.
Asked
why the UAE is the worst country for seafarer abandonment, according to a
database run by the International Maritime Organization, the spokesperson said
that it was a busy maritime hub, with 20 active ports, and that more traffic
led to more cases. New legislation that would allow the port to arrest an
abandoned ship and auction it without the involvement of the courts was not yet
in place.
Mohamed
Arrachedi, Arab world and Iran network coordinator for the International
Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) said the long-running case of the Iba was a
“symptom that something very wrong exists and has to change”.
“The
seafarers are the workforce that keeps ships at sea. Their rights, wellbeing,
wages, conditions and welfare must be at the centre of priorities.”
Article from The Guardian (edited)
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