United News of Bangladesh

Vote counting in the union push at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, is underway but a winner may not be determined until Friday. By Thursday evening, the count was tilting heavily against the union, with 1,100 workers rejecting it and 463 voting in favor. The count will resume Friday morning. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which is organizing the Bessemer workers, said that 3,215 votes were sent in — about 55% of the nearly 6,000 workers who were eligible to vote. The union said hundreds of those votes were contested, mostly by Amazon, for various reasons such as the voter didn’t work there or doesn’t qualify to vote. The union would not specify how many votes were being contested. Also read: Amazon jumps into health care with telemedicine initiative The National Labor Relations Board is conducting the vote count in Birmingham, Alabama. In order to determine a winner, the margin of victory must be more than the number of contested votes, otherwise a hearing would be held on whether or not to open the contested votes and count them toward the final tally. RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum struck a grim tone Thursday in a statement ahead of the results: “Our system is broken, Amazon took full advantage of that, and we will be calling on the labor board to hold Amazon accountable for its illegal and egregious behavior during the campaign. But make no mistake about it; this still represents an important moment for working people and their voices will be heard.” Amazon could not be reached for immediate comment. The vote itself has garnered national attention, with professional athletes, Hollywood stars and even President Joe Biden weighing in on the side of the union. If the union wins, it would be the first in Amazon’s 26-year history. But the vote also has wide-reaching implications beyond Amazon, which is now the second-largest private employer in the U.S. after retailer Walmart. Also read: Judge says Amazon won’t have to restore Parler web service Whatever the outcome, labor organizers hope Bessemer will inspire thousands of workers nationwide — and not just at Amazon — to consider unionizing. For Amazon, which has more than 950,000 workers in the U.S. and has fought hard against organizing attempts, a union loss could chill similar efforts around the company. The labor board has already reviewed each vote, reading names and signatures on the envelopes with representatives from Amazon and the retail union, both of which had a chance to contest those votes. Contested votes were put to the side and not opened. Now the board is opening the uncontested votes from their envelopes and counting “yes” or “no” votes. Also read: Swallowing $16B purchase of Flipkart, Walmart cuts outlook Even if there’s a clear winner, the battle may be far from over. If workers vote against forming a union, the retail union could file objections accusing Amazon of tainting the election in some way, which could lead to to a redo of the election if the labor board agrees. Amazon could file its own objections if the workers vote to form a union.

With hopes rising for a powerful rebound in hiring this year, Friday’s jobs report for March will provide crucial insight into whether those rosy expectations may prove true. The most optimistic economists are predicting that the government will report that as many as 1 million jobs were added in March — a blistering gain that would help recover a decent chunk of the 9.5 million jobs that remain lost to the pandemic. Still, the increase might not be quite that large: Overall, economists surveyed by data provider FactSet have forecast an increase of 615,000. After a year of epic job losses, waves of coronavirus infections, and small business closures, numerous trends are brightening the outlook. Consumer confidence in March reached its highest level since the pandemic intensified. Americans have increased their spending as the latest stimulus checks have been distributed. More states and cities are easing restrictions on restaurants, bars and indoor gatherings. Vaccinations are being increasingly administered, although new confirmed infections have risen from lower levels in recent weeks. The $1,400 checks in President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion economic relief plan have sharply increased consumer spending, according to Bank of America’s tracking of its debit and credit cards. Spending jumped 23% in the third week of March compared with pre-pandemic levels, the bank said. “We’re seeing a powerful response to stimulus payments from the consumer,” said Michelle Meyer, an economist at Bank of America. “It’s hard to keep up with the economic strength.” Lower-income Americans responded with particular vigor, with spending among cardholders earning under $50,000 soaring 69% compared with pre-pandemic levels. More than 127 million of the stimulus payments, worth $325 billion, have been distributed. Also read:Why the pandemic left long-term scars on global job market Spending had begun to rise in March even before the stimulus checks arrived as viral case counts have tumbled from their heights in January. Americans are increasingly willing to venture out from home to travel and eat out, though not yet at their pre-pandemic pace. Roughly 1.5 million people traveled through airports on March 28, according to the Transportation Services Administration. That was roughly eight times the figure of a year ago, although it was still down sharply from 2.5 million on the same day in 2019. The transportation analytics firm Inrix has calculated that daily car trips returned to pre-pandemic levels late last month. Many of those trips have likely been to restaurants, where the volume of seated diners was just 25% below pre-pandemic levels, on average, in the last week of March, according to OpenTable, a restaurant software provider. That’s up from 50% below pre-pandemic traffic just six weeks earlier. The burgeoning economic activity is showing signs of translating into more jobs. Karen Fichuk, CEO of Randstad North America, a recruiting firm, said the company is seeking to fill 38% more permanent jobs than it was at the end of last year. Demand for workers is particularly strong in manufacturing, information technology, logistics, and health care. “We are definitely starting to see the economic recovery reach a turning point, including in the hardest hit industries, such as hospitality,” Fichuk said. “We can hardly keep up.” Job listings on the website Indeed.com jumped in the last week of March, with available jobs now 13.5% above pre-pandemic levels. Jed Kolko, Indeed’s chief economist, said that job postings in higher-paid sectors, such as financial services and technology, have accelerated in the past couple of months. That increase is “a sign of longer-term economic confidence,” Kolko said, because employers typically don’t advertise such positions until they’re confident that the prospects for growth are sustainable. Robust job growth in March, however, will raise an important question: Can it continue at the same pace? Also read:Govt relooks at labour market to tap potentials with skilled ... Besides the 9.5 million fewer jobs that now exist in the U.S. economy than just before the virus struck, an additional 2 million or so jobs would have been added in the past year under normal circumstances. That means the U.S. economy still needs roughly 11.5 million more jobs to regain something close to full health. Louise Sheiner, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and formerly an economist at the Federal Reserve, estimates that hiring could average between 700,000 and 1 million a month for the rest of the year, if the economy expands at the 6.5% pace that the Fed and many economists expect. That would leave total job growth for 2021 at somewhere between 7 million and 10 million. In part, her forecast is based on the fact that the pandemic recession has deeply hurt labor-intensive parts of the economy, from hotels and restaurants to health care and the entertainment industry. A recovery in those sectors, even a partial one, would require significantly more hiring. In addition, Sheiner said, higher consumer spending, fueled by stimulus checks and pent-up savings, should drive job growth in other industries. For now, some recent economic figures have been disappointing, because of unseasonably cold weather and damaging storms in Texas and some other Southern states during February. Sales at retail stores, home construction and demand for large factory goods all slipped in that month. Yet the bounce-back from the severe weather may add to hiring gains in March, economists say. Construction companies could be one example. Collectively, they cut 61,000 jobs in February. But demand for new homes remains high, and most analysts say they think construction jobs snapped back in March.

The world’s leading ICT solutions, equipment and services provider, Huawei is going to disclose its annual business report of 2020 on Wednesday (March 31). The company is going to share the report in a global online press conference from Shenzhen in China, said a press release. Also read: Huawei partners to build 5G automobile ecosphere Media people, analysts, its partners and customers, and interested people can join the press conference virtually on different official social media platforms of this company. In an announcement of this upcoming press conference, Huawei has shared that despite the difficulties and challenges posed by a complex international environment and COVID -19, it has achieved steady business performance and continued to create customer and social value. As per last annual report, Huawei earned USD 123 billion in 2019 ensuring 19.1 percent YoY growth from 2018. And company’s global revenue for the first half of 2020 was rounded off at USD 69.4 billion, up 13.1 percent year-on-year, with a net profit margin of 9.2 percent. This private company, wholly owned by its employees, believes that 30 years of heavy investment in R&D, its focus on customer needs, and the dedication of its 190,000+ employees have been key reasons for success over years. Also read: Huawei aims to build sustainable future Over the past 30-plus years, it has invested 10% to 15% of its annual revenue into R&D. In 2018 alone, its R&D spending reached 15 billion US dollars, making Huawei the fifth largest R&D spender worldwide according to the 2018 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard. Huawei, has recorded its biggest ever annual jump in the number of patents it owns last year and consequently become one of the world's largest patent holders surpassing all its contenders in the market. Read Technology can be engine for human progress: Huawei’s Senior Vice President By the end of 2020, Huawei held over 100,000 active patents in more than 40,000 patent families worldwide, up from just over 85,000 active patents at the end of 2019. This is the company’s biggest ever annual increase in terms of patent ownership.   And recently, Global TD-LTE Initiative (GTI) chose Huawei for the 2021 Market Development Award for its 5G Private Network for Hualing Xianggang project, recognizing Huawei's outstanding contributions to the promotion of scaled commercial development and industry maturity of 5GtoB. Read Huawei joints with BUET to make ICT talent ecosystem in country Over 700 cities and 228 Fortune Global 500 companies have already chosen Huawei as their digital transformation partner. People who are interested in the 2020 Annual Report Conference can join the event through Huawei Bangladesh official Facebook page – www.facebook.com/HuaweiTechBD at 2pm Bangladesh time.  

China on Friday announced sanctions on British individuals and entities following the U.K.’s joining the EU and others in sanctioning Chinese officials accused of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region. A statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the move by the Western bloc was based on “nothing but lies and disinformation, flagrantly breaches international law and basic norms governing international relations, grossly interferes in China’s internal affairs, and severely undermines China-U.K. relations.” Also read:US, China wrap up testy 1st face-to-face talks under Biden Britain’s ambassador to China has been summoned for a diplomatic protest, the statement said. Sanctioned individuals and groups would be barred from visiting Chinese territory and banned from having financial transactions with Chinese citizens and institutions. Nine British individuals and four institutions were placed on the sanctions list, including member of Parliament Iain Duncan Smith and the Conservative Party’s Human Rights Commission. Duncan Smith is a former leader of the Conservatives. China’s sanctions are the latest move in an increasingly bitter row over Xinjiang, where Beijing is accused of detaining more than 1 million members of Uyghur and other Muslim minority group. engaging in forced labor and imposing coercive birth control measures. Chinese state TV called Thursday for a boycott of Swedish retail chain H&M as Beijing lashed out at foreign clothing and footwear brands following Monday’s decision by the 27-nation European Union, the United States, Britain and Canada to impose travel and financial sanctions on four Chinese officials blamed for abuses in Xinjiang. Cotton and other agricultural products form a major component of the local economy in vast but thinly populated Xinjiang. Companies ranging from Nike to Burberry that have well-established presences in China were also targeted online, with some Chinese celebrities announcing they were severing endorsement deals with some firms. Also read:China clamps down in hidden hunt for coronavirus origins “China is firmly determined to safeguard its national sovereignty, security and development interests, and warns the U.K. side not go further down the wrong path. Otherwise, China will resolutely make further reactions,” the Foreign Ministry said. Others on the Foreign Ministry sanctions list included politicians, scholars and human rights activists Tom Tugendhat, Neil O’Brien, David Alton, Tim Loughton, Nusrat Ghani, Helena Kennedy, Geoffrey Nice and Joanne Nicola Smith Finley. The China Research Group, established by a group of Conservative MPs, independent research group Uyghur Tribunal and the Essex Court Chambers, a law firm that also described Chinese policies toward minorities in Xinjiang as crimes against humanity and genocide, were also listed. Numerous other Chinese government departments and state media outlets joined in condemning the Western sanctions. The Xinjiang government issued a lengthy statement touting economic growth. political stability and population increase in the region and pointing to violence and violations of human rights in the U.S., Britain, Canada and elsewhere and chaos brought by military interventions in Iraq and Libya. “Any plot to to undermine Xinjiang’s prosperity and development ... will certainly be doomed to shameful failture,” the statement said. Also read:No problem in export-import with China so far: Munshi China’s ruling Communist Party and nominally independent nationalists operating mainly online have a long history of attacking foreign firms and even entire countries seen as insulting China’s national dignity or harming the country’s core interests. South Korean retail giant Lotte saw its China business destroyed after it provided land for a U.S. air defense system that Beijing objected to, while relations with Norway had been strained for years after the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to pro-democracy writer Liu Xiaobo. who died in a Chinese prison in 2017.

Saudi Arabia’s state-backed oil giant Aramco announced Sunday that its profits nearly halved in 2020 to $49 billion, a big drop that came as the coronavirus pandemic roiled global energy markets.

China maintained its position as the European Union (EU)'s largest trading partner as of January, according to data published by Eurostat, the EU's statistical office, on Thursday.

Uber and Lyft have teamed up to create a database of drivers ousted from their ride-hailing services for complaints about sexual assault and other crimes that have raised passenger-safety concerns for years.

Asian shares skidded Friday after rising bond yields triggered a broad sell-off on Wall Street that erased the markets gain for the week and handed the Nasdaq composite index its steepest loss since October.

 

Global shares mostly rose Monday amid hopes economies slammed by the pandemic will bounce back, as attention turned to upcoming company earnings.