Beirut explosion leaves migrant domestic workers without income or way home

Beirut, Lebanon: Migrant domestic workers protested outside the Kenyan Consulate in the Lebanese capital on Monday and Tuesday after being expelled by their employers without documents and no way to return home.

On the top of an economic crisis that has suffocated the income of one of the most vulnerable sectors of Lebanese society, the massive blast that rocked Beirut on August 4 has brought with it a new obstacle for migrant workers. According to Amnesty International, Lebanon is home to approximately 250,000 migrant domestic workers, mostly women, who come from African and Asian countries.

"These women are among the most marginalised people in society, and are bearing the brunt of the economic crisis exacerbated by COVID-19," said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International's MENA Regional Director in a press release.

During the pandemic, some of these women have been abandoned in front of the Ethiopian Consulate after their employers were not able to provide their regular income. Some of them have even been denied their own passports, which remain in the hands of their former bosses.

Physical abuse has also increased during the lockdown, according to Al Jazeera which documented the case of 23-year-old Faustina Tay who was found dead after she contacted an activist group for domestic abuse in March. The port explosion has now pushed many migrant domestic workers into homelessness.

"Even if they get enough money to buy a ticket back home, they will not be allowed to leave the country as the Lebanese government refuses to let them go," activist Dara Foi Elle told Reuters. "The Nigerian Embassy is trying to get laissez-passer papers to let them go, but we need help from the Lebanese government."

World powers promised not to fail the Lebanese people as the capital, Beirut, recovers from the blast that killed 158 people and destroyed swathes of the city last Tuesday. But foreign countries demanded transparency over how the aid is used, wary of writing blank checks to a government viewed by its own people as deeply corrupt. Some are concerned about the influence of Iran through the Shi'ite group Hezbollah.

US jobless claims rise for 2nd consecutive week amid resurgence in COVID-19 cases

US: The number of initial jobless claims in the United States rose to 1.43 million last week amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, following an increase in previous week, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

In the week ending July 25, the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits increased by 12,000 from a revised 1,422,000 in the prior week, the department said. Initial jobless claims have exceeded 1 million for 19 consecutive weeks, about six times the pre-outbreak average. The claims peaked at a record 6.87 million in the week ending March 28 amid COVID-19 shutdowns, and the figures have declined for 15 weeks consecutively, before the trend was reversed in the week ending July 18.

With the latest numbers, a staggering 54.1 million initial jobless claims have been filed over the past 19 weeks, indicating the mounting economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic. In an interview with China Central Television (CCTV), Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, pointed out that the impact of the epidemic on the labor market is exacerbating inequality in the U.S. society.

"The gap of income and wealth has increased dramatically in the epidemic because people who can work online - and that's mainly skilled workers, people in the finance industry, professionals like myself in higher education and so forth - have been able to continue with economic activities rather normally, one could say, even during this period," said Sachs.

"But people on the front lines who work in shops or in restaurants, frontline workers in public transport and so forth have had a terrible time. They've become much more vulnerable to the infections, which is tragic, but also have lost jobs in the United States by around 18 million jobs in the service economy, by and large. And so there's a huge inequality that has increased," he added.

The epidemic is also worsening racial inequality in the United States, because some jobs of ethnic minorities carry a higher risk of infection. Survey showed that 43 percent of African Americans and Latino Americans in the U.S. work in service or production which basically cannot be done remotely - compared with just a quarter of white workers who hold such jobs.

CEOs from Google, Facebook, Amazon and Apple faced jabs for alleged abuse of their market power!

Washington, DC: Tensions between lawmakers were high during a much-anticipated congressional hearing on Wednesday, July 29 with four of America's most prominent tech CEOs in the hot seat.

When Republican Jim Jordan concluded questions about fears that Google's powerful search engine might steer voters to Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, Representative Mary Scanlon criticized Jordan's line of questioning. "I'd like to redirect your attention to antitrust law rather than fringe conspiracy theories," she said. "There is no fringe conspiracy," Jordan snapped back, prompting lawmakers to shout "Put your mask on!"

The issue of masks has been contentious between House Republicans and Democrats, especially following another positive case from one of their own colleagues on Wednesday, July 29. Republican U.S. congressman Louie Gohmert, who has steadfastly refused to wear a mask during the coronavirus pandemic, said on Wednesday he had tested positive for COVID-19, leading at least three of his colleagues to say they would self-quarantine.

The moment with Rep. Jordan came during an hours-long hearing in which Google and Facebook took the sharpest jabs for alleged abuse of their market power from Democrats and Republicans.

Facebook Inc's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon.com Inc's Jeff Bezos, Alphabet Inc -owned Google's Sundar Pichai and Apple Inc's Tim Cook - whose companies together represent about $5 trillion of market value - parried a range of accusations from lawmakers via videoconference before the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel.

On the Republican side, Jordan accused the companies of taking a long list of actions that he said showed they try to hamper conservatives from reaching their supporters."Big Tech is out to get conservatives," he said. The companies have denied allegations of political censorship. Jordan's allegations come after President Donald Trump, who has clashed with several of the biggest tech companies, on Wednesday threatened to take action against them.

"If Congress doesn't bring fairness to Big Tech, which they should have done years ago, I will do it myself with Executive Orders," Trump said on Twitter. The president did not provide details but in the past has been irritated by tech companies, including Facebook and Twitter, which have occasionally taken action on his postings on issues such as treatments for the coronavirus. He has also clashed with the Washington Post, which is owned by Bezos.

Facebook's Zuckerberg took a series of questions about the company's purchase of Instagram in 2012, and whether it was acquired because it was a threat. Zuckerberg responded that the deal had been reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission and that Instagram at the time was a tiny photo-sharing app rather than a social-media phenomenon.

Cicilline's subcommittee has been looking in to allegations by critics that the companies have hurt competitors and consumers with their business practices and seemingly insatiable appetite for data. The hearing marks the first time the four CEOs have appeared together before lawmakers, and was also the first-ever appearance of Bezos before Congress.

A detailed report with antitrust allegations against the four tech platforms and recommendations on how to tame their market power could be released by late summer or early fall by the committee, which has separately amassed 1.3 million documents from the companies, senior committee aides said.

Microsoft India most attractive employer brand: Survey

New Delhi: Technology giant Microsoft India has emerged as the country's most attractive employer brand, followed by Samsung India and Amazon India in the second and third place, respectively, says a survey. 

According to Randstad Employer Brand Research (REBR) 2020, Microsoft India scored high on financial health, strong reputation and utilisation of the latest technologies. The REBR revealed that in 2020, work-life balance emerged as the top Employee Value Proposition (EVP) driver for the Indian workforce while choosing an employer as it was cited by 43 per cent respondents, followed by attractive salary and employee benefits (41 per cent) and job security (40 per cent).

The REBR sought views of over 1,85,000 respondents (general public, aged 18-65) on 6,136 companies in 33 countries. "Employer branding is an evolving journey based on newer and deeper insights that unravel with time, so organisations must make this a strategic business agenda," Randstad India MD and CEO Paul Dupuis said.

Dupuis further noted that "this process has become increasingly important since the onset of COVID-19, when the job market is undergoing a paradigm shift and the need for organisations to transform their employer branding proposition to make it more "humane" in the new world of work becomes even more critical".

Others in the top 10 most-attractive employer brands in India for 2020 include Infosys Technologies at the fourth place, Mercedes-Benz (5th), Sony (6th), IBM (7th), Dell Technologies Ltd (8th), ITC Group (9th) and Tata Consultancy Services (10th).

The survey further said 69 per cent of respondents indicated that they stayed with their employer in the past year and 81 per cent agreed that non-monetary benefits like company phone/car, childcare services and support, flexible working hours are equally important when choosing an employer.

As per the survey, 38 per cent of Gen Z (18-24 years) are looking for good training opportunities from their employer, while 34 per cent of the millennials (25-34 years) are attracted to forward-thinking and tech-savvy organisations and deem the use of latest technologies as a very important attribute.

Around 46 per cent of Gen X (35-54 years) find good work-life balance a very important pull-factor towards an employer, whereas 32 per cent of the boomers (55-64 years) find a convenient location as the key factor.

The survey noted that the Indian workforce prefers to work for companies operating in sectors like IT, ITeS & telecom, automotive, followed by FMCG, retail & e-commerce and BFSI.

Pro-Orban owner of Hungary's leading news website sacks editor in chief

Budapest, Hungary: The owner of Hungary's leading independent news website index.hu said on Wednesday, July 22 it had fired editor-in-chief Szabolcs Dull, a month after he warned that the media outlet's independence from the government was at risk.

Longstanding concerns about Index's independence deepened after pro-government businessman Miklos Vaszily acquired significant control over the website's funding earlier this year. In a statement, Laszlo Bodolai, chief of the foundation that owns the website's publisher, Index.hu Zrt., said that Dull had proven unable to control internal tensions after Vaszily's arrival and perceived attempts to influence the newsroom.

Dull said he was sacked because of notices he wrote on Index about growing attempts at external influence, and also because of the warning he issued on Index's independence gauge, a graphic it has published since 2018.

Index, by far the largest media organization critical of the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, has set its independence barometer to "in danger" to signal what it calls external attempts to sway its content. 

Orban, a self-described illiberal, has led his nationalist government in numerous clashes with the European Union, which has initiated a punitive procedure over the erosion of the rule of law, including media freedoms, in Budapest

Corona Crisis: Southwest says 28% of workers seek leaves or exits, Delta reviewing pilot staffing

California, US: Southwest Airlines has received interest from 28% of its workers for extended leave or exit deals, Chief Executive Gary Kelly told employees on Monday (July 20), while Delta Air Lines said it was reviewing its pilot staffing after 2,234 bids for early retirement.

Airlines have warned they must shrink due to the coronavirus pandemic and are encouraging employees to accept voluntary departure deals in the hope of avoiding involuntary furloughs in the fall, when $25 billion in government bailout funds run out.

Southwest, with around 60,900 employees in 2019, said it would accept applications from 4,400 for early retirement and evaluate nearly 12,500 requests for extended time off packages.

One person who reviewed the numbers said they represented around 24% of Southwest pilots and 33% of flight attendants.

Meanwhile, Delta spokesman Michael Thomas said early retirement bids from 2,234 pilots before a Sunday deadline was "meaningful progress as we look to mitigate furloughs." The company is working to determine next steps and its overall pilot staffing outlook, he said.

Last month Delta sent furlough warnings to around 2,500 pilots, though airlines are generally reluctant to lose pilots because of the timely and costly training needed to bring them back. If a COVID-19 vaccine is developed and demand returns, airlines want to respond quickly. But for now, many have warned that bookings that began to rise in May and June from dramatic lows in April have leveled off or even fallen due to a rise in COVID-19 cases in some parts of the country. U.S. airline shares lost 3.4% by midday on Monday.

American Airlines and United Airlines have also offered voluntary departure deals while together sending more than 60,000 warnings of potential furloughs to their employees, even as discussions heat up in Washington for a new round of government bailouts. United, American and Southwest each publish quarterly results this week.