20231219

Hong Kong Court Hears Government’s Appeal to Ban Protest Song

Hong Kong’s High Court will hear a renewed bid by the government on Tuesday to ban a controversial protest song after a previous application was dismissed.

The city’s government is appealing the court’s refusal in July to grant an injunction to ban “Glory to Hong Kong,” an anthem popularized during anti-government protests in 2019. An injunction would have made it illegal for anyone with criminal intent to perform or broadcast the song.

The case is another test of political freedoms in the financial hub after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law in Hong Kong in 2020 to crush dissent. That legislation faces fresh scrutiny this week as a trial kicked off for former media mogul Jimmy Lai that could see him imprisoned for life.

EK: Back to the issue before COVID. Hong Kongers to protect their freedom of speech and democracy.

Uber, DoorDash Make Tipping Deliveries Harder After NYC Wage Law

New York delivery drivers are seeing their first paychecks under a new, hard-won minimum wage mandate. But they’re not ready to celebrate just yet.

The obligatory base rate for delivery workers of at least $17.96 an hour, which went into effect Dec. 4, has resulted in higher overall earnings in the first week, according to receipts from drivers sent to Bloomberg and posted on social media sites. But to compensate for the added costs, Uber Technologies Inc., DoorDash Inc. and Grubhub, owned by Just Eat Takeaway.com NV, have made changes to their apps that workers say will reduce their hours and could limit earnings potential in the long run.

One of the most controversial changes concerns tipping. As a result of the new law, Uber and DoorDash said they’ll have to pass increased costs on to consumers in the form of added fees. So as not to overwhelm customers, both companies moved the prompt for tipping on the app to appear after customers have already placed their orders, which could mean fewer tips for drivers. DoorDash said the move is necessary “to ensure our platform remains affordable for all New Yorkers.”

Higher wages also mean the companies won’t be able to recruit as many workers, they said, which necessitates squeezing more deliveries out of fewer drivers. Moving the tipping option will discourage drivers from “cherry-picking” deliveries based on the size of the tip. Instead of chasing orders with the highest tips, drivers will be obligated to take any order that comes up or risk having only limited access to the platform.

Tips, which used to account for as much as half of drivers’ total weekly earnings, now make up only 5%-15%, according to the pay stubs of some drivers under the new model. Drivers reported getting more orders that had no tips, even as their overall earnings have increased. Uber added a $2 fee to all delivery orders and informs customers that “tipping remains optional.” DoorDash is planning to increase fees in the coming months.

The new pay is much better than what it was before but is still not an ideal wage for New York, so even modest tips would help, said a driver who has been doing Uber Eats deliveries full-time for about five years and asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation by the company.

New York and other big cities have taken measures in recent years to try to regulate and better protect workers in the volatile gig economy, where earnings, largely determined by the app companies’ algorithms, can be irregular. Last month, Uber and Lyft Inc., agreed to pay New York drivers $328 million in back pay and institute a series of labor reforms, including offering paid sick leave and improving hiring and earnings notices. The European Union recently backed a deal to potentially reclassify millions of drivers as employees, which would grant them benefits such as paid leave, unemployment benefits and a minimum wage.

But the regulations often come at a cost for workers as the companies seek to compensate to protect earnings. Of the three major players in New York, only Uber, which also offers ride-hailing, has become consistently profitable. What’s more, the minimum wage is set to rise to almost $20 an hour by April 2025 as the city expects the companies will be able to absorb the pay by having a smaller and more efficient workforce. New York has about 60,000 delivery drivers, the city said in September.

“Policies have consequences, and these changes come as a direct result of the extreme earnings standard imposed in New York City,” said DoorDash spokesperson Eli Scheinholtz. “The city itself acknowledged that platforms could make changes to our tipping structure to help meet the significantly increased costs, which is exactly what we’re doing and therefore should come as no surprise.”

Some drivers see the changes, such as the tip prompt, as a form of retaliation by the companies, said Josh Wood, an Uber Eats driver who is also an organizer for Los Deliveristas Unidos, the workers group that pushed for the minimum wage rule. “It does dampen the effect of this minimum wage that we fought so hard to achieve, as it’s calculated based on the assumption that tips don’t change.”

EK: This is exactly what I meant. Would you prefer higher wages and lower tips to lower wages and higher tips?

Rich, White Men Dominate Top UK Finance Jobs, Taskforce Says

A new taskforce aimed at improving socioeconomic diversity in the UK finance industry found that half of all senior finance jobs were held by white people from wealthy families.

Affluent white men are 30 times more likely to be found in those top roles compared with working-class women from ethnic minority backgrounds, according to a report by Progress Together. In general, the report found that employees’ socioeconomic background had a much stronger effect on how quickly they could advance through a company compared with gender.

“Those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds are hired disproportionately, they progress more quickly, despite no performance differential, and are much more likely to find themselves in the positions of greatest influence,” said Nik Miller, chief executive of the Bridge Group, who conducted the study for Progress Together.

Bridge Group recommended that financial firms introduce targets for improving the socioeconomic diversity of their most senior ranks.

EK: Like this is so surprising.

Musk Says Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Are ‘Propaganda Words’

Elon Musk on Friday evening criticized Diversity, Equity and Inclusion as “propaganda words” despite efforts by Tesla Inc. to promote such initiatives.

The billionaire is chief executive officer and the largest shareholder of Tesla, the electric-vehicle maker which has boasted that underrepresented groups make up the majority of its US workforce. The company didn’t respond to requests for comment on Musk’s views, made on the social-media platform X, which he owns.

Tesla has held hiring events targeting women and students of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic-Serving Institutions, as well as several internal events to celebrate employee diversity. It also has several Employee Resource Groups and the company in 2022 launched a nationwide internal DEI newsletter.

“Inclusion is everyone’s responsibility,” Tesla said in its impact report. “From day one during onboarding, employees are exposed to our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) principles and are encouraged to join Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) — led by passionate individuals who care about creating a strong community experience within Tesla.”

EK: Said Musk, who always does his own agenda-pushing, on his own, agenda-pushing platform.

Diamond Sales Slowly Restart After Efforts to Halt Price Crash

This year’s rout that was driven by swelling inventories forced the sector to take radical steps to support the market. Russia’s Alrosa PJSC in September halted all sales for two months, and was followed by buyers in India — the dominant cutting and trading center — voluntarily banning imports. De Beers allowed its customers to refuse all gems they’re contracted to buy.

There are now signs that the market is starting to pick up. Alrosa began selling rough diamonds again at the end of November, offloading more than $100 million, according to people familiar with the matter. De Beers, which held its last sale of the year at the start of December, sold a similar amount, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the details are private.

The industry has been whipsawed since the start of the pandemic. It had been one of the great winners as stuck-at-home shoppers turned to diamond jewelry and other luxury purchases. But demand quickly eased as economies reopened, leaving many in the trade holding excess stock that they’d paid too much for.

That cooldown rapidly became a slump as the US, by far the industry’s most important market, wobbled under rising inflation. Plus key growth market China was hit by a property crisis that hurt consumer confidence. And to make things worse, lab-grown diamonds started making big gains in some key markets.

Alrosa’s recent sale saw it sell to just a handful of mostly India buyers, the people said. Many in the industry refused to deal with Russian gems following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine as Western retailers said they didn’t want to buy the stones. Before the war, Alrosa sold to about 50 customers each month.

India’s diamond industry earlier this month also announced that it would lift the voluntary ban on imports on expectation that demand will recover and prices of polished items to stabilize.

The miners’ sales have been small compared with what the dominant producers usually expect to sell at this time of year. The rebound has also been driven by buyers who are short of stones and need new supplies to keep factories open, rather than strong demand for polished gems, the people said.

EK: Why would stuck-at-home shoppers turn to jewelry and other luxury purchases when they can’t even wear them for going out? Most designer bag lines didn’t seem to have change their designs for a couple of years though.