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Workers at an Amazon warehouse in North Carolina rejected a proposal to unionize, becoming the latest group of the companys employees to side against union representation. About three-quarters of employees at an Amazon fulfillment center in Garner, a town located near Raleigh, voted against joining a grassroots labor organization called Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, the National Labor Relations Board announced Saturday. The federal labor agency said 2,447 workers cast ballots against union representation while 829 voted in favor of joining the independent union, which is made up of former and current Amazon workers. The NLRB had said 4,300 Amazon workers were eligible to cast ballots in the election, which took place Monday through Saturday. Rev. Ryan Brown, a former Amazon worker who cofounded the group, said Saturday, We had already braced ourselves for a loss. We knew that historically the tide was against us to have a win for several reasons, Brown said. One, were in the South. Two, the average worker thats in North Carolina knows nothing about a union and the benefits of a union and what a union could do for them. The outcome came just weeks after workers at a Whole Foods Market store in Pennsylvania voted to unionize, leading to the first successful entry of organized labor into the grocery chain, which Amazon owns. Following the union win, Whole Foods asked the NLRB to toss out the election results, arguing the voting process was tainted. In 2022, workers at an Amazon warehouse in the New York City borough of Staten Island unionized with Amazon Labor Union, which joined forces with the Teamsters last year. However, Amazon has objected to the election result and refused to negotiate over a contract. At the same time, the company has also been able to successfully fend off union victories at a second warehouse on Staten Island, as well as at facilities near Albany, New York, and in Bessemer, Alabama. In November, an NLRB administrative law judge ordered a third union election for Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer after determining that the company committed six violations leading up to a rerun election in March 2022. That rerun was held after the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which is seeking to represent Amazon workers in Bessemer, filed objections to the first election, which results in a union loss. Workers affiliated with Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, or CAUSE, have been organizing at the North Carolina warehouse since January 2022. Cofounder Brown said in an interview last month he started organizing because he felt like Amazon was not providing workers adequate protections against COVID-19. The company said Saturday that Amazon already offers what many unions are requesting, such as safe and inclusive workplaces and competitive pay. Were glad that our team in Garner was able to have their voices heard, and that they chose to keep a direct relationship with Amazon,” Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards said in a written statement.By Haleluya Hadero and Matt O’Brien, AP Business Writers
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E-Commerce
On Friday, Trader Joe’s issued a recall on yet another product: its frozen Organic Acai Bowls. A recall notice was posted on the company’s website, explaining the recall was due to the risk of plastic inside the frozen meal. “Out of an abundance of caution, please discard any Trader Joes Organic Acai Bowls, as the product may contain foreign material (plastic), or return them to your neighborhood Trader Joes store for a full refund,” the message reads. Notices were also spotted in Trader Joe’s locations. While Trader Joe’s has voluntarily removed the product from shelves, the recall hasn’t made it to the Food and Drug Administration yet. As of Monday morning, the FDA had not listed the item on its list of newly recalled items. Last week, another recall hit Trader Joe’s, too. Several canned tuna products were recalled over a risk of botulism. “Tri-Union Seafoods has made the decision to voluntarily recall select lots of canned tuna products sold under the Genova, Van Camps, H-E-B and Trader Joes brand names,” the FDA’s notice reads.It continued, “This voluntary recall is out of an abundance of caution following the notification from our supplier that the ‘easy open’ pull tab can lid on limited products encountered a manufacturing defect that may compromise the integrity of the product seal (especially over time), causing it to leak, or worse, be contaminated with clostridium botulinum, a potentially fatal form of food poisoning.” In 2024, Trader Joe’s was plagued by a record number of recalls. Multiple frozen items were deemed unsafe due to foreign plastics, or other materials, like metals, lurking in the meals. Some customers complained they found rocks in a rice pilaf meal. The company had recalls over listeria concerns, salmonella, and more. The products were sold under Trader Joe’s private label, which has raised concern about the brand’s cost-cutting measures. The company previously declined to answer Fast Company’s questions about the high number of recalls.
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E-Commerce
If youre on the cusp of buying a new iPhone, you might want to hold off until this Wednesday, February 19. Thats the day Apple CEO Tim Cook says the company will be launching the newest member of the family. But what does that cryptic tease mean, exactly? Is Cook talking about a new iPhone, a new computer, or even just a new accessory? Heres what you need to know about Apples upcoming product launch. Get ready to meet the newest member of the family.Wednesday, February 19. #AppleLaunch pic.twitter.com/0ML0NfMedu— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) February 13, 2025 Get ready for the first new iPhone of 2025? Anyone who follows tech news knows that Apple always announces its new iPhone family every September. The fall event happens like clockwork in the weeks following the Labor Day holiday. But theres one exception to this annual product launch: the iPhone SE, Apples entry-level smartphone. The iPhone SE, which is currently on its third generation, has historically always launched in the spring, with its most recent iteration debuting in March 2022. The prevailing assumption is that the product launch Tim Cook is referring to is the launch of a new fourth-generation iPhone SE. And if thats the case, the new one that launches on Wednesday could sport the first radical redesign in the phones history. Potential iPhone SE redesign The current iPhone SE (third-generation) has one big thing going for it: At a starting price of just $429, its the cheapest phone Apple sells. But that’s about the nicest thing you can say about it. The phone has plenty of drawbacks, the most significant being it still has the form factor of the iPhone 8 from back in 2017. It has a tiny 4.7-inch display, thick bezels, Touch ID, and an archaic Lightning port (modern iPhones have USB-C). It also features an older A15 chip and just 4GB of RAMneither powerful enough to run Apple Intelligence. In other words, the phone is ripe for a redesign, which is just what we might get this Wednesday. Reports have been circulating for at least a year now what the fourth-generation iPhone SE may look like. Here are some of the features that have been rumored for the new iPhone SE: A larger 6.1-inch display An edge-to-edge screen with small bezels (it will essentially have the body of the iPhone 14, says Bloomberg) A18 chipset 8GB of RAM Face ID USB-C A single rear camera While none of these features would be considered a radical redesign for the iPhone family at large (other iPhones possess all these features and more), they would amount to a radical redesign of the current iPhone SE. And if the new SE gains 8GB of RAM and the A18 chipset, it would be powerful enough to run Apple Intelligencea first for the device. If this new model is introduced on Wednesday, it would also represent the end of an era for the iPhone. If the new iPhone SE adds support for Face ID (which is a near certainty), then it would mark the end of Touch ID on the iPhoneApples biometric sensor that revolutionized security for the device, which was first introduced on the iPhone 5s back in 2013. Other possible Apple announcements Of course, there is the outside possibility that Tim Cook isnt referring to the imminent launch of the new iPhone SE in his post. If thats the case, there are a few other products Apple might be launching instead. These include an upgraded Apple Vision Pro with an M5 chipset, an upgraded MacBook Air with an M4 chipset, or even upgraded AirTags. Still, the new iPhone SE seems most likely. As for when Apple will make the announcement on Wednesday, the company usually drops product release news around 10 a.m. PT/ 12 p.m. ET.
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E-Commerce
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