🐤 Power to the workers

Support for unions in the U.S. is at a 57-year high with the help of young adults taking the lead to unionize.

Thursday | September 1st, 2022
Early Chirp

Howdy, chirpers! It’s Thursday, the first day of September. Summer is almost over and some cooler weather should be just around the corner.

If your beachcombing days are over for 2022, that means it’s time to put your swimsuits away and start packing on some extra layers of insulation for the winter. A great way to accomplish this goal is by celebrating National Cherry Popover Day with a delectable, doughy muffin (or two).

There are sure to be a few readers out there who are still watching their waistlines. For all of you, might I suggest taking part in another September 1 holiday: National Tofu Day!

-Chris Agee

World

The Breakdown

A quick look around the world.

Chrisley Knows Best via Giphy

👻 Snapchat Cutbacks: We might be living in the age of social media, but that doesn’t mean that all of the popular platforms are destined for long-term success. The CEO of Snapchat’s parent company confirmed that roughly 20% of its workforce would be laid off amid lower-than-expected profits. Evan Spiegel said: "Unfortunately, given our current lower rate of revenue growth, it has become clear that we must reduce our cost structure to avoid incurring significant ongoing losses.”

✝️ Nun Freed: Almost five months after 83-year-old Sister Suellen Tennyson was kidnapped in Burkina Faso, the Louisana-native nun has been freed by her captives. The Marianites of Holly Cross U.S. congregational leader Sister Ann Lacour confirmed the good news and Archbishop Gregory Aymond added: “We are grateful to God for the safety of Sr Suellen.”

🤦‍♀️ Naked Threat: A Southwest Airlines flight was recently inundated with unsolicited images of its passengers’ privates. The flight was destined for Cabo San Lucas and individuals up and down the aisles started receiving indecent AirDrop images. The disruption came to an end when the pilot threatened to “pull back to the gate” and make everyone on board disembark.

👨‍🚀 NASA Arrangement: With the private sector taking on a bigger role in the space exploration realm, NASA is relying on one of the biggest names — SpaceX — to provide transportation for upcoming missions. The agency recently announced that it would be spending $1.4 billion to purchase transportation missions for five trips to and from the International Space Station.

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business

Workers Are Getting Serious About Their Efforts To Unionize

Union support is at the highest level recorded in nearly 60 years.

There has been quite a bit of news coverage about employees at companies like Starbucks attempting to start workers' unions, but the trend might be more wide-ranging and far-reaching than you previously thought.

A new Gallup survey, for example, found that 71% of Americans approve of labor unions in general. That number is up from 68% last year and 64% prior to the outbreak of COVID-19.

In fact, the latest polling numbers put union support at the highest level recorded in nearly 60 years. During the mid-20th century, roughly 75% of Americans were pro-union.

In Lansing, Michigan, a Chipotle location became the first of that chain’s restaurants to vote in favor of creating a union. Employees say they want more favorable schedules and better pay, with 18-year-old Samantha Smith calling it “an amazing moment for our team that has worked so hard and spent so many months organizing.”

As a result of the effort, she said that "young adults revealed that our generation can make a substantial change in this world and improve our working conditions by taking action collectively.”

Workers at an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, New York, also recently voted to become the first such location to be represented by a union in the company’s history.

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environment

Bringing Green Into The Deep Blue Sea

Nations are working to cut the amount of pollution released by cargo ships.

Airseas

Environmentalists have been warning about the impact of climate change for decades, but certain industries remain unwilling or unable to do much about their level of pollution and carbon emissions.

One such sector is international trade, which consists primarily of cargo ships traditionally powered by diesel fuel. Despite the level at which this heavily polluting energy source is ingrained into the industry, modern corporations seem determined to initiate some positive changes.

Here are some of the novel solutions currently in development:

  • A huge wind-powered kite used by Airseas to lead massive ships along the ocean.
  • Thirteen ships used by Moller-Maersk use green methanol for propulsion.
  • A 500-ton electric-powered ship being designed and built by Honda Heavy Industries.

While this all sounds great to people who are concerned about the environment, some skeptics say it might not be enough to meet the challenges of the day.

The International Maritime Organization has been working on behalf of 175 nations to cut the amount of pollution emitted into the atmosphere by cargo ships.

As Lucy Gilliam of Seas at Risk and the Clean Shipping Coalition explained, however: “The IMO has been rather late to the party, in terms of developing climate measures and coming up with a strategy.”

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world politics

The Road To Reimplementing The Iran Nuclear Deal Is Filled With Hurdles

The International Atomic Energy Agency’s ongoing probe is causing a delay.

Michael Gruber via Getty Images

When former President Donald Trump moved to remove the U.S. from the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, American politicians have been looking for ways to reimplement the deal. According to recent reports, however, there are some serious roadblocks in the way to achieving that goal.

For starters, insiders say that the International Atomic Energy Agency’s probe into Iran’s use of nuclear material is causing a delay since Iran wants any such investigation to conclude a short time after all interested parties reach a new deal.

Even after the issues standing in the way of a renewed agreement are settled, any reimplementation of the deal must be implemented strategically. The final stage is appropriately known as “reimplementation day” and would come roughly four months after the deal is signed.

This will theoretically give Iran enough time to meet its obligations while allowing the IAEA to wrap up its investigation. Of course, there is still plenty of skepticism on the part of U.S. regulators that Iran can be trusted to uphold its end of the bargain.

Since America will only remove existing sanctions against Iran if it complies after reimplementation day.

As one U.S. official explained: “We told the Iranians that it is up to them to solve it with the IAEA and there is no reason to link it to reimplementation day. If Iran does that, it risks delaying the lifting of sanctions.”

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Early Chirp

Written by Chris Agee

90 N Church St, The Strathvale House
Grand Cayman KY1, 9006, Cayman Islands

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