BANGKOK (AP) – Myanmar’s leader vowed yesterday to intensify action against homegrown militia groups fighting the military-run government, saying the armed forces would “annihilate” them.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, speaking at a military parade marking Armed Forces Day, also urged ethnic minorities not to support groups opposed to army rule and ruled out negotiations with them.
The military seized power last year from the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Security forces used lethal force to suppress mass nationwide protests, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,700 civilians, according to a detailed tally compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. Forced to turn away from peaceful protests, many of those opposed to military rule took up arms, forming hundreds of militia groups called People’s Defense Forces – better known as PDFs. In some parts of the country, they’ve joined forces with well-organised, battle-hardened ethnic armed groups, which have been fighting for greater autonomy for decades.
Min Aung Hlaing, speaking to thousands of military personnel at the annual Armed Forces Day parade in the capital Naypyitaw, said he would not negotiate with “terrorist groups and their supporters for killing innocent people” and threatening peace and security.
He said the military – known as the Tatmadaw – “will annihilate them to (the) end”, according to an official translation of his speech.
Head of the military council Senior General Min Aung Hlaing inspects officers during a parade in Naypyitaw, Myanmar. PHOTO: AP
His government has declared major resistance organisations – regardless of whether they are directly engaged in armed struggle – as terrorist groups. Membership or even contact with them carries harsh punishment under law.
“I would like to highlight that there are no governments or armies worldwide that negotiate with any terrorist groups,” he said.
Despite a huge advantage in equipment and numbers, Myanmar’s military has struggled to crush the new militia units. Outgunned and outmanned, the PDFs have relied on support from local communities and knowledge of the terrain to carry out often surprisingly effective attacks on convoys, patrols, guard posts, police stations and isolated bases in remote areas.
The military is currently conducting operations in Sagaing, in upper central Myanmar, and in Kayah State, in the country’s east, using airstrikes, artillery barrages and the burning of villages. The army recently seems to have expanded its offensive into Chin State in the west and Kayin State in the southeast as well.
Nine startups under the DARe (Darussalam Enterprise) entrepreneurship bootcamp had the opportunity to pitch their ideas before a panel of seven leading venture capitalists in Singapore recently.
The startups under DARe’s Accelerate programme – Xpress Enterprise, Ameenfarm Agrotech and Trading, Bruhaha Comedy, Rumine Corporation, Fatih Aquaculture, Thryffy, Alora Collection, Yuwal Technologies, and Al-Huffaz Management – took part in a ‘Demo Day’ in Singapore and engaged in the regional entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Singapore’s Golden Equator (GE) – DARe’s appointed facilitator for prior cycles of Accelerate – organised the Demo Day programme from March 13 to 17, which culminated in the nine startups pitching before a panel of seven leading venture capitalists and consultants at GE’s tech and innovation workspace SPECTRUM.
The Demo Day is a staple of entrepreneurship programmes; gathering startups together to present their ideas and network with an audience of potential business partners.
DARe Executive Officer Mohd Saiful Azzam bin Haji Sarpudin said a key feature of the 100-day Accelerate bootcamp, which targets startups looking to scale locally and abroad, is to provide international exposure and connections.
“The majority of the Accelerate programme is focussed on helping startups build up their capabilities: improving their business models, developing their products, learning how to leverage technology, while also creating their pitches,” said Mohd Saiful Azzam.
“Towards the end of the programme is the opportune time for the participants to be exposed to networking and market access opportunities to help them validate and find partners that can allow them to grow further.”
In addition to the pitching event on Demo Day, GE also curated a list of tours and workshops for the nine participants.
This included a session focussing on how to enter the Singapore market; a fireside chat on how to be investible with founder of Sugar Venture Capital Dr Mark Hon, one of Singapore’s pioneering venture builders; and a visit to award-winning social enterprise and agritech startup Edible Garden City.
ABOVE & BELOW: DARe’s Accelerate programme participants taking part at the Demo Day in Singapore. PHOTOS: DARE
MOSTYSKA, UKRAINE (AP) – Russia’s invasion has displaced half of Ukraine’s children. On a hospital bed in a town close to the border with Poland, a little girl with a long blonde braid and dressed in pink is one of them.
To get there, Zlata Moiseinko survived a chronic heart condition, daily bombings, days of sheltering in a damp and chilly basement and nights of sleeping in a freezing car. The fragile 10-year-old became so unsettled that her father risked his life to return to their ninth-floor apartment 90 kilometres south of the capital, Kyiv, to rescue her pet hamster, Lola, to comfort her.
The animal now rests in a small cage beside Zlata’s bed in a schoolhouse that has been converted into a field hospital operated by Israeli medical workers. The girl and her family hope to join friends in Germany if they can arrange the paperwork that allows her father to cross the border with them.
“I want peace for all Ukraine,” the little girl said, shyly.
The United Nations children’s agency said half of the country’s children, or 4.3 million of an estimated 7.5 million, have now fled their homes, including about 1.8 million refugees who have left the country.
The children are everywhere, curled up amid suitcases in train stations, humanitarian aid tents, evacuation convoys. It is one of the largest such displacements since World War II.
Zlata’s mother, Natalia, folded her hands in prayer and was close to tears.
A Ukrainian flag hangs at a schoolhouse that has been converted into a field hospital in Ukraine. PHOTOS: APNatalia Moiseinko holds her 10-year-old daughter Zlata Moiseinko
“I ask for help for our children and the elderly,” the mother said. She recalled the escape from their community of Bila Tserkva that put her daughter’s life in peril beyond the ever-present threat of airstrikes.
As Russian planes pounded overhead, aiming for the local military base, the family decided to run. They found shelter for a week in a cold, damp basement in a village. The girl’s family struggled to keep her calm and attended, since her heart condition requires constant care.
“We gave her medication to calm her down,” her mother said. But it was not enough. Every loud sound was jarring. The family had few options, without friends and family to call on for help along the road west towards Poland and safety. Eventually they tried to shelter with an acquaintance of the girl’s grandmother, Nadia, but the sounds of airplanes and air raid sirens followed them.
On the final drive to the border, Zlata and her family slept in their car in freezing weather. At the border, amid confusion over documents and the girl’s father, they were turned back. Ukraine is not allowing men between 18 and 60 to leave the country in case they’re called to fight, with few exceptions.
It was by chance that the family heard about the Israeli field hospital in the Ukrainian border town of Mostyska. Now they are regrouping in relative comfort, without the scream of sirens.
At times, to fill the silence, Zlata plays the piano at the school. She missed playing while the family was on the run, her mother said. She proudly showed off her daughter’s YouTube channel of performances. The most recent video, however, showed their basement hideout instead. As the shaking camera panned to show a bare light bulb and concrete walls, the mother narrated in a whisper.
“All we have is potatoes and a few blankets,” she said in the recording. “I hope we won’t stay here long.”
For now, until the family moves again, there is some peace. A drawing by Zlata has been tacked up in the hallway. On a nearby bed, a stuffed panda and a doll have been placed in a toy embrace.
The girl has been transformed. She arrived at the field hospital severely dehydrated, said one of the Israeli physicians Dr Michael Segal.
CNA – Amusical about Diana, the late Princess of Wales, and a remake of the semi-animated Space Jam starring LeBron James took home the most Razzies, the awards that skewer the year’s lamest films on the eve of the big Oscar ceremony.
The Razzies announced the winners ahead of yesterday’s Academy Awards, handing out five prizes to Diana: The Musical, the film version of a Broadway production that closed in December after just 33 regular performances.
After its ignominious demise on stage, the film version snagged Razzies for worst picture, worst actress for Jeanna deWaal in the title role, worst supporting actress for Judy Kaye, and worst director for Christopher Ashley.
The Diana duo of Joe DiPietro and David Bryan claimed worst screenplay for what the Razzies called “some of the year’s most ridiculed dialogue and lyrics, including rhyming Camilla with both Manilla and Godzilla”, the Razzies said in a statement announcing the winners.
Space Jam: A New Legacy won three Razzies: worst actor for LeBron James, worst rip-off or sequel, and worst screen couple for James combined with any of the cartoon characters.
The movie put the NBA star, shot in live action, in a cosmic basketball game with Looney Tunes characters, remaking the 1996 original with Michael Jordan.
‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ put NBA star LeBron James shot in live action, in a cosmic basketball game with Looney Tunes characters, remaking the 1996 original with Michael Jordan. PHOTO: THE WASHINGTON POST
As usual, the Razzies ridiculed a former Oscar winner, naming Jared Leto worst supporting actor for his over-the-top performance as Paolo in House of Gucci.
The Razzies gave Bruce Willis his own special category, nominating him eight times for “Worst Performance by Bruce Willis in a 2021 Movie”, in eight forgettable films. The one called Cosmic Sin took the prize.
Four-time Razzie winner Will Smith received the only true honour, the redeemer award, for his role in King Richard, for which Smith is also nominated for a best actor Oscar.
The Razzies, the self-described “ugly cousin to the Oscars”, started in 1980 as the Golden Raspberry Awards, created by UCLA film school graduates and film industry veterans John JB Wilson and Mo Murphy.
More than 1,100 Razzie members from across the United States and about two dozen other countries vote on the awards, according to the Razzie website.
LVIV, UKRAINE (AFP) – A rapt and raucous audience, a group of chess fanatics watch a cut-throat game play out on a park bench.
Rook takes knight, a flurry of moves, then the game is over in an instant. The loser surrenders a note of Ukrainian currency and the pieces are reset for another game on the battered board.
In the western city of Lviv, Ukraine’s capital of chess, local players make a point of keeping up the local tradition of street games, despite the March chill and the war raging to the east.
“Chess is a very difficult game,” reigning champion of Ukraine Andrei Volokitin sighed.
“It needs memory, calculation, strategy, positional thinking,” said the 35-year-old grandmaster.
But he is smart enough to know that his foresight on the board does not extend to international affairs. He offers no predictions concerning the Russian invasion wreaking havoc in the east of his country.
“I’m afraid this can continue a few months, maybe more, I don’t know,” he said. “This is the new reality for all people in Ukraine.”
Lviv – just 70 kilometres from the Polish border – has so far been largely spared since Russia launched its invasion on February 24.
The city considers itself the cultural epicentre of Ukraine.
ABOVE & BELOW: Photos show men playing chess at a bench on the central promenade in Lviv. PHOTOS: AFP
Its cobbled streets are lined with coffee shops, boutiques and neon-lit restaurants, even if its nightlife is curbed by the curfews imposed under martial law.
But Lviv is also known as the chess capital of Ukraine. The old Soviet Union to which Ukraine belonged until 1991 invested heavily in developing chess talent, cherishing the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics’ (USSR) longstanding dominance in the game. The city’s continuing obsession with chess is a legacy of those times.
All along the central promenade, droves of mostly men gather to watch amateur players play out their games in the chilly March weather.
Volokitin reckons there are between 20 and 30 active grandmasters among Lviv’s 700,000 residents. “It’s a traditional chess city,” he said.
But the chess world has been divided by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order to invade Ukraine.
FIDE – the International Chess Federation – has already cancelled tournaments in Russia, where the game is also wildly popular, and banned its flag from flying at events.
But the Ukrainian Chess Federation wants more.
It is pushing for a total ban on Russian players “under any flag or without it”. Volokitin himself has signed an open letter pledging not to play Russians.
“During the killing of our civilians, our women and children, and destroying our cities I think it’s logical,” he said.
Last week, FIDE banned the Russia and Belarus teams from its tournaments.
Last Monday, it banned top Russian grandmaster Sergey Karjakin from its tournaments for six months over his outspoken support for the invasion.
But for the moment, other Russian players can still play.
So next week, Volokitin travels to the European Individual Chess Championship in Slovenia next week to put Ukraine’s case for extending the ban.
He has received a special dispensation on the government’s order forbidding men aged between 18 and 60 from leaving the country, he said.
His wife and daughter are already sheltering in Poland, and Volokitin spent two weeks sheltering “chess friends” as they made fled the conflict zone.
“We should do all we can,” he said.
Military analysts suggested Putin’s “special military operation” is stalling after heavy losses and unexpected resistance from outmanned but highly motivated Ukrainian forces. However last Friday, a Russian air strike hit a plane repair plant next to Lviv’s airport.
Although no one was killed, it was a clear sign that the war was drawing closer to the city, after three weeks of having escaped relatively unscathed.
Nevertheless, the city’s chess fans still gather along the promenade for their games, some offering their prognosis on the conflict as the one-month marker approaches.
Oleh Chernobayev, 52, only lasted 10 minutes in his game with Volokitin – but he was more optimistic about Ukraine’s chances in the war.
“We will definitely win,” he said.“We have good people, people without weapons are stopping tanks. They can’t take Kyiv. Our guys are very brave.”
Nearby, self-declared stalwart of the city’s chess benches Oleksander holds court as he plays.
“This is a difficult game, a game of the mind,” he declared.
A young challenger in a baseball cap has him locked him in a gruelling match. But the pauses between his moves get longer and longer, until eventually the young pretender resigns the game.
“We need to compete for Ukraine the same way we compete in chess,” he remarked sardonically.
RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (AP) – Palestinians voted in local elections in the occupied West Bank on Saturday, less than a year after President Mahmoud Abbas called off parliamentary elections that would have likely loosened his party’s grip on power.
Most candidates ran as independents, though many have ties to Abbas’ Fatah party, and the outcomes will largely depend on local dynamics. The militant group Hamas, which rules Gaza, is boycotting the elections and refusing to hold them in the isolated territory.
Saturday’s voting was held in urban areas, where there is more visible opposition to Fatah. The elections commission said 377,895 people voted, or 52.82 per cent of those eligible. The commission is widely respected for being professional and impartial.
The internationally recognised Palestinian Authority (PA) administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank in accordance with agreements reached in the 1990s and coordinates with Israel on security, something that is deeply unpopular among Palestinians.
Support for Abbas has plummeted in recent years as the PA has come to be seen as increasingly corrupt and authoritarian. Israel’s occupation of lands the Palestinians want for a future state is well into its sixth decade, with no end in sight.
Abbas indefinitely postponed the first parliamentary elections in 15 years last April, citing Israel’s refusal to say whether it would permit voting in east Jerusalem.
Abbas’ popularity declined even further after last year’s Gaza war, which gave Hamas a major boost. Fatah has regained support since then, but Abbas remains deeply unpopular, according to the most recent poll by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey research.
His most recent survey found that 73 per cent of Palestinians want Abbas to resign, and that a majority of 55 per cent view the PA as more of a burden than an asset.
Palestinians look for their polling station to cast their votes in the municipal elections at the West Bank town of Beit Furik. PHOTO: AP
MIAMI (AP) – Goran Dragic looked up at the overhead screen and watched the video that paid tribute to his seven seasons with the Miami Heat, then waved to acknowledge the loud cheers from his former home crowd.
It was the start of a great night for the Brooklyn Nets.
And it was about the only thing Heat fans could cheer about.
Kevin Durant scored 23 points, Seth Curry added 17 and the Nets overwhelmed Miami 110-95 yesterday, sending the Heat to their season-worst fourth consecutive loss.
“I thought there was a lot of force and purpose offensively,” Nets coach Steve Nash said.
“We didn’t take things for granted.”
Andre Drummond had 13 points and 11 rebounds for Brooklyn, which got 11 points from Kyrie Irving and 10 from Nic Claxton.
Brooklyn Nets guard Goran Dragic is defended by Miami Heat forward
Caleb Martin. PHOTO: AP
“I think all phases of our game worked tonight,” Durant said.
Bam Adebayo scored 14 points for Miami, which trailed by as many as 37 – its biggest deficit of the season. The Heat were without coach Erik Spoelstra, who missed the game because of a family matter, and assistant Chris Quinn took his place.
Tyler Herro and Max Strus each had 13 and Kyle Lowry had 12 for Miami. Caleb Martin had 10 and Jimmy Butler was held to just seven points on two-of-nine shooting.
And the Eastern Conference race only got tighter, now with the top four teams all separated by only a half-game. Philadelphia (46-27, .630) moved into first in the East, percentage points ahead of Miami (47-28, .627). Boston and Milwaukee are both 46-28 (.622); the Celtics hold the head-to-head tiebreaker at this point over the Bucks.
“We’re not concerned in the sense of, like, panicking,” Lowry said. “But, yeah, we have to fix some stuff.”
Brooklyn (39-35) remained in the number eight spot, now a full game ahead of ninth-place Charlotte.
“We’re in that mindset where every game counts,” Drummond said.
Dragic said he learned about the tribute earlier. He’s kept friendships with plenty of Heat players and employees since getting moved in the trade that brought Lowry to Miami last summer.
“It means a lot,” Dragic said. “I spent almost seven years here. It’s always nice to get the reception that I did. We had a blast, but right now, my focus is in Brooklyn.”
The Heat bench stood in unison for the tribute.
“One of the best point guards to put on the jersey,” Quinn said. “Anytime we get to see him, we love seeing him. Obviously, we don’t love seeing him on the other team, but it’s always good to be around someone of that calibre.”
Brooklyn outscored Miami 40-21 in the second quarter to take a 21-point lead into the half.
Twenty-two imagine broadband, mobile and bundle customers received prizes which included cash rewards to electronics in imagine Sdn Bhd’s Virtual Grand Draw Campaign yesterday.
Grand prize winners Sofian bin Haris and Norhasninah binti Haji Lalim won a one-year free imagine Wish Postpaid plan, BND1,000 in cash, an iPhone 13, and an iPad Pro 11-inch, which were presented by imagine CEO Suzannawati binti Haji Suharju during an event at the Radisson Hotel in Bandar Seri Begawan.
Another five imagine customers were presented with a one-year free imagine Wish Postpaid plan, a PS5 gaming console, and a 43-inch LG Smart TV while 15 customers were rewarded with a free six months of imagine’s Wish Postpaid Mobile plan, Realme 7 mobile phones, and BND500 worth of gift vouchers.
The virtual draw campaign commenced in November 2021 awarding points to customers for performing transactions related to imagine’s products and services, which included purchasing boosters and top-ups, signing on to imagine’s broadband, mobile and bundle plans, bill payment, and contract renewal.
The campaign, which concluded on February 28, recorded over 70,000 transaction entries from which the top 22 awardees were randomly selected on March 18 via a live event that was streamed through imagine’s @_imaginebn Instagram account.
“The response we received through this campaign is simply overwhelming, and we are always extremely grateful for the support our customers continue to give us. “As the preferred telecommunications service provider in Brunei, we understand that our responsibility is to deliver the best products and services not just for our subscribers but also in support of the country’s ICT growth through the most affordable and accessible data and device plans in the country,” said Suzannawati.
The imagine Virtual Draw Campaign is part of a series of other initiatives aiming to reward imagine customers, which include the ‘imagineGO Login
& Win’ campaign to encourage the use of imagine’s mobile application platform , the ‘Boost & Win’ campaign that rewarded imagine customers for their Dream Broadband and Wish Postpaid mobile topups, and the ‘Pay Bill & Win, Zero Sign Up and Broadband Renewal’ campaign for choosing imagine as their telco of choice.
imagine Sdn Bhd rewarded 22 customers who participated in the imagine Virtual Grand Draw campaign yesterday. Sofian bin Haris and Norhasninah binti Haji Lalim won the grand prize of a one-year postpaid plan, BND1,000, an iPhone and an iPad.One of the lucky winners for the imagine Virtual Draw. PHOTOS: imagine Sdn Bhd
SONGKHLA, THAILAND (BERNAMA) – The re-opening of two Thailand-Malaysia land border gates on April 1 will comply with standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure that the safety and health of tourists and locals are always protected.
Deputy Governor of Songkhla province, Amphon Pongsuwan, said the two border gates of Sadao (Songkhla province)-Bukit Kayu Hitam (Kedah) and Wang Prachan (Satun)-Wang Kelian (Perlis) will be re-opened to tourists who are fully vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccine, starting April 1.
He said tourists coming through the land border gate under the ‘Test and Go’ programme will have to apply online for the ‘Thailand Pass’ at least seven days before travel.
Under the programme, travellers also need to book a designated hotel in advance, as well as perform an RT-PCR test on the first day of arrival and a self-antigen test on the fifth day. He added that they will have to purchase medical insurance with a minimum coverage of USD20,000.
“Tourists who enter Thailand through the Sadao entrance can bring private vehicles
from Malaysia.
“These conditions are important because public health is our priority,” he said when contacted by Bernama.
Beginning April 1, Amphon said international travellers who are fully vaccinated do not need to include the COVID-19 test, 72 hours before travelling to Thailand.
Apart from that, the land border gate of Hatyai International Airport is also scheduled to receive international tourists starting April 1.
The customs inspection area of the Bukit Kayu Hitam ICQS Complex. PHOTO: BERNAMA
AP – Amazon is gearing up for its toughest labour fight yet, with two separate union elections coming to a head as soon as next week that could provide further momentum to the recent wave of organising efforts across the country.
Warehouse workers in Staten Island, New York, and Bessemer, Alabama, will determine whether or not they want to form a union. If a majority votes yes at either location, it would mark the first successful United States (US) organising effort in Amazon history. Rejection would notch another victory for the country’s second-largest employer in keeping unions at bay.
Here’s what the elections will look like in Bessemer and Staten Island:
THE VOTING
Last April, workers in Bessemer overwhelmingly voted against a union bid, providing a bitter defeat for a labour movement that had already been declining in influence but making some gains during the pandemic. Federal labour officials later scrapped the results and ordered a re-do, ruling Amazon tainted the election process.
Ballots for the second election were mailed to 6,100 employees in early February. The counting process is expected to start today and could last for several days.
Meanwhile, Amazon workers in the Staten Island warehouse began in-person voting last Friday in their first union election. The facility is one of Amazon’s largest in New York City with more than 8,300 employees. Voting will wrap up on Wednesday, with the counting expected to begin shortly thereafter.
People arrive for work at the Amazon distribution centre in the Staten Island borough of New York. PHOTO: AP
UNION SUPPORT
The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) is once again spearheading the drive at the Alabama facility. Over 150 organisers from the union, as well as from roughly 20 other labour groups were on the ground since last summer – a bigger push than in the first election – to galvanise support. Vaccines made it easier during the ongoing pandemic to knock on workers’ doors and also visit barbershops, stores and other places to distribute flyers and chat with residents.
Pulling off a win could still be tough. There’s high turnover at the facility, making it difficult to build momentum. At the same time, organisers estimate about half of current workers were eligible to vote in the last election, offering the RWDSU a chance to tap new workers who may be more amenable to a union.
In Staten Island, Amazon workers are currently organising under the independent Amazon Labour Union led by Chris Smalls, a former employee who said he was fired after leading a protest over the warehouse’s working conditions in the early days of the pandemic.
The nascent union seeks to negotiate higher wages, more paid time off and other benefits for workers, 100 of which sit on its worker committee. Some of them have been wearing shirts and masks with the group’s logo during work shifts. Others have been handing out pro-union flyers after work and encouraging their co-workers to unionise.
NEW YORK VS ALABAMA
The union landscape in Alabama is starkly different from New York.
Last year, union members accounted for 22.2 per cent of wage and salary workers in New York, ranked only behind Hawaii, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics. That’s more than double the national average of 10.3 per cent. In Alabama, it’s 5.9 per cent.
Alabama is also a right-to-work state, which prohibit a company and a union from signing a contract that requires workers to pay dues to the union that represents them. Pro-labour experts said many may feel intimidated by companies that could undermine the unionised shop.
New York is not a right-to-work state, and Amazon is attempting to use that to its advantage. The company is telling workers it could fire them should they unionise but fail to pay union dues. But that requirement is not an across-the board mandate for non-right-to-work states and is something that is negotiated during union contracts, said senior state policy coordinator at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute Jennifer Sherer.
THE WORKERS
The mostly Black workforce at the Alabama facility, which opened in 2020, mirrors the Bessemer population of over 70 per cent Black residents, according to the latest US Census data. There’s little public transportation, so many of the Amazon workers drive to the facility from as far away as metro Montgomery, nearly 100 miles to the south.
Pro-union workers said they want better working conditions, longer breaks and higher wages. Regular full-time employees at the Bessemer facility earn at least USD15.80 an hour, higher than the estimated USD14.55 per hour on average in the city. That figure is based on an analysis of the US Census Bureau’s annual median household income for Bessemer of USD30,284, which could include more than one worker.
At Amazon’s Staten Island facility, which opened in 2018, workers earn a minimum hourly wage just over USD18, much lower than the estimated USD41 per hour average for the borough, according to a similar US Census Bureau analysis of Staten Island’s USD85,381 median household income.
Workers from across the New York metro area trek long distances to get to the company’s warehouse, many times alternating between the subway, a ferry and 40-minute long public bus rides.
The ALU said it doesn’t have a demographic breakdown of the warehouse workers in Staten Island and Amazon declined to provide the information to The Associated Press, citing the union vote. But internal records leaked to The New York Times from 2019 showed more than 60 per cent of the hourly associates at the facility were Black or Latino, while most of managers were white or Asian.
AMAZON’S STRATEGY
Amazon sees unions as a threat to its business model built on speedy deliveries to customers.
“As a company, we don’t think unions are the best answer for our employees,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a e-mailed statement. “Our focus remains on working directly with our team to continue making Amazon a great place to work.”
The online retail giant continues to hammer the message that it offers benefits such as healthcare, 401(k) plans and a prepaid college tuition programme to help grow workers’ careers. It launched a website for workers at both warehouses that casts doubt on the benefit of unions and has been blasting out mailings, text messages, e-mails and flyers.
It also relied on consultants and managers to hold mandatory staff meetings to talk about why unions are a bad idea. Such meetings stopped in Bessemer, right before the ballots were sent on February 4, in accordance with labour regulations. But it could continue in Staten Island until 24 hours before the in-person vote was scheduled to begin on Friday.
A company spokesperson said the meetings give employees the opportunity to ask questions and learn what a union “could mean for them and their day-to-day life working at Amazon”.
In Bessemer, Amazon made some changes to but still kept a controversial US Postal Service mailbox that was key in the NLRB’s decision to invalidate last year’s vote. In February, police arrested Smalls after Amazon officials said he was trespassing while delivering food to workers in Staten Island. Two other current pro-union employees were arrested with him for obstructing governmental administration charges.
