fortune--2020-05-29--Wall Street vs. Big Tech: Why finance is racing back to the office while tech embraces WFH

Don ’ t count on a recovery in global air travel before 2024 , S & P says

Don’t tell Goldman Sachs that the era of the office is over.
Speaking at a virtual conference on Wednesday, Goldman president and COO John Waldron shed light on the investment bank’s plans for returning its workforce to an office setting. With Goldman having already set into motion efforts to return its people to their desks in Asia and continental Europe, Waldron revealed that select “markets-facing” employees in the U.S. and London would begin heading back “over the next several weeks.”
At a time when major tech and media firms are prolonging their work-from-home policies amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic—raising questions from some about the future viability of the commercial office model—Wall Street’s big banks seem to have a singular goal in mind: a return to business as usual.
JPMorgan Chase launched a Return to the Office task force earlier this month, according to internal memos. The task force is assisting in the transition to workplaces that JPMorgan expects will remain only half-full (or half-empty) even after lockdown restrictions end—with new protocols around seating plans, “people-flow” in common spaces, and food handling in dining areas.
Citigroup, meanwhile, is said to be considering short-term leases on more sparsely populated satellite offices in the suburbs around New York City, in an effort to address concerns around the use of public transportation and densely occupied urban office buildings.
In comparison to Silicon Valley’s tech giants, who have embraced the work-from-home paradigm to an unprecedented extent, Wall Street is taking a relatively urgent approach to returning its employees to conventional work environments. Jack Dorsey has famously given Twitter employees his blessing to work from home indefinitely; Sundar Pichai is providing all “Googlers” with an allowance of $1,000 to cover home office expenses; and Mark Zuckerberg expects up to half of Facebook’s employees to be working remotely within the next 10 years.
Meanwhile, the New York Stock Exchange partially reopened its trading floor this week, after two months of electronic-only trading that went off without a hitch, for the most part.
Perhaps the financial sector’s commitment to a traditional office model shouldn’t come as a surprise, given the industry’s reputation for breeding cutthroat, nose-to-the-grindstone workplace cultures. Apparently, that sort of culture starts at the top; some of America’s most powerful bank CEOs—such as Goldman’s David Solomon, Bank of America’s Brian Moynihan, and Morgan Stanley’s James Gorman—kept coming into their offices even as the pandemic escalated (Gorman himself later revealed he had contracted COVID-19).
But the same culture that supposedly drives bankers, traders, and other employees to maximize productivity can also prove an unflattering look during a pandemic. As COVID-19 tore through the world’s financial capital this spring—killing thousands of New Yorkers and infecting hundreds of thousands more—traders at JPMorgan and Bank of America reportedly felt undue pressure to continue showing up at their New York offices.
From an economic perspective, it’s not as if big tech firms haven’t relied on the same office leasing framework as their financial services counterparts—at least before the coronavirus outbreak. While the likes of Google have shelled out billions of dollars to own their own buildings, tech firms have represented an ever-expanding share of the office leasing market in recent years, with Facebook and Amazon gobbling up space in major business districts.
But it is possible that, in time, the big banks will warm up to Big Tech’s more nimble approach to stationing its workforce. The tried-and-tested model deployed for decades by trading desks was already in the midst of a transformation prior to the pandemic, as the heightened “electronification” of securities trading has prompted banks to shed thousands of workers across the industry in recent years.
Waldron acknowledged on Wednesday that the pandemic had accelerated Goldman’s technological transformation and convinced the bank that it can “run a more distributed model” with more employees working in remote (and often lower-cost) areas.
Yet he noted one particular reason why Goldman is still eager to get its employees back into the office and working among themselves: its culture, which he said emphasizes collaboration, mentorship, and “people-development.”
Without direct, interpersonal communication, “I worry that [culture] decays over time,” Waldron said.
More must-read finance coverage from Fortune:
—Saving lives vs. saving the economy is a false tradeoff, economists say
—Real unemployment rate soars past 24.9%—and the U.S. has now lost 33.5 million jobs
—17% of unemployed workers aren’t looking for work—and that’s warping the official unemployment rate
—Does Apple’s stock buyback strategy make sense in this market?
—Goldman Sachs doubts there will be a Round 3 of PPP loans for small businesses
—Listen to Leadership Next, a Fortune podcast examining the evolving role of CEOs
—WATCH: Why banks were ready for the financial impact of the coronavirus
Subscribe to How to Reopen, Fortune’s weekly newsletter on what it takes to reboot business in the midst of a pandemic.


fortune--2020-05-29--Trump plans to weigh in on China-Hong Kong tensions, sinking global stocks

Wall Street vs. Big Tech : Why finance is racing back to the office while tech embraces WFH

This is the web version of the Bull Sheet, Fortune’s no-BS daily newsletter on the markets. Sign up to receive it in your inbox here.
Happy Friday, everyone. The S&P 500 yesterday was headed for its eighth positive session in the past ten, and then President Trump announced he would schedule a press conference for Friday to address the China-Hong Kong tensions. Everything went south after that.
Let’s check in on the action.
Markets update
Asia
The major indices are broadly lower this morning. Shanghai is clinging to slim gains. There’s red nearly everywhere else.
is clinging to slim gains. There’s red nearly everywhere else. Later today, President Trump will take to the podium in Washington, likely to announce tough new policies directed at Beijing.
will take to the podium in Washington, likely to announce tough new policies directed at Beijing. “We are not happy with China,” Trump said on Thursday. He wasn’t specific, but the markets interpreted those words as an ominous sign, sending global equities down.
Europe
The European bourses fell out of the gates, the first time the indices have opened in the red all week. London’s FTSE started the day down 1% .
out of the gates, the first time the indices have opened in the red all week. started the day down . French automaker Renault announced it will cut 14,600 jobs in a bid to save €2 billion over three years. Across the Channel, the sum total of cars that British automakers made in April was a mere 197 , the lowest output since World War II .
in a bid to save over three years. Across the Channel, the sum total of cars that made in April was a mere , the lowest output since . Rolls-Royce, the aerospace giant, fell more than 8% at the open after Standard & Poor’s downgraded it to junk status yesterday, another sign of tumult in the aviation sector.
U.S.
The Dow , S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures are all trading lower, looking to extend yesterday’s losses.
, and futures are all trading lower, looking to extend yesterday’s losses. Boeing shares closed 0.2% higher yesterday after it outlined job cuts of roughly 13,000 , and the resumption of 737 Max production.
higher yesterday after it outlined of roughly , and the resumption of production. As China and scores of listed companies have already done, the U.S. yesterday confirmed it will abandon the practice of disclosing an economic forecast for 2020. The numbers have been all over the place, anyhow—the Q1 GDP was revised downward significantly yesterday.
Elsewhere
Gold is up
is up The dollar is down.
is down. Crude is falling again. Brent is off 1.5%, hovering above $35/gallon.
By the Numbers
40.8 million. I’m going to again kick things off with job numbers, even if the markets continue to shrug off the carnage week after week. 40.8 million workers in the United States have now filed for unemployment benefits over the past ten weeks. Yesterday’s tally of 2.1 million jobless claims was roughly 300,000 lower than the prior week, more or less in line with analysts’ consensus. The 40.8 million unemployed means that nearly one-quarter of eligible American workers are out of a job. To repeat: nearly one-quarter.
88. The U.S. hit a grim milestone this week when it surpassed 100,000 confirmed coronavirus deaths. I realize “time” is a squishy concept, but it’s important to note the U.S. went from zero to 100,000 in just about 88 days, calculates Fortune‘s Lance Lambert. Few countries have managed the outbreak well. Most days it seems like we’re looking at a game of whack-a-mole where hotspots smolder and cool off, only for new hotspots to emerge. According to the New York Times, the number of infections and deaths are rising in more than a dozen states. The stock markets may be soaring, but this public health crisis is far from over.
84.48. The Nasdaq closed at 9,348.99 yesterday, a gain of 84.48 points over the past five trading sessions. In the past two weeks, the tech-heavy index is up nearly 5%, pushing it into positive territory for 2020 (4.4% higher YTD). The Nasdaq performance seems to be largely unaffected by U.S. labor market woes. It’s worth posing the question: Will escalating trade tensions with China matter for Big Tech?
***
Have a nice weekend, everyone. I’ll see you here on Monday.
Bernhard Warner
@BernhardWarner
Bernhard.Warner@Fortune.com
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Today's reads
The other financial crisis. A reckless borrowing boom led to the global financial crisis. "Now there's a similar danger brewing," writes Fortune's Shawn Tully. "But the catalyst isn't reckless consumers. Now it's the U.S. Treasury choosing daredevil financing." There's a potential ticking bomb in the $3.6 trillion raised by the federal government to pay off the coronavirus bailout.
PPP. The use and abuse of PPP loans will be a big story for a long time. Reuters' Tom Bergin gets the ball rolling with an investigation into the number of taxpayer-funded cheap loans going to companies that routinely use offshore accounting structures to get around paying their tax bill.
Some of these stories require a subscription to access. There is a discount offer for our loyal readers if you use this link to sign up. Thank you for supporting our journalism.
Market candy
17
Could Americans be becoming a more thrifty lot? Gretchen Howard, COO of Robinhood, told Fortune's Jeff John Roberts that there's been an explosion in savings among members of the popular digital finance firm... and a surge in stock-buying. Howard noted "a 17-fold increase in deposits at Robinhood in March compared with the fourth quarter of 2019, and said much of the trading activity on the platform consisted of buying. Among the most popular stocks were those of airlines and cruise operators," Roberts writes. Buy the dip, as they say.


fortune--2020-05-29--‘Glorifying violence:’ Twitter hides Trump tweet about Minneapolis protests for breaking its rules

Twitter Inc., which this week earned U.S. President Donald Trump’s ire by posting fact-check notices next to some of his tweets, has put up a rule-violation notice on one of his most recent missives.
Saying that the president’s comments about protests in Minneapolis glorified violence and were thus against its rules, the social media company has obscured the offending message on his profile with the following warning:
“This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence. However, Twitter has determined that it may be in the public’s interest for the Tweet to remain accessible.”
….These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd, and I won’t let that happen. Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. Thank you! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2020
A spokesman for Twitter didn’t immediately respond to an email and phone call for comment.
A “View” option to open and read the tweet is made available alongside the warning. The president’s comments, concluding with the words “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” incited a strong response from other Twitter users, but those replies have since been hidden or removed by the company. The options to reply and like the tweet have also been disabled, while the retweet and quote-tweet functions have been left active.


fortune--2020-05-29--Trump threatens violent intervention in Minneapolis protests over George Floyd’s death

As protests in Minneapolis over the death of a handcuffed African American turned increasingly violent, President Donald Trump threatened to send in armed forces and warned that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
In a pair of early morning tweets on Friday, the president assailed the city’s mayor, Jacob Frey, as weak and said he had told Minnesota Governor Tim Walz that “the military is with him all the way.”
On Thursday night, a mob broke into the Third Precinct stationhouse in Minneapolis and set fire to it, according to the Associated Press. The officers had fled the building.
Protests over the death of George Floyd on Monday spread across the nation after a video of his encounter with police officers from the precinct spread across social media and television.
In the video, Floyd is on the pavement next to a police car with a white officer kneeling on his neck. He says that he cannot breath. The four officers involved were fired on Tuesday, though no charges have been filed.
Expressions of outrage from across the political spectrum followed the release of the video. There were protests in several other cities, including New York and Albuquerque. In Columbus, Ohio, protesters tried unsuccessfully to storm the statehouse, according to local news reports.
In Minneapolis, some of the demonstrations were punctuated with looting and arson.
Trump in one of his Twitter posts said “These THUGS are dishonoring the memory of George Floyd and I won’t let that happen.”
The president also mentioned deploying the National Guard. Those forces are under the control of governors, but can be ordered into federal service by a president during an emergency. Walz has already activated the Minnesota Guard, the AP reported.
Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden on Thursday that Floyd’s death was a reminder of the “ugly underbelly of our society” and urged protesters in Minneapolis to “exercise their rights peacefully and safely.”
“We can’t ignore that we are in a country with an open wound right now. A wound far older and deeper than George Floyd’s — George Floyd’s killing — and his brutal, brutal death captured on film,” Biden said at a virtual fundraiser.
On Wednesday, Biden called for a federal investigation into Floyd’s death.


fortune--2020-05-29--Trump administration delays update to economic forecast as 2020 election nears

The White House has taken the unusual step of deciding not to release an updated economic forecast as planned this year, a fresh sign of the administration’s anxiety about how the coronavirus has ravaged the nation just months before the election.
The decision, which was confirmed Thursday by a senior administration official who was not authorized to publicly comment on the plan, came amid intensifying signals of the pandemic’s grim economic toll.
The U.S. economy shrank at a faster-than-expected annual rate of 5% during the first quarter, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. At least 2.1 million Americans lost their jobs last week, meaning an astonishing 41 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits since shutdowns intended to prevent the spread of the coronavirus began in mid-March.
Trump argues that the economy will rebound later this year or in 2021 and that voters should give him another term in office to oversee the expansion. But the delay of the updated midyear economic forecast, typically released in July or August, was an indication that the administration doesn’t want to bring attention to the pandemic’s impact anytime soon.
“It’s a sign that the White House does not anticipate a major recovery in employment and growth prior to the election and that it has essentially punted economic policy over to the Fed and the Congress,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist for the consultant RSM.
The senior administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, maintained that the underlying economic data would be too uncertain to convey a meaningful picture about the recovery.
But the political stakes of a weakening economy are hard to overstate, especially in states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin that are critical to the president’s reelection.
According to an AP-NORC poll conducted in May, 49% of Americans approve of how the president is handling the economy. That has dipped over the last two months, from 56% who said so in March.
Still, the economy remains a particular strong point for Trump. Before the outbreak began, and even as the virus started sending shock waves through the economy, approval of how he had handled the issue was the highest it’s been over the course of his presidency.
Since then, views on the economy have reversed dramatically.
The May poll found that 70% of Americans call the nation’s economy poor, while just 29% say it’s good. In January, 67% called the economy good.
Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, and liberal economists swiftly seized on the report’s delay to argue that Trump is seeking to avoid putting his administration’s imprint on bad economic news in the months before the Nov. 3 vote.
“This desperate attempt to keep the American people in the dark about the economy’s performance is not only an acknowledgement that Trump knows he’s responsible for some of the most catastrophic economic damage in American history, but also a sign of how stunningly out of touch he is with hard working Americans,” said Andrew Bates, a Biden campaign spokesman.
While the economic forecast is being delayed, updated information about the nation’s budgetary situation will still be released as expected this summer, the senior administration official said. A significant decline in tax receipts, as well as outlays from almost $3 trillion in coronavirus-related aid bills, is sure to produce a multitrillion-dollar government deficit for the budget year ending Sept. 30.
Paul Winfree, a former Trump White House director of budget policy, doubted that the holdup on the economic update was on Trump’s radar.
“Honestly, I don’t think the president thinks about the publication of the mid-session review and the politics around it,” Winfree said.
Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, noted that the law requires the White House to update its budget forecast. That responsibility is even more important given the uncertainty in the economy and the trillions of dollars in aid that have already changed the trajectory of government spending, she said.
“By staying silent on how to reallocate those federal dollars under an unprecedented economic downturn, the executive branch is doing a disservice to taxpayers and avoiding tough discussions we need to have about the new fiscal reality,” she said.
Jason Furman, who led the White House Council of Economic Advisers during the Obama administration, said the Trump administration pointing to economic uncertainty as the reason to put off the forecast doesn’t hold weight.
Trump has repeatedly predicted improvement in the third and fourth quarters of this year, and the president just this week predicted 2021 is going to be “one of the best years we’ve ever had.” White House senior adviser Kevin Hassett said earlier this week that a double-digit unemployment rate was possible in November.
“You have to make decisions on incredibly uncertain information right now,” Furman said. “They are out on TV every day making economic forecasts and predictions about what’s going to happen in the economy.”
The Trump team’s economic projections, like those from earlier administrations, have tended to be overly optimistic. Last year’s review estimated that the economy would grow more than 3% last year, but the actual gains were a far more lukewarm 2.3%.
It similarly claimed that growth under Trump would cause the budget deficit to fall as a share of the economy. That estimate could never have anticipated the outbreak of the coronavirus that forced more than $3 trillion in aid as the deficit is on course to reach new highs.
In 2017, the Trump administration criticized the Obama administration for rosy expectations of growth during the Great Recession more than a decade ago. An updated forecast in the mid-session review could make the Trump White House a similar target for criticism.
Jared Bernstein, a former economic adviser to Biden, said a timely update on the state of the economy is more important than ever.
“The idea that you’d abrogate that responsibility now is pretty serious fiscal malpractice,” Bernstein said. “They don’t like the numbers they’d have to write down. This is a White House that is in denial about the trajectory of the economy.”


fortune--2020-05-29--Costco is bringing back free samples

Costco is bringing back free samples

For all those who have missed munching on Costco Wholesale Corp.’s cheap and tasty hot dogs, don’t worry: Nearly all of its food courts will be re-opened by the middle of June, CFO Richard Galanti said on the company’s third-quarter earnings call.
About 20% of the food courts were reopened at the end of the quarter. Costco has also eliminated some food items, but didn’t say which ones.
Another big part of the Costco in-store experience are the free food samples. Vendors also love them, as they’re key to getting customers to try new items. The company said today that it will start a “slow rollout” of some form of sampling in mid-June, but it won’t be stuff on open trays, picked up with fingers. “I can’t say anymore,” Galanti said cryptically.
Costco relies on store traffic more than other retailers as it was slow to embrace e-commerce, preferring to rely on the “treasure hunt” in-store experience. U.S. foot traffic was down 2% in the quarter.
Costco’s comparable-store domestic sales, excluding gas, rose 8%, beating analysts’ expectation for a 7% gain. Earnings per share of $1.89 trailed estimates.


fortune--2020-05-29--Trump needs Twitter. Twitter needs Trump. Who needs who more?

Career coach versus mentor : Which do you need ?

The clash between President Trump and Twitter reached new heights over the past few days. Twitter started to more rigorously police Trump’s posts, while Trump tried to weaken legal protections that shield social media companies like Twitter from liability for what their users post.
But as Trump tries to clamp down on Twitter, and Twitter similarly cracks down on the President’s posts, one question remains: Who needs who more?
Three experts say the answer is simple: Trump, who depends on Twitter to reach his base, especially during an election year that revolves around the global pandemic.
“Right now, traditional campaigning is going to be at best problematic through at least summer,” said Steven Livingston, director of the Institute for Data, Democracy, and Politics at George Washington University. “By picking a fight with Twitter, he’s actually attacking the principal mechanism he needs to run in a COVID environment.”
While Twitter may be Trump’s favorite way to reach his supporters, Twitter, which generated $1 billion in revenue in 2019, relies very little on him, said Ronald Josey, analyst at investment bank JMP Securities. The service has nearly 33 million daily active U.S. users who generate revenue for the company. If Trump quit Twitter, relatively few of his 80 million followers would leave, Josey says. And they would account for only a sliver of the service’s revenue.
“If he were to leave, it would have a small impact on users and an even smaller impact on monetizable users,” Josey says. Twitter is “very diversified in terms of traffic.”
The rift between Trump and Twitter heated up on Tuesday after Twitter, for the first time, labeled as misinformation one of the President’s tweets about mail-in voting. In the days that followed, Trump threatened “big action” against social media and then signed an executive order aimed at removing legal protections for social media companies.
Unbowed, Twitter again went after Trump on Friday for tweeting, in part, “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” referring to the riots in Minneapolis. The company appended its first-ever warning specifically for politicians, telling users that the tweet had glorified violence. To view the actual tweet, users must click on the disclaimer.
For years, Trump has criticized social media companies, arguing, along with fellow conservatives, that the services unfairly censored their posts. Meanwhile, liberals complained that social media companies failed to delete posts containing hate speech and violence.
Trump’s executive order does little to help him achieve his ultimate goal, which is the freedom to say whatever he wants online. If regulators weakened the current federal protections for social media companies, Twitter and Facebook would likely ratchet up their policing of content rather than ease it, experts agree.
“He’s so angry they did something to him, he’s slapping back at them,” says Joshua Tucker, professor of politics and codirector of the Center for Social Media and Politics at New York University. “The irony of this is…he is pushing us toward a world where the platforms are going to be much quicker to pull down content.”
Trump often says that Twitter is the only outlet that lets him reach Americans directly without a news media filter. And he obsessively uses it to air his grievances, stoke controversy, and threaten companies and world leaders. “Twitter is such a powerful political tool for Trump that it’s inconceivable he would give it up,” Tucker said. “What would he do all day?”
He was asked as much on Thursday. Trump responded that he wouldn’t quit tweeting, because he uses Twitter to fact-check “fake news.” “If we had a fair press in this country, I would do that in a heartbeat,” he said of leaving Twitter, though it was hardly convincing. “There’s nothing I’d rather do than get rid of my whole Twitter account.”
Trump could always leave Twitter for another social media service, like Facebook, which has been more lax in how it polices political speech. But he may not be able to attack other politicians as effectively as he does on Twitter. There is “value in the network because there are other people on it that you want to be with,” Tucker said.
Trump’s followers give Twitter more traffic. And all traffic is good traffic, Josey of JMP said. But when it comes down to business, Trump’s absence does not pose an existential threat to the company. However, it does complicate matters for the country’s tweeter-in-chief.


fortune--2020-05-29--Career coach versus mentor: Which do you need?

Trump needs Twitter .
Twitter needs Trump .
Who needs who more ?

Every month, this newsletter shares advice as well as a bulletin of job postings, conferences, workshops, and other opportunities to boost your career.
If you’re getting this email, you’re likely already part of our Broadsheet community.
We hope this newsletter will support women who are leveling up in the workplace. If you would like to opt out of future Broadside emails, just click “unsubscribe” at the bottom of this email.
Here’s what to expect in the latest edition of the newsletter.
Broadside writer Kristine Gill offers advice from career experts about whether a mentor or career coach might be able to help you take your career to the next level. Then, scroll on for job opportunities from Apple, AXA Group, Magellan Health Services, and more. (Many of them are remote positions!)
If you’ve ever felt stuck in your 9 to 5 or struggled to connect with a new boss, you’ve likely found yourself complaining to someone. Complaining is one of my fortes, but while it usually feels great, it’s not always productive.
Instead of venting about what’s not working in our jobs, spinning our wheels about how to level up, or trying to decide whether we’re even happy in our roles, why not just ask for help?
Not from HR—not even necessarily from a coworker, friend, or former professor. But from someone whose job it is to help you define your career path and follow it. And during this time of precarious employment, that might be more useful than ever.
💡 I reached out to a professional career coach and a workplace mentor to understand what they’re able to offer women.
Decide who’s better suited to help you.
Listen to yourself the next time you complain about work. Are you focusing on office politics? Hung up on something rude your boss said? Struggling to run meetings now that you’re the new team lead? Stressed about this year’s round of promotions?
👉 These kinds of concerns can usually be addressed with a mentor.
“I’ve had mentors throughout my whole life,” said Erica Lockheimer, the VP of Engineering at LinkedIn Learning. “In college I was struggling with one of the more advanced calculus classes, and my professor tutored me after school and gave me different times to come by her office. And I didn’t ask for it, she just realized I needed it.”
These days, Lockheimer said, mentorship has become a bit more formalized. At LinkedIn, she helped to start a mentorship program for women. It’s not the kind of after-work happy hour you might be picturing. Instead, it’s an all-day conference in which leaders from across the company meet to give women the lay of the land.
“We get everyone together and have vulnerable conversations. They’re introduced to several coaches at LinkedIn, and it’s pretty interesting,” Lockheimer said. “We have them put their phones and laptops away, and it’s a pretty rigid process we’ve perfected.”
Lockheimer said that women who go through the program are more likely to stay onboard at the company. In fact, surveys show that millennials who planned to stay at their current company for five years were twice as likely to have a mentor.
Of course, you can benefit from a mentor even when everything is going swimmingly. That’s because mentors are folks with similar skill sets who agree to share their insights with you to help further your career. They’ve been there and done that, and they can tell you how to achieve success the way they did. Studies show women are more likely to earn a pay bump when they’ve had a mentor than if they go solo.
“Mentorship can happen in every level,” Lockheimer said. “To be a mentor is really a sense of just showing compassion and listening to the person and genuinely caring.”
But say you’ve been feeling tired, uninspired, and worn down. Maybe you’re realizing your attempts to start new programs, change workflows, or adopt new practices are being impeded by higher-ups. It could be that you’re in the wrong field altogether—or at least the wrong office.
👉 That’s where a career coach can help you shine.
SoFi’s resident career coach, Ashley Stahl, said the word that comes to mind for her when she thinks of a coach is momentum.
“If you have a goal that you’re trying to reach, if you’re stuck in some way, how do you create momentum?” Stahl, who has an upcoming book on the subject, said. “That’s when I think of getting a coach. Most clients come to me and say something is missing, and they don’t know what’s next. And after our sessions they have much better clarity.
“My focus is helping people get clarity on what their next career move should be and what the best path is for them given their skill set,” she said. “My expertise is helping someone make a career pivot, but there are also executive coaches for people who are a little more seasoned in their career.”
Having a career coach can be a privilege. Stahl said you can expect to pay by the hour for the coach’s time, in the range of anywhere from $200 to $1,000 an hour. The national hourly average is $90 to $150. Most coaches charge based on service packages.
But for many, it may be worth the cost. Studies have shown that a fifth of female millennials haven’t yet identified a career path, and over two-thirds of them don’t feel like they have as much control as they would like in shaping that path. Are you one of them?
Find that coach or mentor.
Unless you work at a major company such as LinkedIn, you won’t likely have in-house career coaches or formalized conferences for women at your disposal.
Can’t find a woman in your field or office to ask to mentor you? If you’re comfortable with the arrangement, research shows that employees can financially benefit more from having a male mentor, especially if he’s white.
Lockheimer said it’s fair game to ask someone in your office whom you look up to and respect. If that person doesn’t have time for coffee or a more formal arrangement, he or she might recommend someone who does.
If you’re looking for a career coach, the process is a bit easier, as many work remotely with clients.
“I have a client in Atlanta, a client in London, and a client in the Middle East,” Stahl said.
Stahl recommends word of mouth. But if you don’t know someone who’s used a career coach, you can also try to search online for someone whose message and branding you identify with. Many coaches have developed a robust Instagram presence with free resources. Don’t judge based on their number of followers, though: Instead, Stahl recommends reviewing testimonials or asking to speak with a former client to get the scoop.
And remember: A career coach is different than a therapist.
Give back.
If you’ve benefited from having a mentor or career coach, you’re probably suggesting friends and coworkers to do the same. But you can also become a mentor yourself. In fact, women are more likely to be mentors if they’ve had one themselves.
Lockheimer said becoming a mentor to someone can be as simple as asking them how they’re feeling and whether they want to have coffee. To be more precise, you can tell a coworker that you’d love to get coffee to talk about something specific they’re struggling with, if you’ve sensed workplace tension.
“And then have a check-in and say, ‘I’m going to hold you accountable,'” she said. “You need to kind of push people in these moments and check back to say, ‘How’d it go?’ That’s where I find that these relationships are the most meaningful.”
If that seems too formal or time-consuming, don’t sweat it. Much of mentoring is an organic process.
“You have to want to do it,” Lockheimer said. “Some people don’t realize they’re doing it. I like it because it helps me to be a better leader.”
— Kristine Gill
Making money moves
Apple is hiring a Senior (Conversational) Writer for Siri based in Santa Clara Valley, Calif.
Arthrex is hiring a Senior 3D Medical Animator based in Naples, Fla.
Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc is hiring a Director, Commercial Supply Chain & Patient Services Operations for remote work.
AXA Group is hiring a Senior Finance Operations Analyst for remote work.
Celestica is hiring a Sales Director for remote work.
CentralSquare is hiring an Account Executive for remote work.
Chubb is hiring a Director of Business Development for remote work.
The City of Ashland is hiring a Finance Director based in Ashland, Ore.
Facebook is hiring a Designer based in Menlo Park, Calif.
Gartner is hiring a Sales Manager for remote work.
General Dynamics Information Technology is hiring a Farsi Linguist based at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida.
Magellan Health Services is hiring a Sr. Project Manager for remote work.
Moody's Corporation is hiring a Senior Systems Desktop Engineer for remote work.
NetApp is hiring a Sr. Technical Product Manager for remote work.
Stripe is hiring a Developer Support Engineer based on the west coast.
Events and other opportunities
June 12-13: Forté is hosting MBA Women's Leadership Virtual Conference for MBA students and those planning to enroll in a program.
July 7: Fortune's Brainstorm Health conference will be held online.
June 1: Gallup’s workshop called How Millennials Want to Work and Live will be held in Omaha.
June 10-12: The Women Tech Network will host Women Tech Global Conference 2020 online.
June 26: The Ellevate Network is hosting its annual Mobilize Women Summit in NYC. This year’s event will provide a space for leaders with diverse perspectives to share how to build more equity in business.
Oct. 7-9: TBEX North America 2020 will hold its summit in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Oct. 15-16: The Women of Silicon Valley's Women in Tech Event Series will take place in Santa Clara, Calif.
Nov. 5: The annual Women in Negotiation Summit will be held in New York City. The daylong event empowers women through negotiation-skills building.
Want to share a hiring or networking opportunity from your organization or elsewhere, or just have feedback about The Broadside? Email Kristine Gill.


fortune--2020-05-29--Facebook appeases Trump as Twitter spars with him over posts

Twitter and Facebook have both inflamed Donald Trump, but the social networks have taken nearly opposite approaches to politics and the president.
For the first time, Twitter has begun slapping fact-checks on presidential tweets. Facebook, however, has adopted a more hands-off strategy, saying it wants to be the online equivalent of the public square, shying away from judging which politicians’ statements are true and which are false.
Mark Zuckerberg, co-founder and chief executive, is fond of saying that Facebook shouldn’t be “the arbiter of truth.”
Twitter took a giant step in the opposite direction last year when it banned all political advertising. Its decision to slap fact-checking labels on a couple of Trump’s tweets alleging that mail-in ballots encourage voter fraud so infuriated the president — who tweets to his political base to bypass the mainstream news media and whose campaign relies on both Facebook and Twitter — that he’s now seeking to punish not just Twitter, but all social-media platforms with limitations on the liability shield.
In spite of Facebook’s strategy of accommodation, Trump named both companies in a Thursday executive order aimed at limiting liability protections for users’ posts.
The sparring between Twitter and Trump continued Friday morning, when the company put a rule-violation notice on one of Trump’s most recent tweets about protests in Minneapolis that included the phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.”
Twitter’s co-founder and Chief Executive Jack Dorsey endorsed the idea of using technology to fact-check online content, while Trump tweeted “Revoke 230!,” as the liability shield is called.
The fight touched off a national debate over how to protect online political discourse from dangerous or false information — and raised the question of whether that’s even possible.
The dispute has illustrated the risks social-media companies face when they try to act as referees. They are lambasted if they leave demonstrably false content on their platforms unchallenged. Yet they also face a backlash if they take down content or label it misinformation.
That Facebook and Twitter are treating political speech differently is likely no accident, considering the vast differences in their business models and policy risks, experts said. In recent years, Facebook has shifted some of its policies to avoid complaints from conservatives that it’s biased. And as it woos important Republicans who have Trump’s ear, it has angered Democrats with some of its policy decisions.
“There’s a different risk for each company,” said Darrell West, director of the Center for Technology Innovation at the Brookings Institution. “For Facebook, if they aren’t going to moderate the content, they will become the object of criticism of people who are upset about what appears on the platform,” he said. “The Twitter risk is where to draw the line between freedom of speech and statements that inflame the public or are clearly inaccurate.”
Facebook’s perceived drift to the right comes as the Justice Department investigates the company and other big tech giants over possible antitrust issues, pointed out Harold Feld, vice president of the liberal advocacy group Public Knowledge.
‘Constant fear’
“Facebook now lives in constant fear of an antitrust investigation and relies on the United States to champion its positions abroad in terms of things like taxes on internet companies and foreign antitrust investigations,” Feld said. “They have a lot of economic incentive to stay in the good graces of the administration and conservative members of Congress.”
Twitter, by contrast, is a much smaller company and can act without fear of the antitrust hammer. That gives it more wiggle room to take positions that could upset the party in power, and also a motive to distinguish itself from its bigger rivals. “Nobody is going to accuse Twitter of being a dominant social media platform” or of monopolizing online advertising, Feld said.
When asked for comment, Facebook referred to an October speech by Zuckerberg, in which he said “In a democracy, I believe people should decide what is credible, not tech companies.”
A Twitter spokeswoman directed Bloomberg to a company blog post that says Twitter’s policies are designed to help users “find facts and make informed decisions about what people see on Twitter.”
Twitter’s strategy came under fire when the company decided that Trump had made unsubstantiated tweets about mail-in voting Tuesday. It appended links reading “Get the facts about mail-in ballots.” The labels took readers to a page with a collection of stories and reporters’ tweets about the president’s claims, as well as an item authored by Twitter staff that rebuts Trump, who continued his condemnation of mail-in voting in a tweet on Thursday night.
It was the first time Twitter had taken action against Trump’s posts, prompting him to accuse the company of suppressing free speech. The White House quickly drafted an executive order that would start a review it hopes will lead to a narrowing of the liability protections social-media companies enjoy for posts by third parties.
Social-media companies “will not be able to keep their liability shield” under the order, Trump told reporters at the White House before signing the order. The liability protection is found in Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act.
The contretemps — and the threat of losing that cherished legal shield — had Zuckerberg taking to Trump’s favorite news outlet to do damage control. “I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online,” Zuckerberg said in an interview with Fox News. “Private companies probably shouldn’t be, especially these platform companies, shouldn’t be in the position of doing that,” he said, without naming Twitter.
‘Connect the dots’
Twitter Chief Executive Jack Dorsey responded in kind. He tweeted that his company would continue to point out incorrect or disputed information. “This does not make us an arbiter of truth,” he said, without mentioning Zuckerberg. “Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves.”
Trump used their divergence to put Twitter under more pressure Thursday evening.
Under Twitter’s policy, posting misinformation is not against the rules, but the company has added fact-checking links to misleading tweets about voting and the coronavirus. Posting misleading tweets about other topics is still fair game.
Most recently, Twitter declined to take action against Trump tweets that encouraged an unfounded conspiracy theory about an aide who died in then-Representative Joe Scarborough’s office in 2001 even after her husband publicly asked Dorsey to remove the posts.
Facebook took a different approach. Trump shared the same mail-in ballots post on his Facebook page, but the company said it didn’t violate its standards. Facebook’s policy says it won’t take down false content from politicians except in certain instances, such as posts that spread harmful coronavirus misinformation or encourage voter suppression.
Facebook will refer users to articles written by third-party fact-checkers when they encounter false information on other topics on its platform.
Zuckerberg pledged in the October speech that the company would continue to stand up for “free speech” even during controversial circumstances — a position that has won Facebook widespread praise on the right.
“Mark says we don’t think that any of us, referring to tech companies, should be the arbiters of truth. I mean, I think that makes a lot of sense,” said Klon Kitchen, who leads tech policy at the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation. “I think that any company, especially on political speech, if they try to make themselves into any kind of standard maker, they’re entering into very deep waters fraught with problems.”
Pelosi video
Democrats criticized the company last year for failing to take down a manipulated video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which showed her slurring her words, suggesting she was impaired during an appearance. Facebook belatedly labeled the video as false, limiting its spread, but the company left up the content.
“They intend to be accomplices with misleading the American people,” Pelosi told reporters earlier this year. “I think their behavior is shameful.” Twitter also left up the Pelosi video.
Facebook’s free-speech stance took wing after the 2016 presidential campaign, according to people familiar with the matter. In 2016, Alex Stamos, then Facebook’s chief security officer, made a presentation about how the company could curb the spread of fake news to Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s vice president of global policy, Erin Egan, its chief privacy officer, and other executives, one of the people said.
Stamos said the company had the tools to rid the platform of a significant amount of fake news stories based on certain signals, such as when a page was started and how many followers it had, the person said. Kaplan, a former chief of staff to President George W. Bush, responded by saying that purging all the fake news would disproportionately hurt conservatives, the person said. The company followed Kaplan’s lead, the person said.
A Facebook spokesman said Kaplan believed that purging all fake news would disproportionately hurt conservatives and that, without a clear rationale, the company should only remove the worst of the worst.
While there is little evidence that Facebook, Twitter or Alphabet Inc.’s Google systematically stifle conservative viewpoints on their platforms, right-leaning groups complain that their posts are more likely to be flagged for violating social media sites’ standards for hate speech or violence when they talk about hot-button social issues such as immigration, religion or sexual orientation.
Since then, Zuckerberg has come to Washington to meet with Trump and other Republican leaders. Facebook also consults right-leaning groups on how they are designing particular policies, such as hate-speech moderation, misinformation, political ads and changes to how news is displayed on its platform, according to multiple conservative groups.
The Facebook spokesman said company executives also meet with liberal-leaning groups.


fortune--2020-05-29--Universal Orlando will reopen some resort hotels on June 2

Universal Orlando plans to reopen its hotels to guests on June 2, more than two months after they were closed to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
In a statement sent Friday, Universal said the hotels will be carefully managed in phases, and will reopen with a range of best practice and hygiene procedures. Universal’s resorts include Hard Rock Hotel at Universal Orlando, Loews Royal Pacific Resort, Loews Sapphire Falls Resort, Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort, Universal’s Aventura Hotel and Universal’s Endless Summer Resort-Surfside Inn and Suites.
Guests staying in the resort hotels will be able to visit Universal’s theme parks on June 3 and 4, before they open to the public on June 5.
SeaWorld plans to reopen on June 11 and Walt Disney World announced it will begin reopening in phases on July 11.
Social distancing and face coverings will be required for guests and employees in public areas at Universal resorts. Temperature checks will be required for guests, employees and vendors. Guests will be asked to self-screen for COVID-19 symptoms and comply with quarantine orders prior to arrival. There will also be hand sanitizer stations in public areas and elevator landings.
The statement said there will be frequent cleaning of high-touch areas, including telephones, remote controls, door handles, light switches, elevators, and table tops.


fortune--2020-05-29--The officer involved in George Floyd’s death is arrested

This is the web version of raceAhead, Fortune’s daily newsletter on race, culture, and inclusive leadership. To get it delivered daily to your inbox, sign up here.
In a rapidly moving story, protests in Minneapolis have roiled the city, and the officer involved in the death of George Floyd has been arrested. A CNN film crew was arrested covering the protests. Don’t forget Breonna Taylor. Your community wants you to take care of you. Also: Will you help us change the world?
But first, here’s your week in review, in Haiku.
If I can smell the
smoke, but not see the fire,
I am the problem.
If only one way
to take a knee offends me,
I am the problem.
If I don’t praise your
name when you’re not in the room,
I am the problem.
If I don’t share your
cause when you are overrun,
I am the problem.
I am the problem.
And also the solution:
Together, we rise.
Take extra good care this weekend, if you can.
Ellen McGirt
@ellmcgirt
Ellen.McGirt@fortune.com
On point
More demonstrations in Minneapolis: A police station set fire, Trump tweets threat The city, devastated by the death of George Floyd while in police custody, has been roiled by protests. President Donald Trump, in a tweet that was later flagged by Twitter for “glorifying violence,” called the protesters “THUGS,” then threatened more intervention. “When the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he wrote. Protesters are demanding that the four officers involved in the death of Floyd, who was in restraints at the time, be arrested. Other protests are popping up around the country. Floyd’s death was documented by 17-year-old Darnella Frazier, who is reporting ongoing online harassment. As we pushed send on raceAhead, Derek Chauvin, the officer who killed Floyd was arrested.
Washington Post
George Floyd and former police officer Derek Chauvin worked security at the same nightclub It’s unknown if the two knew each other, but their shifts overlapped. "Chauvin was our off-duty police for almost the entirety of the 17 years that we were open," said Maya Santamaria, owner of the now-closed El Nuevo Rodeo club. "They were working together at the same time, it's just that Chauvin worked outside and the security guards were inside."
KSTP
CNN team arrested on-air in Minneapolis while covering ongoing protests over the death of George Floyd We know this is true because the arrests were broadcast live this morning at 5:10 a.m. Central Time. Minneapolis state police detained CNN correspondent Omar Jimenez, producer Bill Kirkos, and photojournalist Leonel Mendez; in a tense exchange, Jimenez explained the team were complying with police orders. "We were just getting out of your way when you were advancing through the intersection," he said as the team was surrounded by police. Jiminez continued to report until he was led away in restraints, the team were released shortly after 6 a.m; Minnesota Governor Tim Walz apologized to CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker for the arrests.
CNN
Breonna Taylor supporters protested in Louisville, Ky. overnight, 7 were shot The news has been overshadowed by the situation in Minneapolis. The shooters remain at large. There were “several hours of peaceful protest before some in the crowd turned violent,” said Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer in a statement. “No officers fired their weapons, and my thanks go to the police officers who, despite risk to themselves, got aid to those injured.”
WAVE 3 News
Submit your nominations for Fortune’s 2020 Change the World list Lord knows, the world needs changing. This list features companies from around the world that are doing well by doing good. They’re using the creative tools of business to help the planet, involve stakeholders, and tackle society’s unmet needs—and making money by doing so. More of that, please. Last year’s honorees are here. Programming note: While submissions to companies’ response to the coronavirus are welcome, this will not be a COVID-19 only list. Nominate your company or a company you admire below before June 22.
Change the World nomination form
The family business
Creative maker and curly hair advocate Natalie Lauren Sims has created a five-minute self-care journaling and reflection exercise called "Just Breathe." It works. Hat-tip: raceAhead treasure Vivianne Castillo. Pick Vivianne’s brain on human-centered design, here.
has created a five-minute self-care journaling and reflection exercise called "Just Breathe." It works. Hat-tip: raceAhead treasure Vivianne Castillo. Pick Vivianne’s brain on human-centered design, here. Tonight at 8 p.m. Eastern time, Liberate Meditation is hosting a convening of healing and meditation for the loss of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Ruth King, an elder meditation teacher in the mindfulness space, will be leading the group. BIPOC-only. Donation suggested. Register here.
is hosting a convening of healing and meditation for the loss of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Ruth King, an elder meditation teacher in the mindfulness space, will be leading the group. BIPOC-only. Donation suggested. Register here. Damien Hooper-Campbell becomes Zoom’s first-ever chief diversity officer. It’s not the first time he’s established a diversity office from scratch, either. He’s a raceAhead real deal, more about him here.
becomes Zoom’s first-ever chief diversity officer. It’s not the first time he’s established a diversity office from scratch, either. He’s a raceAhead real deal, more about him here. Yesterday, Steve Bucherati, former Global Chief Diversity Officer at the Coca-Cola Company and adviser to consultancy Kanarys, led a virtual learning lab on how he fostered a culture of fairness and inclusion at the beverage giant. You can find it (when it posts) and a number of other amazing past webinars here.
former Global Chief Diversity Officer at the Coca-Cola Company and adviser to consultancy Kanarys, led a virtual learning lab on how he fostered a culture of fairness and inclusion at the beverage giant. You can find it (when it posts) and a number of other amazing past webinars here. Jesse Bridges , the SVP of diversity, equity, and inclusion at EverFi, is here to help you make the business case to any leaders who are resistant to prioritizing DEI efforts now. Excellent fodder.
, the SVP of diversity, equity, and inclusion at EverFi, is here to help you make the business case to any leaders who are resistant to prioritizing DEI efforts now. Excellent fodder. Jejuana C. Brown, who manages diversity programming and events for the Greater Cleveland Partnership Equity & Inclusion, announced a new webinar series called, "But What Does It All Mean?" that unpacks equity-focused research. Research here; register here.
On background
Who protects the truthtellers? While an outside investigation has cleared NBC’s America's Got Talent of the charges of racism leveled by former judge Gabrielle Union, not so fast says #MeToo founder, Tarana Burke. We need her now, more than ever. “Gabrielle Union is unique,” she begins in this essay for Variety. “She’s a person that is going to be physically uncomfortable not standing in her truth. It’s important to have people like that in your workplace and your life.” The truths they tell can change policy, Burke says. “[B]ut we don’t care for the material life of the truthteller. Who protects Gabrielle Union?”
Variety
Remembering the Hard Hat Riots This month marked the 50th anniversary of the Hard Hat Riots, an incident that I’m embarrassed to say I had not heard of before. On May 8, 1970, a group of construction workers stormed a student protest against the Vietnam War, and chased them through the streets of lower Manhattan, beating and kicking them. On April 29 of that year, President Richard Nixon ordered troops into Cambodia, which was seen as an alarming escalation of a deeply unpopular war. The day before the Hard Hat Riots, students protesting at Kent State University were fired upon, killing four, wounding nine, and inflaming the nation. The beatings of high school and college students, Black and Latinx working people, and bystanders, were brutal. Violence flared up for days. Peter J. Brennan, a senior construction trade union official, played a significant role in stoking tensions; on May 26th he was invited to the White House and gave Nixon a hard hat as a gift, he later became the labor secretary after Nixon’s re-election in 1972.
NYC Department of Records & Information Services
Opinion: More than 20 ways (and growing) for AAPIs to be allies to Black folks Michelle Kim, the co-founder and CEO of DEI consultancy Awaken, has put together an amazing guide for the Asian American community to consider finding ways to be in solidarity with Black people now, and she begins with a difficult truth. “There are deep historical wounds we need to heal that exist between Asians and Black people, and there are fresh wounds being created every day as we perpetuate anti-Blackness inside our communities," she says. It’s possible to acknowledge the unique pain experienced by many Asian Americans in the light of coronavirus-related bigotry and show up for others. She offers ways to demand justice for Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and others, but also encourages people to learn and reflect. “Unearth your internalized anti-Blackness and reflect on how they show up in your daily life,” she says. (Challenging the “model minority” myth is a good way to start.) Click through for a wide array of experts and advocates, too.
Awaken on Medium
Today's mood board


fortune--2020-05-29--Fortune poll: Who supports Round 2 of stimulus checks—and who doesn’t

The $2.2 trillion stimulus packaged signed into law in March provided most Americans a stimulus check to help give them a financial cushion as the economy nosedived.
Since, the jobless rate has soared from 4.4% in March to 14.7% in April and more than 40 million Americans have applied for unemployment benefits. That has led some Democratic lawmakers and President Donald Trump to call for anther round of stimulus checks as shutdowns linger on.
A Fortune-SurveyMonkey poll between May 20-26 asked 4,109 U.S. adults how they feel about a second round of checks. A total of 54% of U.S. adults support a second round of checks. That’s far less support than the first round had: A Fortune-SurveyMonkey poll between March 23-24 found 85% of U.S. supported the federal government sending a one-time stimulus check.
The first round of stimulus checks were worth as much as $1,200 for individuals or $2,400 for married couples, plus $500 for each qualifying child. But the stimulus check program excluded dependents, undocumented immigrants, and individual filers with adjusted gross incomes above $99,000. If a second check does come, it’s not clear what stipulations would be included.
But this second round doesn’t have the same bipartisan support. Among Republicans, 85% viewed the first one-time check favorably, compared to 87% of Democrats, our March poll found. But the support for the second stimulus payment is 40% and 67% among Republicans and Democrats, respectively.
The support for a second round of checks also breaks down along age and income lines. Among millennials, 66% support another stimulus check. Meanwhile, 48% of baby boomers think the government should send another check. Support for a second check is 63% with households incomes under $50,000, compared to 41% among six-figure households. Back in March, 8 in 10 Americans in households with incomes under $50,000 and incomes over $100,000 supported a one-time check.
*Methodology: The Fortune-SurveyMonkey poll was conducted among a national sample of 4,109 adults in the U.S. between May 20-26. This survey’s modeled error estimate is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. The findings have been weighted for age, race, sex, education, and geography.


fortune--2020-05-29--Every single worker at this U.S. farm has tested positive for coronavirus

One farm in Tennessee distributed Covid-19 tests to all of its workers after an employee came down with the virus. It turned out that every single one of its roughly 200 employees had been infected.
In New Jersey, more than 50 workers had the virus at a farm in Gloucester County, adding to nearly 60 who fell ill in neighboring Salem County. Washington state’s Yakima County, an agricultural area that produces apples, cherries, pears and most of the nation’s hops, has the highest per capita infection rate of any county on the West Coast.
The outbreaks underscore the latest pandemic threat to food supply: Farm workers are getting sick and spreading the illness just as the U.S. heads into the peak of the summer produce season. In all likelihood, the cases will keep climbing as more than half a million seasonal employees crowd onto buses to move among farms across the country and get housed together in cramped bunkhouse-style dormitories.
The early outbreaks are already starting to draw comparisons to the infections that plunged the U.S. meat industry into crisis over the past few months. Analysts and experts are warning that thousands of farm workers are vulnerable to contracting the disease.
Aside from the most immediate concern — the grave danger that farmhands face — the outbreaks could also create labor shortages at the worst possible time. Produce crops such as berries have a short life span, with only a couple of weeks during which they can be harvested. If a farm doesn’t have enough workers to collect crops in that window, they’re done for the season and the fruit will rot. A spike in virus cases among workers may mean shortages of some fruits and vegetables at the grocery store, along with higher prices.
“We’re watching very, very nervously — the agricultural harvest season is only starting now,” said Michael Dale, executive director of the Northwest Workers’ Justice Project in Portland, Oregon, and a lawyer who has represented farm workers for 40 years. “I don’t think we’re ready. I don’t think we’re prepared.”
Unlike grain crops that rely on machinery, America’s fruits and vegetables are mostly picked and packed by hand, in long shifts out in the open — a typically undesirable job in major economies. So the position typically goes to immigrants, who make up about three quarters of U.S. farm workers.
A workforce of seasonal migrants travels across the nation, following harvest patterns. Most come from Mexico and Latin America through key entry points like southern California, and go further by bus, often for hours, sometimes for days.
There are as many as 2.7 million hired farm workers in the U.S., including migrant, seasonal, year-round and guest-program workers, according to the Migrant Clinicians Network. While many migrants have their permanent residence in the U.S., moving from location to location during the warmer months, others enter through the federal H2A visa program. Still, roughly half of hired crop farmworkers lack legal immigration status, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
These are some of the most vulnerable populations in the U.S., subjected to tough working conditions for little pay and meager benefits. Most don’t have access to adequate health care. Many don’t speak English.
Without them, it would be nearly impossible to keep America’s produce aisles filled. And yet, there’s no one collecting national numbers on how many are falling sick.
“There is woefully inadequate surveillance of what’s happening with Covid-19 and farm workers,” said Erik Nicholson, a national vice president for the United Farm Workers. “There is no central reporting, which is crazy because these are essential businesses.”
At Henderson Farms in Evensville, Tennessee, where all the workers caught the virus, the employees are now all in isolation at the farm, where they live and work.
“We take our responsibility to protect the essential workers feeding the nation through the pandemic seriously,” Henderson Farms Co. said in a statement. “In addition to continuing our policy of providing free healthcare, we have implemented additional measures to support workers directly impacted by Covid-19, including those in isolation as per the latest public health guidelines. We are working closely with public health officials in Rhea County, Tennessee, to ensure we can continue to deliver our high standard of care as we support our workers and our community through these unprecedented times.”
One migrant worker from Mexico said seven employees at the Georgia produce farm where he works had fallen ill with the virus. The sick were asked to quarantine in a dormitory unpaid, but others who share the sleeping quarters, full of bunk beds about 3 feet (1 meter) apart, were still going into the fields, he said. He said he was afraid of getting infected, which would mean he wouldn’t be able to send money back to his family.
Critical Months
May and June mark the start of a critical few months when migrant workers head to fields in North America and Europe to plant and gather crops. Travel restrictions amid the pandemic are already creating a labor squeeze. In Russia, the government is calling on convicts and students to fill in the labor gap on berry and vegetable farms. In the U.K., Prince Charles took to Twitter to encourage residents to #PickForBritain. Farmers in western Europe usually rely on seasonal workers from eastern Europe or northern Africa.
In Canada, migrant workers often come from Jamaica, Guatemala and Mexico. They’re typically housed on farms, with two or four people sharing a room, depending on if there are bunk-beds, said Colin Chapdelaine, president of BC Hot House, a greenhouse farming company that grow tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers in Surrey, British Columbia.
All the houses are audited and approved by regulators with guidelines for how much kitchen and bathroom space to provide, but “Covid has kind of turned that on its head,” he said.
“It’s a precarious situation if something happens and it flows through a greenhouse and you can’t pick your crop,” Chapdelaine said. “We’re taking huge precautions to make sure everyone comes in suited and masked up. You have to do all the right things and still hope for the best.”
“If we are to harvest British fruit and vegetables this year, we need an army of people to help.”
The Prince of Wales has shared a message in support of the #PickForBritain campaign. @DefraGovUK pic.twitter.com/a7WIDYo7E0— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) May 19, 2020
In the U.S., migrant farm workers primarily come from Mexico and Latin America.
President Donald Trump has sought to maintain the flow of foreign workers to U.S. farms during the pandemic, waiving interview requirements for some guest workers when consular offices shut down and exempting them from a temporary immigration ban. But so far, the administration hasn’t created rules to protect the workers. Democratic Representative Jimmy Panetta of California and 71 other members of Congress urged in a letter last week that the next coronavirus relief package include funding dedicated to combating spread of the virus among farm workers.
Even before infections started to creep up, there weren’t enough workers, causing harvest issues in parts of the U.S. Some prices started to move up. A 2-pound package of strawberries is fetching about 17% more than it was last year, and a pint of cherry tomatoes is 52% higher, USDA data as of May 22 show.
So far, though, the price impact has been limited. As restaurants shuttered during virus lockdowns, many farmers lost a key source of produce demand, creating some supply gluts.
Now, stay-at-home restrictions are easing in all 50 states, and some restaurants are opening back up. Meanwhile, labor shortages could get worse as illness among farm workers deepens.
“The cost will go up, and there will be a little bit less available,” said Kevin Kenny, chief operating officer of Decernis, an expert in global food safety and supply chains. “You really will see some supply issues coming.”
Perishable crops that require more hands on labor to pick are the most at-risk of disruptions, including olives and oranges, Kenny said.
In Florida, oranges are “literally dying on the vines” as not enough migrants can get into the country to pick the crops and things like processed juice will probably cost more in the coming months, he said.
When the virus spread among America’s meat workers, plants were forced to shutter as infections rates topped 50% in some facilities. Prices surged, with wholesale beef and pork more than doubling, and grocers including Kroger Co. and Costco Wholesale Corp. rationed customer purchases. Even Wendy’s Co. dropped burgers from some menus. After an executive order from Trump, plants have reopened, but worker absenteeism is restraining output. Hog and cattle slaughter rates are still down more than 10% from last year.
The produce industry could see similar problems because workers face some of the same issues. They sometimes work shoulder to shoulder. They are transported to and from job sites in crowded buses or vans. They often come from low-income families and can’t afford to call in sick or are afraid of losing their jobs, so they end up showing up to work even if they have symptoms.
“A lot of people are concerned that the summer for farm workers will be like the spring for meat packers,” said David Seligman, director of Towards Justice, a nonprofit law firm and advocacy organization based in Denver.
There’s “a lot of worker fear because of the asymmetry of power in this industry,” Seligman said. “We’re hearing anecdotal reports. Gathering information about farm workers is very hard because of how scared and how isolated they are.”
There are some key differences between the two industries. For one, farm workers spend most of their time outside, and some research has shown that the virus is less likely to be spread outdoors. Meanwhile, meat workers are piled into cold, damp factories where infectious diseases are particularly hard to control.
In other ways, farm workers are more exposed. Living conditions can be even more cramped, with close-together bunks and communal cooking and bathroom facilities that make physical distancing extremely difficult.
Plus, the workers move around so much, meaning increased chances of exposure for themselves and more chances that sick individuals can spread the illness to other communities.
In Oregon, a farm worker often may move a half dozen times during the summer, working for new growers and housed in new labor camps as they shift from harvesting cherries to strawberries to blueberries to pears, said Dale of the Northwest Workers’ Justice Project.
Nely Rodriguez is a former farm worker who is now an organizer with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Immokalee, Florida, a major tomato growing area. She said that some farms are taking steps to protect migrants, such as having buses make more trips so workers won’t be as cramped and requiring them to wear masks, as well as providing more hand-washing stations and sanitizer.
Lisa Lochridge, a spokeswoman for the Florida Fruit and Vegetable Association, also pointed to increased measures to protect workers and said some employers even set aside separate housing to be used for a quarantine area if necessary. Cory Lunde, of the Western Growers Association, said farm owners are staggering start times, disinfecting buses and increasing distances between workers, both in the field and in packing facilities and offices.
But protection measures can be spotty, said Rodriguez of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. There aren’t yet any farm specific Covid-19 safety protocols from the federal government.
Developing Guidance
The USDA is “diligently working” with the the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration “to develop guidance that will assist farmworkers and employers during this time,” the agency said in an emailed statement.
“Additionally, considering the seasonal and migratory nature of the workforce, we are working to identify housing resources that may be available to help control any spread of Covid-19,” the USDA said.
Harvests take place at different times across the country, depending on the weather and the crop. That means when gathering finishes in an early state like Florida, workers will travel into areas such as Georgia, North Carolina, Indiana and New Jersey, said Rodriguez of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. They’ll often make the journey on old school buses rented by employers, sitting for 7 or 8 hours at a time with 45 people crammed in.
“If there is a bunch of farm workers here that are sick, they can essentially spread this virus to other rural communities,” Rodriguez said.
Many farm workers come from indigenous communities in southern Mexico and don’t speak English or Spanish as their first language, so they don’t have adequate information on the pandemic in a language they can understand, said Bruce Goldstein, president of Farmworker Justice, a national advocacy group.
They typically don’t have easy access to coronavirus tests, and many are undocumented so they are concerned about reporting illnesses, he said.
“They’re marginalized in Mexico. They’re similarly marginalized here,” Goldstein said. “People like that are incredibly vulnerable to Covid-19.”
(Updates with details from a worker in Georgia in 15th paragraph)


fortune--2020-05-29--Minneapolis officer involved in George Floyd’s death is charged with third-degree murder and manslau

Minneapolis officer involved in George Floyd’s death is charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter

The police officer who was seen on video kneeling on the neck of George Floyd, a handcuffed black man who died in custody after pleading that he could not breathe, was arrested Friday and charged with murder in a case that sparked protests across the United States and violence in Minneapolis.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Derek Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter. Freeman did not provide immediate details, but said a criminal complaint would be made available later Friday and that more charges were possible.
In the video, Chauvin is seen kneeling on Floyd’s neck as Floyd is on the ground. He gradually becomes motionless as Chauvin and three other officers ignore bystanders’ shouts to get off him. Freeman said the investigation continues into the other three officers, but that authorities “felt it appropriate to focus on the most dangerous perpetrator.”
Freeman highlighted the “extraordinary speed” in charging the case just four days after Floyd’s death, but also defended himself against questions about why it did not happen sooner. He said his office needed time to put together evidence, including what he called the “horrible” video by a bystander. He said he would not bring a case unless he had enough evidence to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.
Protests in Minneapolis escalated in violence on Thursday, when demonstrators torched a police station that officers had abandoned.
“I’m not insensitive to what happened in the streets,” Freeman said. “My own home has been picketed regularly.”
News of the arrest came moments after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz acknowledged the “abject failure” of the response to the protests and called for swift justice for officers involved. Walz said the state would take over the response to the violence and that it’s time to show respect and dignity to those who are suffering.
“Minneapolis and St. Paul are on fire. The fire is still smoldering in our streets. The ashes are symbolic of decades and generations of pain, of anguish unheard,” Walz said, adding. “Now generations of pain is manifesting itself in front of the world — and the world is watching.”
The governor cited a call he received from a state senator who described her district “on fire, no police, no firefighters, no social control, constituents locked in houses wondering what they were going to do. That is an abject failure that cannot happen.”
His comments came the morning after protesters torched a police station that officers abandoned during a third night of violence. Livestream video showed protesters entering the building, where intentionally set fires activated smoke alarms and sprinklers. President Donald Trump threatened action, tweeting “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” which prompted a warning from Twitter for “glorifying violence.”
The governor faced tough questions after National Guard leader Maj. Gen. Jon Jensen blamed a lack of clarity about the Guard’s mission for a slow response. Walz said the state was in a supporting role and that it was up to city leaders to run the situation. Walz said it became apparent as the 3rd Precinct was lost that the state had to step in, which happened at 12:05 a.m. Requests from the cities for resources “never came,” he said.
“You will not see that tonight, there will be no lack of leadership,” Walz said.
On Friday morning, nearly every building in the shopping district around the abandoned police station had been vandalized, burned or looted. National Guard members were in the area, with several of them lined up, keeping people away from the police station.
Dozens of volunteers swept up broken glass in the street, doing what they could to help.
Dean Hanson, 64, lives in a subsidized housing unit nearby, which is home to many older residents. He said his building lost electricity overnight, and residents were terrified as they watched mobs of people run around their neighborhood, with no apparent intervention.
“I can’t believe this is happening here,” he said.
Dozens of fires were also set in nearby St. Paul, where nearly 200 businesses were damaged or looted. Protests spread across the U.S., fueled by outrage over Floyd’s death, and years of violence against African Americans at the hands of police. Demonstrators clashed with officers in New York and blocked traffic in Columbus, Ohio, and Denver.
Trump threatened to bring Minneapolis “under control,” calling the protesters “thugs” and tweeting that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” The tweet drew another warning from Twitter, which said the comment violated the platform’s rules, but the company did not remove it.
Trump also blasted the “total lack of leadership” in Minneapolis.
A visibly tired and frustrated Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey made his first public appearance of the night early Friday at City Hall and took responsibility for evacuating the precinct, saying it had become too dangerous for officers. As Frey continued, a reporter cut across loudly with a question: “What’s the plan here?”
“With regard to?” Frey responded. Then he added: “There is a lot of pain and anger right now in our city. I understand that … What we have seen over the past several hours and past couple of nights here in terms of looting is unacceptable.”
He defended the city’s lack of engagement with looters — only a handful of arrests across the first two nights of violence — and said, “We are doing absolutely everything that we can to keep the peace.” He said National Guard members were stationed in locations to help stem looting, including at banks, grocery stores and pharmacies.
The Minnesota State Patrol arrested a CNN television crew early Friday as the journalists reported on the unrest. While live on air, CNN reporter Omar Jimenez was handcuffed and led away. A producer and a photojournalist for CNN were also taken away in handcuffs.
The Minnesota State Patrol said the journalists were among four people arrested as troopers were “clearing the streets and restoring order,” and they were released after being confirmed to be media members. CNN said on Twitter that the arrests were “a clear violation of their First Amendment rights.” Walz publicly apologized on Friday.
Attorney Benjamin Crump, who is representing members of Floyd’s family, called for an independent investigation, and said he asked to take custody of Floyd’s body to have an independent autopsy performed. Floyd said that talk of a heart condition or asthma is irrelevant because Floyd was walking and breathing before his contact with police.
The doctor who will do the autopsy is Michael Baden, former chief medical examiner of New York City, who was hired to do an autopsy for Eric Garner as well.
In New York City, protesters defied New York’s coronavirus prohibition on public gatherings Thursday, clashing with police, while demonstrators blocked traffic in downtown Denver and downtown Columbus. A day earlier, demonstrators had taken to the streets in Los Angeles and Memphis.
About 10 protesters went to a Florida home believed to belong to Chauvin. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office tweeted Friday that Chauvin was not at the residence and has no plans to be in the area.
In Louisville, Kentucky, police confirmed that at least seven people had been shot Thursday night as protesters demanded justice for Breonna Taylor, a black woman who was fatally shot by police in her home in March.
In Mississippi, the mayor of the community of Petal resisted calls to resign following his remarks about Floyd’s death. Hal Marx, a Republican, asked on Twitter: “Why in the world would anyone choose to become a police officer in our society today?” In a follow-up tweet, he said he “didn’t see anything unreasonable.”
The city on Thursday released a transcript of the 911 call that brought police to the grocery store where Floyd was arrested. The caller described someone paying with a counterfeit bill, with workers rushing outside to find the man sitting on a van. The caller described the man as “awfully drunk” and said he was “not in control of himself.”
Asked by the 911 operator whether the man was “under the influence of something,” the caller said: “Something like that, yes. He is not acting right.” Police said Floyd matched the caller’s description of the suspect.
State and federal authorities are investigating Floyd’s death.
Chauvin, the officer who knelt on Floyd’s neck, was fired Tuesday, along with three other officers involved in the arrest.
The owner of a popular Latin nightclub said that Floyd and Chauvin both worked as security guards at the club as recently as the end of last year, but it’s not clear whether they worked together. Chauvin worked at the El Nuevo Rodeo club as an off-duty security guard for nearly two decades, but Floyd had only worked there more recently for about a dozen events that featured African-American music, Maya Santamaria told The Associated Press.
Santamaria said if Chauvin had recognized Floyd, “he might have given him a little more mercy.”
Santamaria, who sold the venue within the past two months, said Chauvin got along well with the regular Latino customers, but did not like to work the African American nights. When he did, and there was a fight, he would spray people with mace and call for police backup and half-dozen squad cars would soon show up, something she felt was unjustified “overkill.”
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Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski, Jeff Baenen and Doug Glass in Minneapolis, Gretchen Ehlke in Milwaukee, and Aaron Morrison in New York contributed to this report.