Employees – USMAIL24.COM https://usmail24.com News Portal from USA Wed, 13 Mar 2024 21:48:31 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.4 https://usmail24.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Untitled-design-1-100x100.png Employees – USMAIL24.COM https://usmail24.com 32 32 195427244 A UN agency says one of its employees was killed when Israeli forces raided an aid warehouse in Rafah. https://usmail24.com/rafah-gaza-aid-israel-unrwa-html/ https://usmail24.com/rafah-gaza-aid-israel-unrwa-html/#respond Wed, 13 Mar 2024 21:48:31 +0000 https://usmail24.com/rafah-gaza-aid-israel-unrwa-html/

Israeli forces struck an aid warehouse in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, on Wednesday, killing at least one United Nations Relief and Works Agency worker and wounding 22 others, the organization said. UNRWA is the largest aid agency on the ground in Gaza and the main lifeline for its 2.2 million residents, more than half of […]

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Israeli forces struck an aid warehouse in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, on Wednesday, killing at least one United Nations Relief and Works Agency worker and wounding 22 others, the organization said.

UNRWA is the largest aid agency on the ground in Gaza and the main lifeline for its 2.2 million residents, more than half of whom have been forced by Israeli military orders or fighting to settle in Rafah, on the southernmost edge of the enclave.

Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the agency, said in a statement that the “attack on one of the few remaining UNRWA distribution centers in the Gaza Strip comes at a time when food supplies are running low, hunger is widespread and is turning into famine in some areas.”

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The UNRWA facility, in eastern Rafah, serves as a warehouse for aid supplies and a food distribution center. No food was distributed to civilians on Wednesday, but more than 50 staff members were working at the facility when it was hit by Israeli forces around noon, said Juliette Touma, the agency’s communications director.

Photos and videos taken by Reuters photographers on the scene showed blood spatter in several locations around the facility: smeared on the floor of a warehouse, surrounded by piles of aid, soaked in the side of a box of infant medical supplies and on the ground outside collected.

According to the organization, at least 165 UNRWA personnel have been killed while working in Gaza since the war began. It also said that more than 400 people had died while sheltering in UNRWA facilities that had been collectively hit more than 150 times during the war.

Mr Lazzarini said that UNRWA shared the coordinates of all its facilities in Gaza daily with the “parties to the conflict”, and that the Israeli army had received the coordinates of the food distribution center on Tuesday, the day before. was it.

“Attacks on UN facilities, convoys and personnel have become commonplace, in blatant disregard for international humanitarian law,” Mr Lazzarini said.

Martin Griffiths, the United Nations’ top humanitarian chief, condemned the attack on the warehouse on social mediacalling it “devastating” for both first responders and “for the families they were trying to help.”

“They need to be protected,” he said. “This war must stop.”

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7th Pay Commission: DA Hike Recently Announced for These Government Employees, View Full List https://usmail24.com/7th-pay-commission-da-hike-announced-for-these-state-govt-employees-recently-check-full-list-uttar-pradesh-gujarat-uttarakhand-salary-hike-pf-gratuity-6781379/ https://usmail24.com/7th-pay-commission-da-hike-announced-for-these-state-govt-employees-recently-check-full-list-uttar-pradesh-gujarat-uttarakhand-salary-hike-pf-gratuity-6781379/#respond Tue, 12 Mar 2024 12:07:34 +0000 https://usmail24.com/7th-pay-commission-da-hike-announced-for-these-state-govt-employees-recently-check-full-list-uttar-pradesh-gujarat-uttarakhand-salary-hike-pf-gratuity-6781379/

At home Company 7th Pay Commission: DA Hike Recently Announced for These Government Employees, View Full List 7th Pay Commission: Yogi Adityanath government recently announced 4% increase in DA for state government employees as Holi gift. Check the latest update of the 7th Payment Commission 7th Pay Commission: After the Center announced a DA hike […]

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7th Pay Commission: Yogi Adityanath government recently announced 4% increase in DA for state government employees as Holi gift.

Check the latest update of the 7th Payment Commission

7th Pay Commission: After the Center announced a DA hike for government employees last week, several states have also recently announced similar hikes for their employees to give them a big boost amid rising inflation in the country. This will certainly raise cheers among these government employees as their loved ones benefits have been increased by 4%. View the list of states that have increased DA for their state employees here.

UP Govt increases DA by 4%

The Yogi Adityanath government on March 11 announced a 4% DA hike for the state government employees as Holi gift. Besides DA, the state government has also increased Dearness Relief for pensioners by 4 percent. The state government’s move will benefit around 10 lakh employees, 12 lakh pensioners and 8 lakh teachers of Uttar Pradesh.

The state government said in a statement that the revised DA will be effective from January 2024 and the Yogi government will soon issue a notification in this regard. It is to be noted that the increase in dearness allowance will place an additional burden of Rs 314 crore on the state government.

Now that the DA has been increased, the net salary of state employees will now increase. Currently, the duration allowance is 46 percent, which will increase to 50 percent after the latest revision by the state government.

Govt Gujarat increases DA by 4%

The Gujarat government last week announced a Holi bonanza for the state employees and increased their duration allowance by 4%. In addition, the state government has also increased its NPS contribution by 4 percent and will calculate LTC cash conversion based on the 7th Pay Commission. This change will come into effect from today.

With the new DA increase, the total duration allowance of state government employees will increase to 46 percent. The new DA increase will come into effect from January 1 and government employees will be given arrears for the past eight months.

The Gujarat government said the latest move will help around 4.45 lakh state government employees and 4.63 lakh pensioners.

Uttarakhand increases DA by 4%

In January this year, the Uttarakhand government increased the Dearness Allowance for its employees by 4%. This latest DA increase increases the total DA from 42 percent per month to 46 percent.

The state government said the revised DA will come into effect from July 1, 2023 and the arrears will be paid in cash to the beneficiaries. The Uttarakhand government said the latest hike will be applicable to state government employees and regularized and full-time employees of aided educational and technical educational institutions.



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Hug for Harrie! Beaming Duke joins Meghan as they meet delighted employees at Texas BBQ restaurant ahead of her speech revealing cyberbullying ordeal https://usmail24.com/prince-harry-meghan-markle-hug-texas-bbq-restaurant-htmlns_mchannelrssns_campaign1490ito1490/ https://usmail24.com/prince-harry-meghan-markle-hug-texas-bbq-restaurant-htmlns_mchannelrssns_campaign1490ito1490/#respond Sat, 09 Mar 2024 07:59:44 +0000 https://usmail24.com/prince-harry-meghan-markle-hug-texas-bbq-restaurant-htmlns_mchannelrssns_campaign1490ito1490/

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle gave the owner of a Texas barbecue joint a warm hug when they stopped by for a visit. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were all smiles as they entered La Barbecue restaurant in Austin on Friday. Harry and Meghan both embraced co-owner Alison Clem in a warm hug before […]

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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle gave the owner of a Texas barbecue joint a warm hug when they stopped by for a visit.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were all smiles as they entered La Barbecue restaurant in Austin on Friday.

Harry and Meghan both embraced co-owner Alison Clem in a warm hug before being escorted inside where they greeted other employees.

The couple kept it casual: Meghan wore a denim jumpsuit and white linen blazer and Prince Harry opted for a relaxed Henley-style shirt.

The visit came just before Meghan’s appearance at the SXSW festival, where she opened up about her cyberbullying while pregnant with her children Archie and Lilibet.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle gave the owner of a Texas barbecue joint a warm hug when they visited

Harry and Meghan both gave Austin's La Barbecue owner Alison Clem a warm hug

Harry and Meghan both gave Austin’s La Barbecue owner Alison Clem a warm hug

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were all smiles as they met restaurant workers on Friday

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were all smiles as they met restaurant workers on Friday

But the Duchess appeared much more relaxed as she mingled with restaurant staff and even posed for a photo with Harry.

The couple’s tactile approach marks a sharp break from the tradition of the British monarchy, which has historically been much more formal.

Royal protocol dictated that no one could touch the deceased queen unless, for example, she extended her hand first.

However, her son, King Charles, and the younger members of the royal family are moving towards a more informal approach to dealing with the public, in an effort to keep the institution relevant.

Meghan complimented her relaxed look with a pair of black and brown Chanel ballet pumps, dark sunglasses and a cream handbag.

She was in town for her appearance on a star-studded panel on the opening day of the SXSW festival, along with actress Brooke Shields and author Katie Couric.

The Duchess of Sussex discussed “breaking barriers and challenging stereotypes” at the event.

Meghan, 42, spoke out about her use of social media and claimed that most of the online hate she experienced happened while she was pregnant with her two young children.

Meghan Markle has opened up about the 'hateful' messages she received during Archie and Lilibet's pregnancy at the SXSW festival today

Meghan Markle has opened up about the ‘hateful’ messages she received during Archie and Lilibet’s pregnancy at the SXSW festival today

The visit to La Barbecue came a day after they were spotted dining at Soho House Austin

The visit to La Barbecue came a day after they were spotted dining at Soho House Austin

‘I’m currently distancing myself from it for my well-being, but most of the bullying and abuse I experienced on social media and online took place when I was pregnant with Archie and with Lili, and with a newborn baby, with each of them ‘ she said.

“Think about that and ask yourself why people would be so hateful. It’s not catty, it’s cruel. Why you would do that when you’re pregnant or as a mother, it’s such a tender and sacred time.”

Prince Harry was seen clapping in the front row in support of his wife, along with her longtime friend and confidant Markus Anderson.

Called ‘Mr. Soho House’, Markus is often referred to as the ‘second most important man’ in Meghan’s life – and he was instrumental in bringing Harry and Meghan together.

And just a day earlier, the couple was spotted happy and happy at another Texas restaurant related to their first date.

The couple was spotted by onlookers on Thursday evening at Soho House Austin, an exclusive members-only club.

‘Harry was very animated during dinner. They were super calm and seemed happy with the cheerful atmosphere in the lively venue,” said a fellow diner.

The Duchess of Sussex arrived in Texas today to discuss

The Duchess of Sussex arrived in Texas today to discuss “breaking barriers and challenging stereotypes.”

Prince Harry is seen in the audience supporting his wife Meghan as she speaks on the panel

Prince Harry is seen in the audience supporting his wife Meghan as she speaks on the panel

Prince Harry sat in the front row to support his wife Meghan as she spoke on the panel

Prince Harry sat in the front row to support his wife Meghan as she spoke on the panel

In July 2016, the couple had their very first date at London’s Soho House and even went back to the club for a second time the next day, as seen in a black and white photo of Meghan snuggling into Harry’s shoulder – the couple laughs.

The restaurant, which has built a reputation since its inception, has thousands of wealthy members worldwide, including Prince Harry. He talked in his memoirs about the first time they met.

“Red-cheeked, puffing, sweaty, half an hour late, I ran into the restaurant, into the quiet room, and found her sitting in a small spot on a low velvet sofa in front of a low coffee table,” Harry recalled their first date in his memoir Spare.

The smitten prince said she was ‘heart attack beautiful’ when he saw her that day.

“I had seen so many pictures of her on fashion shoots and TV sets, all glamorous and shiny, but there she was, in real life, with no frills, no filter… and even more beautiful,” he said.

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About 600 employees are joining Microsoft-owned Activision https://usmail24.com/microsoft-activision-gaming-union-html/ https://usmail24.com/microsoft-activision-gaming-union-html/#respond Sat, 09 Mar 2024 02:02:24 +0000 https://usmail24.com/microsoft-activision-gaming-union-html/

About 600 workers at Activision Publishing, Microsoft’s video game maker, have unionized to form the largest video game union in the United States, the Communications Workers of America said Friday. Microsoft recognized the union after the vote counting was completed. The employees are involved in quality assurance and test Activision’s games for bugs, glitches and […]

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About 600 workers at Activision Publishing, Microsoft’s video game maker, have unionized to form the largest video game union in the United States, the Communications Workers of America said Friday. Microsoft recognized the union after the vote counting was completed.

The employees are involved in quality assurance and test Activision’s games for bugs, glitches and other defects. 390 of them voted in favor of forming a union, while eight opposed the effort, the union said. About 200 workers did not vote.

Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard, the maker of Call of Duty and other blockbusters, for $69 billion in October. As part of its long-running effort to convince regulators to approve the deal, Microsoft signed an industry-first pact to remain neutral if employees wanted to join the CWA.

Managers were trained not to express opinions on whether unionization was good or bad, and the CWA said Activision management enforced the pact and did not interfere with workers’ organizing efforts.

“That’s been a huge organizational boon,” said Kara Fannon, a union organizing committee member who works for Activision near Minneapolis. “It has helped many people who were concerned about the union breaking up or possible retaliation.”

The new union is the first at Activision since the pact went into effect.

“Microsoft’s selection will strengthen the company’s culture and ability to serve its customers and should serve as a model for the industry,” CWA’s president, Claude Cummings Jr., said in a statement.

The largest group of employees is in Minnesota, although the union also includes offices in Texas and California. The union’s hopes include negotiating higher wages, improving job security and providing more advancement opportunities for quality assurance testers, who are among the lowest-paid jobs in game development.

The pact also meant that workers could bypass the lengthy and often controversial process of petitioning the National Labor Relations Board for elections. Instead, they used an expedited process, in which employees signaled their support or opposition for the union by signing a union authorization card or voting confidentially online in a portal that opened Feb. 22 and closed Thursday afternoon. An outside referee, Fred Horowitz, verified the results.

After the votes were counted, Amy Pannoni, deputy general counsel at Microsoft, said in a statement that the company looks forward to “continuing our positive labor-management relationship” and that it recognizes CWA “as the bargaining representative for Activision Publishing’s central quality organization.” security workers.”

Employees have been organizing at Activision since at least 2021, when employees across the company staged a strike after a California civil rights group sued the company for workplace sexual misconduct. (Company organized Last year this was the case on more limited grounds.) Over time, workers’ organizations turned to unionization, with the support of the CWA

The workers also saw last year’s successful attempt to unionize at ZeniMax Media, a video game company also owned by Microsoft, which had extended its neutrality pact to all other video game studios it owned. In January 2023, about 300 employees at ZeniMax, whose Bethesda Game Studios makes hits like The Elder Scrolls, voted to unionize through the new, expedited process.

Following Friday’s results, the CWA now represents more than 1,000 video game employees at Microsoft.

The video game industry has been plagued by a series of layoffs and other cost-cutting measures for more than a year. Ms. Fannon said getting better job protections, such as better severance pay, is a common concern among employees even before Microsoft cut 1,900 jobs in its video game division in January, including many layoffs at Activision.

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Big news for bank employees: 17 percent annual pay increase announced; Next 5-day work week? https://usmail24.com/bank-employees-17-percent-annual-wage-hike-announced-5-day-work-week-icici-axis-rbi-yes-7th-pay-commission-6774105/ https://usmail24.com/bank-employees-17-percent-annual-wage-hike-announced-5-day-work-week-icici-axis-rbi-yes-7th-pay-commission-6774105/#respond Fri, 08 Mar 2024 23:23:38 +0000 https://usmail24.com/bank-employees-17-percent-annual-wage-hike-announced-5-day-work-week-icici-axis-rbi-yes-7th-pay-commission-6774105/

At home Company Big news for bank employees: 17 percent annual pay increase announced; Next 5-day work week? The Indian Banks’ Association and bank employee unions agreed on Friday to an annual wage hike of 17 percent. 7th Pay Commission: The revision of the pay scale will result in a salary increase of the teaching […]

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The Indian Banks’ Association and bank employee unions agreed on Friday to an annual wage hike of 17 percent.

7th Pay Commission: The revision of the pay scale will result in a salary increase of the teaching staff of the university.

New Delhi: A day after the Modi government announced a 4 per cent Dearness Allowance (DA) hike for central government employees, the Indian Banks’ Association and bank employee unions on Friday agreed to an annual wage hike of 17 per cent. This move will result in an additional annual expenditure of around Rs 8,284 crore for public sector banks.

As many as 8 lakh bank employees will benefit from the pay hike, which will come into effect from November 2022. The All India Bank Officers’ Confederation said in a joint note it was agreed to recognize all Saturdays as public holidays, pending notification from the government .

The revised working hours will come into effect after notification from the government, the report said. “The new pay scales have been constructed after merging the Dearness Allowance equivalent to 8,088 points and an additional tax on top of it,” the report said.

Under the new wage scheme, all female employees would be allowed to take one day of sick leave per month without providing a medical certificate. The accrued privilege leave can be redeemed for a period of up to 255 days at the time of retirement/on death of an employee while in service, the report said.

“Today marks an important milestone for the #banking sector as IBA and #UFBU #AIBOA #AIBASM and #BKSM signed the 9th Joint Memorandum and the 12th #Bipartite Settlement regarding the #salary revision for bank officers and employees, which was launched on 1 come into effect in November. January 1, 2022. @PIB_India #dfs,” IBA CEO Sunil Mehta said in a tweet.

Cabinet approves hike in DA for central government employees, MSP on jute increased

The Modi government on Thursday approved a 4 percent increase in dearness allowance for central government employees. The Union Cabinet has also approved the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for raw jute for the 2024-25 season at Rs 5,335 per quintal, an increase of Rs 285 per quintal over the previous season.

Here are some of the key decisions taken by the Union Cabinet:

  • The Union Cabinet approves an increase in Dearness Allowance for government employees and Dearness Relief for pensioners by 4 percent from January 1, 2024
  • The Union Cabinet has approved the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for raw jute for the 2024-25 season at Rs 5,335 per quintal, an increase of Rs 285 per quintal over the previous season
  • The Union Cabinet has approved a comprehensive national-level IndiaAI mission with a budget of over Rs 10,000 crores
  • The Cabinet has approved the continuation of Rs 300 subsidy to consumers of Prime Minister Ujjwala Yojana till March 31, 2025. The total expenditure for this will be Rs 12,000 crores



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7th Pay Commission: Center likely to announce DA hike for govt employees today, check how much salary will increase https://usmail24.com/7th-pay-commission-centre-likely-to-announce-da-hike-for-govt-employees-today-check-how-much-salary-will-increase-6770278/ https://usmail24.com/7th-pay-commission-centre-likely-to-announce-da-hike-for-govt-employees-today-check-how-much-salary-will-increase-6770278/#respond Thu, 07 Mar 2024 08:52:41 +0000 https://usmail24.com/7th-pay-commission-centre-likely-to-announce-da-hike-for-govt-employees-today-check-how-much-salary-will-increase-6770278/

At home Company 7th Pay Commission: Center likely to announce DA hike for govt employees today, check how much salary will increase 7th Pay Commission Latest update today: When the DA was increased last time in October 2023, the DA was increased by 4 percent to 46 percent. 7th Pay Commission Latest update 7th Pay […]

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7th Pay Commission Latest update today: When the DA was increased last time in October 2023, the DA was increased by 4 percent to 46 percent.

7th Pay Commission Latest update

7th Pay Commission: Here comes a wonderful news for the central government employees: the Center is likely to announce a 4% DA hike for them in today’s cabinet meeting. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will meet later in the day and is likely to approve a 4 percent increase in dearness allowance (DA) for central government employees. It was previously speculated that the central government could increase the DA before Holy given the general elections scheduled in the coming months.

Total DA increase to 50%

With the latest DA increase of 4 percent, the dearness allowance and the dearness exemption will increase to 50 percent. It should be noted that the DA and DR are increased twice a year, starting in January and July. However, the increase in DA and dearness relief (DR) is decided by the central government based on the All-India CPI-IW data.

When the DA was last increased in October 2023, the DA was increased by 4 percent to 46 percent.

50 Lakh government employees are benefiting from it

The decision to increase DA is expected to benefit the existing 50 lakh government employees and 62 lakh pensioners under the central government. After approval by the cabinet, the proposed DA increase will take effect from January 1, 2024.

Last year, the Center government approved Diwali bonuses for Group C officials and ungazetted Group B officials, including paramilitary forces. It is to be noted that the Center had fixed a limit of Rs 7,000 for the calculation of non-productivity related bonuses (ad hoc bonuses) for central government employees for the financial year 2022-23.

How DA walk is calculated

The central government employees should note that Dearness Allowance (DA) is a cost of living adjustment allowance given by the government to central government employees and pensioners to mitigate the challenges of price rise and inflation.

The DA increase is calculated as a percentage of the base salary. For example, for Central Government employees: Dearness Allowance percent = ((Average of AICPI (Base Year 2001=100) for the last 12 months -115.76)/115.76) *100.

Will other benefits increase?

With a 4% increase in DA, the total DA will reach 50% this time and if the DA reaches 50%, certain other allowances and components of salary will also increase. View the full list here:

  • Housing allowance
  • school allowance for children
  • Special allowance for childcare
  • Subsidy for hostels
  • Transport of personal belongings
  • Tip
  • Clothing allowance
  • Mileage reimbursement for your own transport
  • Daily allowance

How much HRA will increase?

Generally, central government employees are given Housing Allowance (HRA) depending on the category of the city in which they live. As per the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, HRA has been rationalized to 24%, 16% and 8% of housing allowance. the basic wage for class in X, Y and Z cities.



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Thousands of Greggs employees will receive a £700 bonus after the chain’s record profits https://usmail24.com/greggs-staff-bonus-record-profits-2023/ https://usmail24.com/greggs-staff-bonus-record-profits-2023/#respond Wed, 06 Mar 2024 06:56:33 +0000 https://usmail24.com/greggs-staff-bonus-record-profits-2023/

THOUSANDS of Greggs employees will receive a bonus of more than £700 after the baker made record profits last year. The high-flying chain will split £17.6 million between 25,000 employees who have worked there for at least six months. 1 Baked goods giant Greggs made record profits last year and will share them with employees […]

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THOUSANDS of Greggs employees will receive a bonus of more than £700 after the baker made record profits last year.

The high-flying chain will split £17.6 million between 25,000 employees who have worked there for at least six months.

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Baked goods giant Greggs made record profits last year and will share them with employees who will receive a big bonusCredit: Alamy

The baking giant has shared ten percent of its profits with staff since the 1970s – and saw those profits rise by a quarter last year to £188.3 million.

Turnover at the value-driven company, which aims to increase its store count from 2,473 to 3,000 over the next five years, rose by a fifth to £1.8 billion.

The company has three 24-hour drive-thrus and 24-hour airport stores.

It plans to open a factory in Derby, creating around 1,000 jobs.

Nineteen in twenty Brits can recognize the blue and yellow square logo and Ed Sheeran, Stormzy and Olly Murs are fans.

Boss Roisin Currie said the staff bonus, which varies depending on length of service and hours, would be included in this month’s wages.

She explained that the success that led to this was partly down to Greggs’ awards.

Ms Currie added: “The cost of living crisis has affected more people than previously thought.

“People were looking for value for money and that’s what Greggs offers.

“I think the snobbery (about Greggs) has decreased.”

I’m an ex-Greggs employee and construction workers were our best and worst customers, but the secret discount made it worth the 12 hour shifts

She said the company, which started in Newcastle in 1939, focused on making “at least 30 percent of its range. . . healthy food”.

She promised “more explosive flavours”, with spicier additions to the menu, after food researchers concluded Britons’ tastes were changing.

Breakfast snack for McMuffin

THE bargain deal on bacon rolls and coffee has helped Greggs take a top spot among McDonald’s in takeaway breakfasts.

Greggs said it now has a 19.6 percent market share, eclipsing the nation’s love of a McMuffin for the first time.

It already claims to be Britain’s largest food-to-go brand.

Analysts agreed, calling Greggs the “king of breakfast” today.

Boss Roisin Currie said his breakfast sandwich meal at £2.75 – £2.85 in London – was cheaper than most takeaway coffees.

She said: “Where in London can you get a cup of coffee for £2.85?”

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Starbucks lays off employees in the Middle East amid Gaza-related boycotts https://usmail24.com/starbucks-layoffs-middle-east-html/ https://usmail24.com/starbucks-layoffs-middle-east-html/#respond Tue, 05 Mar 2024 22:10:58 +0000 https://usmail24.com/starbucks-layoffs-middle-east-html/

Starbucks franchise operators in the Middle East and Southeast Asia are losing significant sales due to boycotts related to the war between Israel and Hamas, and at least one has started laying off employees. Alshaya Group, a Kuwait-based franchisee that owns the rights to operate Starbucks in the Middle East, confirmed Tuesday that it plans […]

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Starbucks franchise operators in the Middle East and Southeast Asia are losing significant sales due to boycotts related to the war between Israel and Hamas, and at least one has started laying off employees.

Alshaya Group, a Kuwait-based franchisee that owns the rights to operate Starbucks in the Middle East, confirmed Tuesday that it plans to cut 2,000 jobs in the region “due to the continued challenging trading conditions over the past six months. ”

Alshaya Group, which operates more than 1,900 Starbucks stores in the Middle East and North Africa and employs 19,000 workers, said in a statement that it would provide affected workers and their families “the support they need.”

The cuts added to the drama unfolding in the United States, where Starbucks management and a union of Starbucks employees sued each other after the union expressed solidarity with the Palestinians.

Starbucks has been forced to debunk the perception that the company has supported and even financed the Israeli government and army. In October, the country released a lengthy statement describing the claims as false, but that has not calmed calls for boycotts in many regions.

Boycotts have also hurt sales of Starbucks franchises in Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim country. Berjaya Food Berhada malaysia-based investment company that develops and operates restaurant and cafe chains across southeast asia, reported last month a A decrease of 38 percent in quarterly sales as consumers turned away from Starbucks’ 400 stores. The company’s share price has fallen more than 20 percent since the beginning of October.

Company founder Vincent Tan, in an interview with reporters on Monday, called on customers in Malaysia to stop the boycotts, saying Malaysians were particularly affected.

“I think anyone boycotting Starbucks Malaysia should know that it is a Malaysian-owned company,” he said. “There is not even one foreigner working at the head office. In the stores, 80 to 85 percent of the employees are Muslim. This boycott does not benefit anyone.”

Starbucks Malaysia website has a blog post saying the company had no political agenda and did not use profits to finance government or military operations. “It is important to note that Starbucks does not have any stores in Israel,” the post added, noting that the company ended a partnership in Israel in 2003. similar message was published on the site for Starbucks in the Middle East.

In January, Starbucks cut its global annual sales forecast as the war between Israel and Hamas hurt its licensees’ operations in the Middle East. The company’s CEO, Laxman Narasimhan, said the company had “had a significant impact on traffic and sales in the region” due to protests and boycotts. He said the effects would also be felt in the United States, “driven by misconceptions about our position.”

Demands by some people for the company to take a stand on the war can be seen on social media and increasingly outside Starbucks stores in the wake of the Hamas-led attack on Israel in October. In his rack Starbucks denied at the time that the company or its former CEO, Howard Schultz, provided financial support to Israel.

Starbucks said it would continue to expand its operations in the Middle East, including by working with the Alshaya Group in developing plans for the region. But those plans appear to be in doubt, at least for now.

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What happens if college athletes win their fight to become employees? https://usmail24.com/college-athletes-employees-dartmouth/ https://usmail24.com/college-athletes-employees-dartmouth/#respond Tue, 05 Mar 2024 00:23:49 +0000 https://usmail24.com/college-athletes-employees-dartmouth/

The NCAA inches closer every day to a tipping point of dramatic overhaul. Years of tectonic shifts around college sports could soon usher in an era its leaders and administrators have long tried to avoid: the treatment of college athletes as employees. The next milestone could come Tuesday, when the Dartmouth men’s basketball team will […]

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The NCAA inches closer every day to a tipping point of dramatic overhaul. Years of tectonic shifts around college sports could soon usher in an era its leaders and administrators have long tried to avoid: the treatment of college athletes as employees.

The next milestone could come Tuesday, when the Dartmouth men’s basketball team will vote on whether to form a union. The university is countering by fighting a National Labor Relations Board regional director’s finding that the basketball players are employees and entitled to union representation, but the effort is just one of several concurrent legal battles challenging the bedrock principle of amateurism that the NCAA has long prided itself on maintaining.

Meanwhile, in the past three months federal judges have blocked the NCAA from enforcing rules barring the use of NIL deals in recruiting and rules that require a multiple-time transfer to sit out for a year before competing. Other ongoing lawsuits take aim at the organization and schools themselves for violating federal antitrust law by restricting athlete compensation. An unfavorable ruling in any one of multiple courtrooms across the country could send the NCAA careening into its uncharted new world.

“With these cases that are addressing one rule at a time, it’s like pulling out one piece of that Jenga puzzle, and you don’t know how many pieces need to be pulled out before the whole thing collapses,” said Gabe Feldman, a sports law professor at Tulane. “Maybe no single one would bring down the NCAA as we know it. But if you lose multiple (cases), that might be enough to knock down the NCAA as we know it. Or you can look at the big antitrust cases — whether it’s the House case, the Carter case — and they’re just knocking the whole puzzle down.

“Either way, we end up with all the pieces on the ground. The question is whether it happens one piece at a time or all in one fell swoop.”

To understand how the many separate cases intersect, The Athletic spoke to nearly a dozen sports law experts over the past month. Every single one considers it an inevitability that college athletes will eventually be considered employees. The specific employment model for that will come down to several factors, but these experts believe it’s time to discuss the likely repercussions of that sea change. It’s now a matter of when, not if.

From a legal decision to a new business model

A victory for the Dartmouth players’ unionization efforts could motivate other private schools in conferences with more diverse membership than the all-private Ivy League to organize themselves. If the ongoing trial into an unfair labor practice charge in California confirms that USC, the Pac-12 and the NCAA should be considered joint employers of athletes, that could allow all athletes to unionize, regardless of the state they live in or type of school they attend. A third case currently in federal appeals court, Johnson v. NCAA, argues that college athletes should be treated like other student workers on campus and should be entitled to hourly wages at or around the minimum wage. Each outcome would pave the way for a different business model.

Some of the consequences will be simpler than others.

“The notion that you can’t be both a student and employee is false,” said Paul McDonald, lead attorney for the plaintiffs in Johnson v. NCAA. “All you’d have to do is take the NCAA timesheets that are already mandated by bylaws for countable athletically related activities. You take those and put them in the exact same system that you have for the kid selling hotdogs, or the kid working in the library or the kid who works at the bookstore.

“It’s as simple as that. … You would literally treat the athletes the same way you treat the other kids who work on campus.”

McDonald believes that the most complicated part of an employee-employer relationship is that athletes might need language in their employment contracts or at-will agreements that covers termination. McDonald would suggest adopting some of the language in current NCAA rules preventing schools from reducing or revoking scholarships based entirely on athletes’ athletic ability. But realistically, there’s no avoiding that if athletes don’t live up to the terms of their contract, they could be fined or fired, much like their counterparts in professional sports. Those who work around major college sports understand that coaches push players to transfer or retire already, but employment would crystallize schools’ ability to cut players — which may not sit well with all involved.

That would appear to be where unions come in, but it’s not that simple.

If the Dartmouth men’s basketball team votes to unionize and prevails despite the school’s challenges, players could collectively bargain with the university regarding wages, hours and any other terms or conditions of their employment.

The Dartmouth athletes’ vision for an Ivy League players union (either for just men’s basketball players or for athletes in all sports) that negotiates with the conference is not far-fetched. In professional sports, all of the owners get together and negotiate one agreement with their labor that covers the entire league. A similar multi-employer agreement could exist within an athletic conference, in theory.

If a conference or the NCAA were deemed a joint employer, as the unfair labor practice charge against USC, the Pac-12 and the NCAA contends, that decision would drastically broaden the scale of students permitted to unionize. The Northwestern football team’s 2015 bid to unionize was rejected by the NLRB because Northwestern was the only private school in the Big Ten, competing against public schools over which the NLRB does not have jurisdiction.

“A finding in either that a conference or the NCAA itself is an employer would have a dramatic impact because that could be a way that the NLRB and unions could kind of rope in public schools,” said Joshua D. Nadreau, partner and vice chair of the labor relations group at Fisher & Phillips LLP. “If they’re going to be setting rules and regulations about what these athletes can and can’t do, and how much practice time they can have and athletic activities and whatnot, the union would have a right under labor law to say, look, you’re setting the terms and conditions of my employment, you’re my joint employer.”

That kind of finding would allow all athletes to unionize, regardless of the state they live in or type of school they attend. From there, it would be up to the athletes to decide who wants to organize and how.

The speed of those movements will depend on several factors – state-by-state differences in labor law and the fact that most conferences have a mix of public and private institutions could complicate matters – but the successful unionization of one group of employees can motivate others. If only private-school athletes are allowed to organize, the NCAA would have a conundrum considering it has largely tried to treat all college athletes similarly.

But every public comment made by NCAA president Charlie Baker over the past year indicates that any model involving employment won’t be the organization’s first choice. And at the individual university level, voluntarily deeming athletes as employees might be too big an ask.

“A majority of the major revenue-generating institutions are public schools that happen, for the most part, to be in states that are not fairly progressive when it comes to labor law and union density,” Nadreau said. “The likelihood that schools in the SEC or Big 12 or the standard southern, Southeast, Midwest-type schools are going to willingly sign on to something that implicates, nominally, they’re employees is probably pretty small. But this is a legitimate question, and it’s also a question for our elected representatives.”

How would the unions work?

In professional sports, players unions often lean on the leadership of veterans who are secure in their standing. Will college sports, where the player pool completely turns over every 4-5 years, struggle to unionize without that support?

The recent unionization surge among graduate student employees points to a solution for organizers: Once a union is in place, it would negotiate multi-year contracts that will remain even after initial union leaders move on, and those recruited to join the union would be charged with knowing what’s in the contract and enforcing it.

Union members would also need to be willing to strike, as a last resort and as a negotiating weapon. That’s a weighty ask for college athletes who have a limited period of time to play and position themselves to advance to the pros. The closest thing to a strike that high-level college football has seen recently was in 2015, when a group of Missouri football players sat out of team activities and said they were willing to miss a game in support of a student’s hunger strike opposing the university’s handling of racist incidents on campus. (After school president Tim Wolfe resigned, the players played in the next weekend’s game.)

A key question further complicates the union’s capabilities: Who makes up the bargaining unit?

“We don’t know if the bargaining will take place in the equivalent of what is league-wide at the professional level,” Feldman said. “It could be team by team, or school by school, or sport by sport. But the broader you go, the more differences there might be in what the athletes are interested in. We don’t have much of an analogue for this in the sports world. We don’t have the star quarterback as part of the same bargaining unit as the backup fullback on the soccer team. … The collective bargaining dynamics are going to be a little unpredictable.”

“There are going to be a lot of growing pains,” said Irwin Kishner, the Co-Chair of the Sports Law Group at Herrick Feinstein.

With the NCAA facing the threat of paying billions of dollars in damages from antitrust lawsuits attacking its restrictions on pay-for-play arrangements, recognizing whatever unions form could be a way out of what appear to be unsympathetic courtrooms around the country.

“They have all these antitrust problems,” Nadreau said. “One way to avoid those is through the nonstatutory labor exemption to the antitrust laws, which are essentially saying if you bargain something with a union, you know, you can’t be liable for antitrust. That could resolve a lot of the NCAA litigation right now.”

Where would the money come from?

Two days before his team played in the national championship game, Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh repeated his long-held opinion that those who make money off college athletes should take a pay cut and redirect that money to the players.

“We’re all robbing the same train here,” Harbaugh said. “Anyone who is profiting from the student-athletes right now — myself included — coaches, somewhere between 5 and 10 percent, take 5 to 10 percent less. That would go for any administrator, any coach, any conference, any university, NCAA — 5 to 10 percent less and maybe a 10 percent tax from the television stations, into one pot for the student-athletes. Maybe that’s a start, a way. …

“There are a lot of people profiting off the backs of student-athletes, and they do a lot of work to keep it from them.”

Harbaugh is not the only leader to acknowledge that once college athletes become employees, the money to pay them has to come from somewhere. But how freely will schools and athletic departments make that adjustment, and who might pay the most for it?

“The problem is that you have the adults who just simply want to keep paying themselves,” McDonald said. “We’ve been in a world where they’ve had free labor. They’re making the money, and they want to spend it somewhere. So, they spend it on coaches and on a new jumbotron that they don’t really need.”

Some experts said that athletic departments would need to cut some sports in order to pay athletes a salary. But decisions by Stanford, Clemson and several other power-conference schools to cut sports citing pandemic-related financial struggles were met with intense backlash from alums and fans, and many of the cuts were reversed. Programs have weaponized existential concerns to help drive collective donations in the NIL era, but it’s difficult to know whether fans will respond so passionately across the board and stave off department cuts.

“Making them employees is one of those ways of mandating appropriate compensation for athletes,” Kishner said. “The issue becomes if you are applying that to a university that has, let’s say, 18 separate programs … which do not necessitate the same hundreds or millions of dollars, or have the same level of interest, the same economics. If you have to pay the athletes salaries commensurate with that, it will likely cause universities to look at programs with a much sharper eye and say, ‘Well, I’m only going to fund five of these programs because I’m losing too much money.’”

“If you’re in a nonrevenue sport, you have to be realistic about it — that your sport could be on the chopping block,” said Michael LeRoy, a labor law expert at the University of Illinois.

No legal expert knows exactly how Title IX and other gender equity laws would affect an employment model, either. There won’t be certainty around that until it is challenged in court someday, which makes it hard to plan around. It’s not clear whether female athletes would be required to simply have the same opportunities — the same number of jobs — as their male counterparts, or if their pay would need to be comparable. But under the current policy, a school has to offer an equivalent number of opportunities for women as for men.

“This will have, at least in my view, a catastrophic effect on economically disadvantaged students going to college and women being able to go to the college of their choice if they’re hoping to get there on some type of athletic scholarship,” said Martin D. Edel, co-chair of the sports law practice at Goulson & Storrs.

Cutting sports is not the only option available to schools searching for the money to pay their athletes, but many other possibilities would require some outside entity to swoop into the market, be it private equity, professional leagues or the U.S. Olympic committee. The chances of that type of lifeline appear wishful at best.

And then there’s the plan to more clearly delineate which schools can and want to pay to play. In December, NCAA president Charlie Baker proposed the formation of a new subdivision within Division I, which universities can opt into if they agree to pay half of the athletes in their athletic department a minimum of $30,000 per year through a trust. The members of the new subdivision could create their own rules separate from the rest of Division I. Baker has said he wants this proposal (dubbed “Project D-I”) to kick-start discussions about a way forward for the NCAA amid its mounting legal challenges.

Last month, the Big Ten and the SEC — the two richest and most powerful conferences, who are also named defendants in some of the biggest lawsuits against the NCAA — formed a joint advisory group that they said would allow them to “take a leadership role in developing solutions for a sustainable future of college sports.” Administrators in other conferences believe that could be the first step toward those two leagues breaking away from the NCAA entirely. At the very least, their lawyers do spend a lot of time together, working to try to stave off losses (in House, for example) that could cost the entire enterprise billions. But if the power conferences struck out on their own, they would need to take measures to ensure they are not the target of the next wave of antitrust lawsuits.

The overall reaction to Baker’s proposal has been mixed. It would be costly, but so are the alternatives if Johnson or any of the plaintiffs in various ongoing federal antitrust lawsuits prevail. The Big Ten will negotiate its next media rights deal in 2030. Could it be cutting its athletes a share of that check at that time, as Harbaugh proposed? Multiple lawsuits have expressly taken aim at television revenue as a pool from which athletes should reap the financial benefits.

Of course, schools could also claw back some certainty, if they wanted, by way of employment contracts lasting multiple years and league rules limiting intraconference transfers. But it’s tempting to skip ahead to the extreme consequences. Will recruiting turn into de facto free agency, but without any form of salary cap? Would a union negotiate academic requirements on behalf of athletes, or would college sports fully abandon its ties to academics?

“It could be that there’s a small set of schools that want to embrace the employment model and enter into collective bargaining agreements with their athletes, potentially, in certain sports,” Feldman said. “Then, other schools could decide they want to move away from anything resembling an employment model, and they release a lot of control over their athletes and try to convince the courts or Congress that their athletes are not employees — and return to something closer to the system we’ve had for the last 80 years.”

The past few years have proven nothing is off the table — and nothing is for certain.

(Photo: Adam Gray / Getty Images)

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Recreation center operator must deter employees from facial recognition technology https://usmail24.com/serco-leisure-facial-recognition-tech-workers/ https://usmail24.com/serco-leisure-facial-recognition-tech-workers/#respond Sat, 24 Feb 2024 03:03:21 +0000 https://usmail24.com/serco-leisure-facial-recognition-tech-workers/

A leisure center operator has been ordered to stop using facial recognition technology to monitor employee attendance. Serco Leisure used it in addition to scanning fingerprints on more than 2,000 employees on the payroll. 5 The move comes amid an increasing rise of technology in business and growing concerns about the risks of artificial intelligenceCredit: […]

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A leisure center operator has been ordered to stop using facial recognition technology to monitor employee attendance.

Serco Leisure used it in addition to scanning fingerprints on more than 2,000 employees on the payroll.

5

The move comes amid an increasing rise of technology in business and growing concerns about the risks of artificial intelligenceCredit: Getty
Serco Leisure used the technology in addition to fingerprint scanning on more than 2,000 employees on its payroll

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Serco Leisure used the technology in addition to fingerprint scanning on more than 2,000 employees on its payrollCredit: Alamy

The Information Commissioner’s Office said it was unlawful and that the company had failed to demonstrate why it needed biometric data instead of “less intrusive means” such as identity cards.

It comes amid an increasing rise of technology in business and growing concerns about the risks of artificial intelligence.

Information Commissioner John Edwards said: “Biometric data is completely unique to an individual, so the risks of harm in the event of inaccuracies or a security breach are much greater. You can’t reset someone’s face or fingerprint like you can with a password.”

Ashley is on the right track

Mike Ashley buys shares in model builder Hornby

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Mike Ashley buys shares in model builder HornbyCredit: PA:Press Association

MIKE Ashley goes full steam ahead and acquires shares in model train maker Hornby.

His Frasers Group – now the third largest investor with an 8.9 percent stake – said it was “strategic”. The Game company stocks Hornby products.

Reddit is floating

SOCIAL media site Reddit has filed plans for a multi-billion dollar stock exchange listing in New York, with its largest users able to buy shares.

The company was co-founded in 2005 by tennis legend Serena Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian. Sam Altman, the man behind ChatGPT, is the third largest investor.

The graph up

STANDARD CHARTERED boss Bill Winters has said the £16.1 billion market value does not reflect the bank’s prospects as he revealed a jump in quarterly profits.

Winters, who was paid £7.8m last year, is now trying to boost Standard’s share price with a huge share buyback and dividends.

Bizarre video reveals creepy spinning security robot patrolling the streets of Tokyo with image recognition cameras

Good week

Jensen Huang from Nvidia

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Jensen Huang from NvidiaCredit: AFP

NVIDIA boss Jensen Huang, who saw the AI ​​chipmaker valued at $2 trillion, sparking a global stock market rally.

Bad week

Henry Staunton is not having a good week

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Henry Staunton is not having a good weekCredit: HOC/UNPIXS

EX-POST OFFICE boss Henry Staunton, who feuded with MP Kemi Badenoch over Horizon victims’ money.

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