LABOR

At Halftime, Amazon Up Big on Union

As execs at Sears and Barnes & Noble can tell you, it’s virtually impossible to beat Amazon—and organizers trying to form the company’s first union at a US facility are finding that out. 

With about half the ballots remaining in the closely watched union vote, 1,100 “no”s had been counted compared to 463 “yes”es. Officials stopped counting around 7pm ET last night and will finish today.

• Roughly 55% of the 5,805 eligible voters cast ballots.
• To win, the union needs more than half of the votes. 

The backstory

As demand for e-commerce skyrocketed during the pandemic, some employees at an Amazon facility in Bessemer, AL, grew fed up with working conditions, and started an effort to join the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Some of their specific complaints included:

• Lack of communication between managers and staff; specifically, how disciplinary action is carried out not by people...but by app. 
• Punishments for workers’ failure to maintain six feet of distance, even when there was not enough space for them to do so.

The odds were against organizers from the beginning. Amazon has successfully squashed all unionization attempts in the US so far, and the company applied super aggressive tactics to make sure it didn’t happen in Alabama. Labor organizing across the tech industry has typically been unsuccessful. 

Organizers did have some friends in high places. Democrats including President Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders voiced support, and so did some Republicans, like Sen. Marco Rubio. NFL players and actors took up the cause as a civil rights issue, since most of the workers at the Bessemer facility are Black.

It may not end today

Union leaders signaled they’d appeal the vote, citing documents that showed Amazon pressured the Postal Service to install a mailbox right outside the facility, which may have intimidated workers when they cast their vote. “We will be calling on the labor board to hold Amazon accountable for its illegal and egregious behavior during the campaign,” said RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum. 

Looking ahead...a legal battle could push off a conclusive result for weeks. But for now, it appears as though Amazon may have dodged a labor organizing threat that would have rippled across the e-commerce industry. 

REGULATION

Biden Enters the Gun Control Chat

Calling gun violence in the US an "epidemic" and an "international embarrassment," President Biden yesterday outlined a few steps aimed at tackling the problem. 

• Crack down on "ghost guns," or guns that come in kits and can evade law enforcement because they don't have serial numbers.
• Subject firearms that utilize stabilizing braces, which effectively turn pistols into short-barreled rifles, to more regulation.
• Direct the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives to release an annual report on firearms trafficking.

But as executive orders, not actual laws, these moves are more a tremor than an earthquake. Biden would like to see far more gun control legislation, including a ban on assault weapons and the lifting of legal immunity for firearms manufacturers, but he won't get very far without support from Republicans in Congress...which he doesn't have. 

Zoom out: Biden wants to prioritize the Covid-19 response and his infrastructure bill, but gun control has re-emerged as a policy focus following mass shootings in Atlanta, Boulder, and, most recently, Rock Hill, SC.

TRAVEL

The CDC Hasn't Forgotten the Diamond Princess

The last week had more twists and turns for cruise operators than Carnival's Dr. Suess waterslide. On Friday, the CDC released new guidelines to resume passenger operations...but stopped short of a date. Following industry outcry, it relented and said maybe mid-summer. 

Cruises still feel put out. Having watched flight and hotel bookings soar in recent months, cruise lines want the same treatment as other travel sectors (the CDC did say travel is low-risk for fully vaccinated people). 

Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Disney, and Norwegian have had to cancel trips through June, and yesterday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he's suing the federal government to let passengers aboard. 

But to bring customers back, per CDC rules, cruise lines will have to... 

• Run simulated voyages to rehearse safety procedures.
• Recommend vaccinations for everyone. Norwegian, the first major US cruise line to publish reopening plans, said it will require them. 

Zoom out: Several operators have resumed sailings out of the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, but following a year of standstills, they're desperate to get more ships out to sea. Carnival, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean lost almost $7 billion last year.

SPONSORED BY FIDELITY

Now THAT’S a Smart Phone!

Everyone claims to have a “smart phone” these days, but wait until you catch wind of how smart your phone could be when you start investing with Fidelity:

• You can receive proactive notifications on your phone about events that could impact your portfolio.

Now THAT is what we’re talking about, people! All you have to do is set up alerts on your Fidelity account, and Fidelity will ping you about portfolio-impacting events. 

That way, you can stay on top of your portfolio better than you’ve ever been able to before, while spending way less time frequenting your chosen business news sites. (Cough, Morning Brew.)

Go for that run! Make your grandma’s award-winning 27-layer peanut butter and jelly sandwich which took home gold at the county fair back in ‘89! And do it all knowing your portfolio is in well-informed hands: your own.

Get proactive notifications and zero trading commissions on online U.S. stocks and ETFs when you invest with Fidelity today.**

GRAB BAG

Key Performance Indicators

Stat: 81% of Americans use YouTube, making it the most popular online platform by a wide margin, according to a new Pew survey. Facebook is second with 69%, followed by Instagram (40%), Pinterest (31%), and LinkedIn (28%).

Quote: "Even though I'm a pro-crypto, pro-bitcoin maximalist person, I do wonder whether if at this point bitcoin should also be thought of in part as a Chinese financial weapon against the US."

At a virtual roundtable Wednesday, billionaire investor and crypto bull Peter Thiel said he considers bitcoin a potential threat to the supremacy of the US dollar. He suggested that the US government should think more about regulating cryptocurrencies to prevent currency warfare. 

Read: A Q&A with the man who keeps uploading my feet to WikiFeet. (The Cut)

LUXURY

I Mean It’s One Rolls-Royce Michael, What Could it Cost? $10?

Rolls-Royce, luxury car brand and Daisy Buchanan's murder weapon of choice, just had its best quarter since it was founded in 1906. The company delivered 1,380 cars in Q1 2021, increasing sales by 62% over last year. 

Big picture: While we debated if $60 sweatpants were worth it, the megarich were doing…sort of the same thing, but with more zeros. Other luxury brands have also reported booms in the last year:

• Bentley's CEO said the auto brand started 2021 with 50% more orders than it started 2020 with, and that it would take "an even bigger asteroid than the Covid one to knock us off track again."
• High-end appliance and furniture sellers (think $20k Wolf ranges and $6k coffee tables) reported an explosion of business that has led to supply chain bottlenecks.

Zoom out: Even in a year of economic struggle for many, there are 660 more billionaires than there were a year ago. And 86% of billionaires got richer over the last year, making the total wealth of all billionaires in the world jump $5 trillion, according to Forbes's annual list of people least likely to know what a Baja Blast is.

QUIZ

A Quiz Unlike Any Other

The feeling of getting a 5/5 on the Brew's Weekly News Quiz has been compared to someone complimenting your Zoom bookcase.

It’s that satisfying. Ace the quiz.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• GM and Ford are continuing to dial back production at North American factories due to the global chip shortage.
• Sean "Diddy" Combs wrote an open letter to GM demanding that the automaker and other corporations spend more of their advertising $$$ with Black-owned media companies.
• Impossible Foods, a leader in plant-based meat, is looking to go public in the next 12 months, per Reuters. It's aiming to be valued at $10 billion or more.
• Netflix inked a deal for the streaming rights to Sony movies, including future installments of Jumanji and Spider-Man.
• Nike and MSCHF reached a settlement over Lil Nas X's "Satan Shoes." 
• Twitter copying Clubhouse, Morning Brew-style.

SPONSORED BY THE MOTLEY FOOL

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BREW'S BETS

Follow Friday: If you love making all of your food with canned items, you'll love 70s Dinner Party on Twitter and B. Dylan Hollis's TikTok. Mmmm tomato soup cake…

No IP needed: People on the internet clearly have a lot of free time, and we should give them more of it to keep making videos like this one. 

Weekend listening: A list of 24 podcasts that will make you a better investor.

FROM THE CREW

Tax Szn Is Almost Over

Morning Brew is teaming up with H&R Block to give you the facts, the context, and the tips you need to make sure you're prepared for the most complex tax filing season we can all remember.

In our Tax Guide, you’ll find…

• Expert interviews
• Important facts and deadlines
• Lists of required forms for people running their own businesses
• Classic Morning Brew-style quizzes

Bottom line: Treat your taxes like you treat getting a vaccine appointment. Check out our guide, then get 'em done ASAP so the May 17 deadline doesn’t sneak up on you. 

GAMES

Friday Puzzle

In honor of Will Shortz editing his 10,000th crossword puzzle for the New York Times, let’s borrow a puzzle from the OG enigmatologist.

Name a major world city with a population in the millions. Take one letter in its name and move it two spots earlier in the alphabet. Reading backward, you now have the name of a restaurant chain. What is it?

ANSWER

Sydney → Wendy's 

** A Note From Fidelity

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