Amazon: Workers Taking Bribes From Desperate Sellers

To best hawk a product on Amazon, third-party sellers hope for a coveted spot on the site’s first page of search results, a ranking that’s boosted by positive reviews. Sources tell the Wall Street Journal those rankings could be affected by “illicit transactions” between sellers and Amazon employees, who are…
Newser

Steel Workers Demand Higher Pay as Tariffs Lift Profits

Workers at two top U.S. steelmakers are demanding higher compensation as tariffs on foreign metal push prices and profits to their highest point in years.
WSJ.com: US Business

Giant hotel companies plan to give workers ‘panic buttons’ to help prevent sexual assaults

Hotel employees who work alone or in isolated locations, making them vulnerable to harassment and sexual assault, will be equipped with so-called panic buttons — electronic devices to call for help — the world’s largest hotel companies announced Thursday.

The presidents and chief executives of…

L.A. Times – Business

Amazon plans to hire 300 workers at new San Diego tech hub

Amazon.com Inc. is set to celebrate the opening of a new office for its San Diego technology hub Thursday, and it said it plans to create 300 technology jobs in San Diego as part of its expansion there.

The Seattle e-commerce giant expects to hire workers in software development, machine learning,…

L.A. Times – Business

Cops: Woman Faked Abduction to Avoid Paying Workers

A California woman who said she had been kidnapped, robbed, tied up, and possibly sexually assaulted was making it all up because she didn’t want to pay her subcontractors, according to police in Fresno. Police say 32-year-old Maria Gonzalez claimed two black men armed with a handgun abducted her Saturday…
Newser

Here’s what a ‘silver tsunami’ of retiring baby boomer business owners could mean for their workers

As Labor Day arrives — and economic inequality rises on the political agenda — a little-noticed measure in the recently signed defense spending bill aims to address the widening wealth divide between workers and the owners or top executives who manage them.

The measure, co-sponsored by Sen. Kirsten…

L.A. Times – Business

On Britain’s Farms, a Shortage of EU Workers Squeezes Harvests

The prospect of tightening immigration rules once Britain leaves the European Union, along with a weakening pound, has deterred the Eastern European laborers that British farms had relied on in recent years.
WSJ.com: What’s News Europe

Amazon Pays 14 Workers to Praise the Company Online

Amazon has endured less-than-glowing reports of what it’s like to work at one of its warehouses. Enter the company’s new “FC Ambassador” program: A number of Amazon fulfillment center employees have been put to work tweeting about how great it actually is to work at an Amazon fulfillment center, Business…
Newser

Thousands of Amazon workers get food stamps. Bernie Sanders wants Amazon to pay for them

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wants large employers such as Amazon, Walmart and McDonald’s to fully cover the cost of food stamps, public housing, Medicaid and other federal assistance received by their employees. The goal, he said, is to force corporations to pay a living wage and curb roughly $ 150…

L.A. Times – Business

Cheesecake Factory grapples with the cost of workers’ rising wages

The rising minimum wage is a welcome development for hourly workers, but it carries a price for employers and consumers. Case in point: Cheesecake Factory Inc.

The casual-dining chain saw its stock plunge 12% on Aug. 1 — its worst daily drop in a decade — after Cheesecake Factory posted disappointing…

L.A. Times – Business