Economy
Toll drivers will strike from Friday, shutting down Australia’s road transport for the first time in a decade – Business Insider
Australia will need to brace for major disruptions from Friday as it experiences its first road transport strike in more than a decade.
Thousands of truck drivers will go on strike on Friday after negotiations broke down between multi-billion dollar logistics company Toll and the Transport Workers Union (TWU).
The industrial action, supported by 94% of the workforce, will see workers pack it in for a full 24 hours, grinding deliveries to a halt, and creating a wave of backlogs and delays.
It comes after crisis talks on Monday failed to resolve the long-running dispute, with the union claiming Toll wants to slash workers’ overtime and bring in contractors as part of a bid to win contracts from multinationals.
“It is an abomination that billionaire retailers like Amazon are smashing profit records while ripping off transport supply chains and crushing the jobs of the truck drivers who’ve risked the health of their families to deliver parcels and keep shelves stocked,” TWU national secretary Michael Kaine said.
New home sales rebound despite prices hitting record high – MarketWatch
A truly meaningful, sustained increase in new home sales remains unlikely, due to the supply chain issues builders continue to face. While the price of lumber may no longer be in the stratosphere, the sheer demand for home-building and home improvement projects continues to make the necessary supplies and labor hard to come by.
Nevertheless, the improvement in new home sales in July is a welcome sign for a market that’s starved for inventory. “It is promising that the overall trend in home sales is up from prior years and that the recent drop in sales has begun to reverse,” said Kelly Mangold, a principal with RCLCO Real Estate Consultants. “This means that new home deliveries are coming closer to matching the demand generated by household growth.”
The current supply crunch in the market is a reflection of under-building that followed the Great Recession. Builders would need to increase the pace of home construction considerably to close the gap the country continues to face between housing demand and supply.
Prisoners to plug worker shortage in meat industry – BBC
Abattoirs, butchers and meat processors are set to employ prisoners and ex-inmates to help plug labour shortages.
Meat industry leaders held talks with the government on Monday to discuss options of how businesses could link up with prisons to fill vacancies. The Association of Independent Meat Suppliers told the BBC the industry had about 14,000 job vacancies currently. It said Covid, Brexit and perceptions over career paths had caused a looming “recruitment crisis”.
Environment
China’s new carbon trading market isn’t working – Quartz
The price of emissions credits in China’s carbon trading market reached a record low on Aug. 20, the latest sign that the market’s structural flaws are preventing it from working as an effective weapon against climate change.
China launched its new carbon market in mid-July. It had been under development by government officials for more than a decade.
The market could eventually provide a powerful impetus toward the country’s goal to reach net zero emissions by 2060, as it forces about 2,200 high-emitting power plants to pay for pollution that exceeds the volume allowed by permits that are distributed by the government.
Shareholder advocacy group goes after ‘environmental racism’ – Reuters
A shareholder advocacy group that has successfully pushed for changes at U.S. conglomerates such as General Electric Co (GE.N) and American Express Co (AXP.N) said on Wednesday it would rate companies based on their involvement in “environmental racism,” and pressure them for change.
Aid groups: Millions in Syria, Iraq losing access to water – AP
Millions of people in Syria and Iraq are at risk of losing access to water, electricity and food amid rising temperatures, record low water levels due to lack of rainfall and drought, international aid groups warned Monday.
The two neighboring countries, both battered by years of conflict and mismanagement, are in need of rapid action to combat severe water shortages, the groups said. The drought is also disrupting electricity supplies as low water levels impact dams, which in turn impact essential infrastructure, including health facilities.
More than 12 million people in both countries are affected, including 5 million in Syria who are directly dependent on the Euphrates River. In Iraq, the loss of access to water from the Euphrates and Tigris River, and drought, threaten at least 7 million people.
Some 400 square kilometers (154 square miles) of agricultural land faces drought, the groups said, adding that two dams in northern Syria, supplying power to 3 million people, face imminent closure.
Health
Now that a COVID-19 shot is fully approved, employer mandates are rolling in. But will vaccination rates in the U.S. go up? – MarketWatch
The long-awaited (and for some, much-debated) approval of BioNTech and Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is here, and the employer mandates are already rolling in.
The Pentagon said service members are required to get a shot; CVS Health Corp. is mandating vaccination for clinical workers (like pharmacists) and its corporate employees; Chevron Corp. is requiring immunization among a mix of both onshore and offshore employees; and teachers and staff members in New York City schools are required to get their first shot by Sept. 27.
Fauci says he hopes U.S. will have ‘some good control’ over Covid by spring 2022 – CNBC
White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said he hopes the U.S. will have some control over Covid-19 by the spring.
“If we can get through this winter and get the majority, the overwhelming majority of people who have not been vaccinated vaccinated, I hope we can start to get some good control in the spring of 2022,” Fauci said during an interview on CNN on “Anderson Cooper 360.”
Many scientists now predict that Covid will continue circulating around the world for foreseeable future, requiring nations to reinstitute public health measures on an ad hoc basis.
Fauci: Herd Immunity Unreachable Unless Vaccine Hesitant Get The Jab Or Get Infected – Forbes
The U.S. will not be able to reach herd immunity against Covid-19 without vaccine hesitant people either getting the jab or getting the virus, top infectious disease official Dr. Anthony Fauci said late Monday, as other experts doubt whether a threshold for overall immunity in the population is even on the table anymore.
“The Time Has Come. Enough Is Enough” – Fauci Dismisses “Freedom” In Call For Vaccine Mandates – ZeroHedge
After the FDA fully approved the Pfizer COVID vaccine, Anthony Fauci immediately issued a decree via his permanent CNN propaganda platform that it is time for nationwide vaccine mandates.
Fauci declared that “There was some poll that showed about 30% of people who are not anti-vax, they were just waiting to get what they felt was the real final stamp of approval, which we just got today with the Pfizer product.”
He continued, “And those 30% are saying when that occurs, they will feel very, very comfortable about getting vaccinated. So right away, you’re talking about 30%. I hope they come through with what the survey said.”
Fauci added “They’re going to give a lot of incentive and backing for a lot of institutions and organizations and places of employment to mandate, and that could be colleges, university, the military, organizations that employ a lot of people, some of the big corporations are going to say if you want to work for us in person, you’ve got to be there and get vaccinated.”
Fauci then dismissed freedom as an after thought, noting “I know I respect people’s freedom, but when you’re talking about a public health crisis that we’ve been going through for well over a year and a half, the time has come. Enough is enough. We’ve just got to get people vaccinated.”
The post Daily Digest 8/24 — Toll Drivers Strike from Friday, Shutting Down Australia’s Road Transport for First Time in a Decade; Employer Vaccine Mandates Rolling In… appeared first on Peak Prosperity.
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