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On the heels of Starbucks’ recent announcement it will be cutting 900 corporate roles and closing 1% of its Northern American stores by the end of 2025 (after accounting for both new openings and closures), Starbucks Workers United said Tuesday that 59 of those locations marked for closure are unionized locations. Starbucks Workers United, the worker-led effort to unionize Starbucks baristas, represents 12,000 baristas in 45 states and Washington D.C., across more than 650 cafes. The closures, announced last week by CEO Brian Niccol, are part of a massive $1 billion restructuring strategy dubbed Back to Starbucks, aimed at turning around declining sales and brand image damage. Representatives from Starbucks and Starbucks Workers United declined to share details about the fate of specific locations. While we remain outraged at how callously Starbucks handled these closures, we are proud that we have forced the company to make this process fairer for impacted union baristas, said Starbucks Workers United spokesperson Michelle Eisen. These measures to support baristas show the power and strength of our union. We remain focused on organizing stores and demanding Starbucks settle a fair union contract that improves hours and staffing, increases take-home pay, and resolves unfair labor practices.” Reached for comment, a Starbucks spokesperson told Fast Company: “Given the industry-leading offer provided to all affected partners including reassignment opportunities where possible as well as generous severance we were able to quickly reach an agreement with Workers United to similarly help represented partners through this transition. This reflects our commitment to partner care.” A spokesperson for the company also told amNY that unionization was not a factor in the decision to close specific locations. Baristas from closing stores will either be offered severance packages or transferred to new locations, which has led uneasy employees to crowdsource their own list of shuttering locations as they wait for official word. The stakes remain high for Starbucks if it fails to settle a contract and workers go on strike ahead of the holiday season, which is the busiest and most profitable time of the year.
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E-Commerce
U.S. job openings were essentially unchanged million last month amid economic uncertainty arising from President Donald Trumps trade policies and an impending government shutdown. The Labor Department reported Tuesday that job openings blipped up to 7.23 million from 7.21 million in July. Economists had forecast a drop to 7.1 million. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) showed that layoffs fell month. But so did the number of people quitting their jobs which is a sign of confidence in their prospects of finding a better job. The report’s measure of hiring last month was the weakest since June 2024. Job openings remain at healthy levels but have fallen steadily since peaking at a record 12.1 million in March 2022 as the U.S. economy roared back from COVID-19 lockdowns. The U.S. job market has lost momentum this year, partly because of the lingering effects of 11 interest rate hikes by the inflation fighters at the Federal Reserve in 2022 and 2023 and partly because Trumps trade wars have created uncertainty that is paralyzing managers trying to make hiring decisions. Altogether, Tuesday’s JOLTS numbers suggest that the job market remains in an awkward place: Americans who have jobs are mostly safe from layoffs. Unemployment remains low at 4.3%. But jobseekers are struggling to find work. Companies are clearly hoarding workers with the economy still at full employment, Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, wrote in a commentary. “It will take a bigger blow than what we have seen so far to convince companies that it is safe and prudent and necessary to lay off workers.” Labor Department revisions earlier this month showed that the economy created 911,000 fewer jobs than originally reported in the year that ended in March. That meant that employers added an average of fewer than 71,000 new jobs a month over that period, not the 147,000 first reported. Since March, job creation has slowed even more to an average 53,000 a month. On Friday, the Labor Department is expected release numbers on September hiring and unemployment though the report could be postponed if a budget impasse in Congress leads to a government shutdown Wednesday. If the report comes out, it is expected to show that employers added 50,000 jobs in September, unimpressive but up from a meager 22,000 in August, according to a survey of economists by the data firm FactSet. At their last meeting two weeks ago, Fed policymakers cut their benchmark interest rates for the first time this year to support the sputtering job market. They also signaled that expect two more rate cuts this year. Paul Wiseman, AP economics writer
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E-Commerce
If it seems like it’s getting more expensive to replace a broken door, kitchen fixtures, or upgrade a major appliance, youre not wrong. The cost of home repair and remodeling projects is up compared to a year ago and running ahead of inflation overall, according to a report from data analytics company Verisk. The firm’s latest Repair and Remodeling Index jumped 3.4% in the April-June quarter compared to the same period last year. That’s a bigger annual increase than the 2.7% rise in inflation in the same period, as measured by the Consumer Price index. The index, which tracks costs for more than 10,000 home improvement products, including appliances, doors, plumbing, and windows, showed a roughly 0.6% increase from the January-March quarter. While costs did continue to rise, they rose at a slower rate than in the first quarter,” said Greg Pyne, vice president of Pricing at Verisk Property Estimating Solutions. Much of the increase in home repair and remodeling costs appears to be driven primarily by higher labor costs for repair and remodeling work, Verisk noted. The second-quarter jump in costs for home improvement products coincided with the Trump administrations broad rollout of tariffs on imported goods from many of the nations major trading partners. But the tariffs didn’t have the expected impact given they were postponed several times and didn’t fully take effect until early August, midway through the third quarter. However, homeowners looking to replace cabinetry could soon see prices increase sharply, following a new volley of tariffs announced by President Donald Trump last week that includes a 50% import tax on kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities due to kick in on Wednesday. John Lovallo, an analyst with UBS, estimates the tariffs on cabinets and vanities could add roughly $280 to the cost of a home. The most labor-intensive types of home repair or remodeling work registered the biggest quarterly increases in labor costs. For example, the cost of replacing tile flooring rose 1.2%, while the cost of remodeling a primary bath or replacing vinyl siding each rose 1% in the April-June period from the previous quarter. Nearly all of the 31 categories of repair and remodeling work tracked by Verisk saw costs increase at least slightly. The latest index puts costs for repair and remodeling at almost 62% higher than they were 10 years ago and more than 73% higher than the first quarter of 2013, when the index debuted. After declining the past two years, homeowner spending on maintenance and home improvement projects increased in the first half of this year, according to researchers at Harvard University. The universitys Joint Center for Housing Studies most recent leading indicator of remodeling activity, or LIRA, estimates spending hit $510 billion in the second quarter, a 1.8% increase from a year earlier. However, the researchers project that growth in spending on home improvement and maintenance will slow in 2026, citing weakness in the housing market and slower construction of new homes. The housing market has been in a slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began climbing from historic lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes sank last year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years. And, so far this year, sales are running below where they were at this time in 2024. Alex Veiga, AP business writer
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E-Commerce
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