Raphael Stevens

A second Starbucks cafe in Mesa, Arizona, has voted to form a union under Workers United.
Eight company-owned Starbucks cafes have now voted to unionize in the United States.
The growing union push will be one of the challenges that incoming interim CEO Howard Schultz will have to tackle when he assumes the role on April 4.

A pro-union poster is seen on a lamp pole outside Starbucks’ Broadway and Denny location in Seattle’s Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood on March 22, 2022.
Toby Scott | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

A second Starbucks cafe in Mesa, Arizona, has voted to unionize, continuing the coffee chain’s losing streak as its baristas organize.
On Tuesday, workers at a Starbucks location in Seattle voted unanimously in favor of a union, dealing a blow to the company in its own hometown.

The Crismon and Southern location in Mesa is now the eighth company-owned U.S. Starbucks cafe to vote to unionize. That tally includes another Mesa location and six Buffalo, New York-area stores. Only one location that has held an election has voted against unionizing under Workers United, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union.
The growing union push will be one of the challenges that incoming interim CEO Howard Schultz will have to tackle when he assumes the role on April 4. During Schultz’s prior stints as chief executive, Starbucks gained a reputation as a generous and progressive employer, a position that is now in jeopardy as the union gains momentum and workers share their grievances.
The National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against Starbucks earlier in March for allegedly retaliating against two Phoenix employees who were trying to organize. The union has also alleged that Starbucks engaged in union-busting across many of its stores that have filed for elections. The company has denied those accusations.
The initial Buffalo victories for the union have galvanized other locations nationwide to organize. More than 150 company-owned Starbucks cafes have filed for union elections with the National Labor Relations Board.
Starbucks isn’t the only company that has seen its workers organize in recent months, although results have been mixed. Earlier this month, REI employees at their Manhattan flagship store voted to form the company’s first union in the U.S. On Thursday, workers at a Virginia Hershey factory voted against unionizing. And Amazon workers at a Staten Island warehouse are casting their ballots now on whether to form a union, with a second nearby warehouse slated to have its election in April.

Only a small fraction of the Starbucks’ overall footprint has been swept up in the union push. The company operates nearly 9,000 locations in the U.S.
At the Crismon and Southern location, 11 workers voted in favor of forming a union, with three voting against. One ballot was challenged, so it wasn’t counted as part of the official tally.
The NLRB’s regional director will now have to certify the ballots, a process that could take up to a week. Then the union faces its next real challenge: negotiating a contract with Starbucks. Labor laws don’t require that the employer and union reach a collective bargaining agreement, and contract discussions can drag on for years.
At Starbucks’ annual shareholders meeting last week, Chair Mellody Hobson said the company understands and recognizes its workers’ right to organize.
“We are also negotiating in good faith, and we want a constructive relationship with the union,” she said.
She said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” earlier that day that Starbucks “made some mistakes” when asked about the union push.
“When you think about, again, why we’re leaning on Howard in this moment, it’s that connection with our people where we think he’s singularly capable of engaging with our people in a way that will make a difference,” she said.

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General Motors will halt pickup truck production at a factory in Indiana during the weeks of April 4 and April 11 due to an ongoing shortage of semiconductor chips.
The facility produces highly profitable Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickup trucks.

Trucks come off the assembly line at GM’s Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup truck plant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, July 25, 2018. 
John Gress | Reuters

DETROIT — General Motors will halt pickup truck production at a factory in Indiana for two weeks next month due to an ongoing shortage of semiconductor chips that has wreaked havoc on the global automotive industry for more than a year.
The supply of chips, which are critical parts for new vehicles, was expected to gradually improve for automakers throughout this year, but other problems in the supply chain, including Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, have clouded such expectations.

GM President Mark Reuss recently told CNBC that chip supplies were “getting a little better” but the crisis was not over. “We’re not through this,” he said last week. “We’re doing the best we can.”

GM’s Fort Wayne, Indiana, plant will be down the weeks of April 4 and April 11, the company announced Friday. The facility produces highly profitable Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickup trucks.
Automakers have been prioritizing chips whenever possible for their most high-demand and profitable vehicles. For the Detroit automakers, those are pickup trucks and large SUVs.
“Overall, we have seen better consistency in semiconductor supply through the first quarter compared to last year as a whole. This has translated into improvement in our production and deliveries during the first three months of the year,” GM said in a statement Friday. “However, there is still uncertainty and unpredictability in the semiconductor supply base, and we are actively working with our suppliers to mitigate potential issues moving forward.”
GM also produces Silverado and Sierra pickups at plants in Mexico and Canada. It produces larger, heavy-duty versions in Flint, Michigan.

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A Wisconsin senator is urging Kohl’s to not accept any buyout offer that might precede a bankruptcy filing or threaten workers’ jobs in the state.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat, sent a letter to Kohl’s board of directors on Thursday asking the company to reject proposals that would entail dramatically growing debt levels, hiving off assets or increasing shareholder payouts at the expense of reinvesting in the business.
On Monday, following monthlong pressure from activists to consider a sale, Kohl’s confirmed it had received multiple preliminary offers from parties interested in acquiring the department store chain.

A view outside a Kohl’s store in Miramar, Florida.
Johnny Louis | Getty Images

A U.S. senator from Wisconsin is urging Kohl’s to not accept any buyout offer that might precede a bankruptcy filing or threaten workers’ jobs in the retailer’s home state.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat, sent a letter to Kohl’s board of directors on Thursday asking the company to reject proposals that would entail dramatically growing debt levels, hiving off assets or increasing shareholder payouts at the expense of reinvesting in the business.

“I ask that you carefully consider each proposal’s long-term strategy and reject any offers that propose a sale-leaseback, increase the risk of bankruptcy, or imperil the jobs and retirement security of thousands of Wisconsin workers,” said Baldwin in the letter, which was seen by CNBC.
A representative from Kohl’s didn’t immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
On Monday, following months of pressure from activists to consider a sale, Kohl’s confirmed it had received multiple preliminary offers from parties interested in acquiring the department store chain. Kohl’s didn’t offer specific names of those bidders. One offer came from Canadian-based retail conglomerate Hudson’s Bay Co., said a person familiar with the matter. Separately, reports have said that private equity firm Sycamore Partners is considering a bid. Spokespeople for HBC and Sycamore declined to comment.
Kohl’s has already rejected one offer — from Starboard-backed Acacia Research — to acquire the business for a price tag of $64 per share. Kohl’s deemed the deal to be too low, but it has since been working with bankers at Goldman Sachs to field other suitors. Thus far, it says it has engaged with more than 20 parties. Kohl’s shares opened Friday at $61.67, having rallied about 24% year to date. The stock was down modestly in midday trading.
Private equity firms and hedge funds have time and again come under fire for pushing retailers into bankruptcy and stiffing employees. A 2019 report from United for Respect calculated that more than 1.3 million Americans lost their jobs in the prior 10 years as a result of private equity ownership in retail. It cited bankruptcies at Toys R Us and Sears as two examples.

Baldwin pointed in her letter to Shopko, also founded in Wisconsin, which ended up saddled with debt after it was acquired by Sun Capital Partners in 2005, for around $1.1 billion. Shopko filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019 and ultimately liquidated after it couldn’t find a buyer.

Senator Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat from Wisconsin and chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development and U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), speaks during a hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, June 10, 2021.
Al Drago | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shopko’s roughly 3,000 employees in Wisconsin lost their jobs, said Baldwin. “Wisconsinites are rightly concerned that history will repeat itself at Kohl’s.”
In total, Kohl’s counted about 99,000 employees in 2021, including part-time workers over the holiday season. According to Baldwin, Kohl’s employees roughly 8,000 people across Wisconsin.
“I understand that you are under pressure from various investment funds that have recently purchased large blocks of Kohl’s outstanding shares,” said the senator. “I believe that the demand that ‘their’ capital be returned through stock repurchases is a sleight of hand that only serves to enrich short-term shareholders.”
Kohl’s is set to hold an annual meeting with shareholders on May 11.
In a letter to shareholders dated March 21, Kohl’s wrote: “While we have strong confidence in our strategic plan, our board is testing and measuring it against alternatives. … The board is committed to pursuing the path that it believes will maximize shareholder value.”

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Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich looks on after their 3-1 win in the Barclays Premier League match between Chelsea and Sunderland at Stamford Bridge on December 19, 2015 in London, England.
Clive Mason | Getty Images

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich “could face sanctions,” despite his claims of being a peace-broker between Ukraine and Russia.
Abramovich, the highest profile oligarch in the West, has been sanctioned by the U.K., European Union and Canada. But questions have swirled around why the U.S. has been slow to act. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky advised President Biden to hold off sanctioning Abramovich, who he said could act as a go-between with Russia to negotiate peace, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The article said the Treasury Department had prepared sanctions against Abramovich, but the White House National Security Council requested a delay.
Secretary Yellen told CNBC Friday that Abramovich could still face sanctions.
“I would hold open the possibility that — certainly not take off the table the possibility — he or other individuals could face sanctions in the future,” she said.
Yellen declined to comment on the Wall Street Journal report or Abramovich’s effectiveness as a peace-broker. The Financial Times reported today that Vladimir Putin personally approved Abramovich’s involvement in Russia’s peace talks.
“I am not going to comment on the calculus about exactly what determines if he is or isn’t sanctioned,” Yellen said. “I’m just saying that it remains a possibility.”

The debate over Abramovich has only added to his highly controversial and highly public profile in the West. With his fleet of yachts, private jets, ownership of Chelsea FC and trophy real-estate in London, Aspen, St. Bart’s, France and other countries, Abramovich became the face of Russian mega-wealthy in the U.S. and Europe.
Abramovich is racing to sell Chelsea for a reported $4 billion, which has come down to two leading bidding groups — one led by Los Angeles Dodgers co-owner and investor Todd Boehly and the other led by private-equity chiefs Josh Harris and David Blitzer. He is also trying to sell his London mansion. A property near Aspen, which remains in his name, could be among the first U.S. asset to be frozen if he’s sanctioned by the Biden administration.
Abramovich’s two mega-yachts — Eclipse and Solaris — have sailed to Turkey, which has so far refused to sanction or freeze oligarch assets. While it’s unclear where Abramovich is currently residing, private jets linked to him have been tracked from Israel to Turkey and he is reportedly eying real-estate in Dubai.
Abramovich’s role as a mediator and advisor to Putin contradicts one of his long-held claims. His legal and PR teams have for years disputed the label of “oligarch,” arguing that Abramovich doesn’t have any influence on Putin or policies.
After buying Chelsea in 2003, he told the Financial Times that he had “no special relationship” with the Russian president.
Yellen said the U.S. may sanction more oligarchs, since they are both a source of influence and money for Putin.
“I think the oligarchs probably have some influence on the thinking of President Putin,” she said. “And they have provided resources to enable Putin to carry out a war like this. So influencing, you know, the sanctions that we’ve put on them I think are appropriate and hopefully will matter.”

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Bed Bath & Beyond announced that it has struck a deal with activist investor Ryan Cohen.
The home goods retailer said in a news release that three people from Cohen’s firm, RC Ventures, will immediately join Bed Bath’s board of directors.
Cohen revealed a stake in Bed Bath earlier this month and said the company should shake up operations and consider a sale of its Buybuy Baby chain.

A person enters a Bed Bath & Beyond store on October 01, 2021 in the Tribeca neighborhood in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

Bed Bath & Beyond announced Friday that it has struck a deal with activist investor Ryan Cohen, sending shares of the company up about 6% in premarket trading.
The home goods retailer said in a news release that three people chosen by Cohen’s firm, RC Ventures, will immediately join Bed Bath’s board as independent directors. They include Marjorie Bowen, Shelly Lombard, and Ben Rosenzweig.

The company said a four-person committee will look into alternatives for its Buybuy Baby chain and make recommendations to the board. That committee will include Bowen and Rosenzweig.
Bed Bath has been in the middle of a turnaround effort led by former Target executive Mark Tritton, who took the helm in 2019. That has included a overhaul of many aspects of the company, including a heavier emphasis on private label, store remodels and closures of underperforming locations. The retailer also sold other store banners, Christmas Tree Shops and Cost Plus World Market, to focus on its namesake brand.
Bed Bath’s stock performance has lagged, even as the pandemic fueled a hot real estate market and inspired Americans to invest in their homes. Shares are down about 23% over the past year. They closed Thursday at $22.10, bringing the company’s market value to $2.13 billion.
Earlier this month, Cohen, who is also the chairman of GameStop, revealed a nearly 10% stake in Bed Bath and his intentions to push the retailer to make sweeping changes. In a letter, he criticized Bed Bath’s leaders for racking up high pay while struggling to turn around the retailer’s performance. He called for a shakeup in its operations, including a closer look at spinning off or selling its baby store chain.
On Friday, Tritton said the company’s leaders “look forward to integrating our new directors’ ideas to drive our continued transformation” as part of the deal with RC Ventures.

“As we move forward, our goals will continue to focus on delivering value for our shareholders, enhancing experiences for our customers, executing on the transformation throughout our business, and creating new and exciting opportunities for our dedicated employees across all our banners,” he said in the news release.
Cohen called the resolution “a positive outcome for all of Bed Bath’s shareholders.”
“I appreciate that management and the Board were willing to promptly embrace our ideas and look forward to supporting them in the year ahead,” he said in the news release.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

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More than half of American households paid no federal income tax last year due to Covid-relief funds, tax credits and stimulus, according to a new report.
The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that 57% of U.S. households paid no federal income taxes for 2021, up substantially from the 44% before the pandemic.
Since most workers pay payroll taxes, the share of Americans who pay neither payroll nor federal income taxes was only 19% in 2021, slightly higher than the 17% rate before the pandemic.

More than half of American households paid no federal income tax last year due to Covid-relief funds, tax credits and stimulus, according to a new report.
The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that 57% of U.S. households paid no federal income taxes for 2021, up substantially from the 44% before the pandemic.

Howard Gleckman, senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, said Covid-related job losses, a decline in incomes, stimulus checks and tax credits were largely responsible for the increase.
The expanded Child Tax Credit was a large factor. It substantially reduced “the income tax liability of more than a hundred million households and temporarily turned many from payers of small amounts of federal income tax to non-payers,” Gleckman wrote.
With many of the tax programs ending, Gleckman forecasts the number of non-payers will decline to 42% in 2022 and 38% by 2029.
“We predict it will go back down and remain fairly low relative to historical standards,” Gleckman said.

Not just income taxes

Federal income taxes are just a part of the overall tax burden. Since most workers pay payroll taxes, the share of American taxpayers who pay neither payroll nor federal income taxes was only 19% in 2021, slightly higher than the 17% rate before the pandemic. Taxpayers also often pay state and local taxes.

Yet many conservatives and Republican politicians have seized on the soaring number of non-payers to call for tax reform. Sen. Rick Scott as part of an 11-point “Rescue America” plan, said “all Americans should pay some income tax to have skin in the game.”
In an interview with NPR, Scott, R-Fla., denied he wanted to raise taxes lower earners. “I don’t believe in tax increases,” he said.
“I’m not going to raise anybody’s taxes, but I want to have the conversation,” he said. “We’ve got able-bodied Americans who are living off of government programs instead of working, and that’s caused by these Democrat policies. And that doesn’t work. We got billionaires that are not paying, you know, income taxes.”
The Tax Policy Center estimated that a plan calling for all Americans to pay at least $100 in income taxes would raise $100 billion in revenue in 2022. Yet such a plan, by nature, would be highly regressive: More than 80% of the tax increase would be paid by households making about $54,000 or less, and 97% would be paid by those making less than about $100,000.
Gleckman said Scott’s claims about not supporting tax increases while wanting more Americans to pay taxes are “just silly.”
“If you have people paying no tax and you want them to pay more taxes than they’re paying now, I don’t understand what Scott is saying. The reason people don’t pay federal income tax is that they don’t make enough money,” he said.
There are wealthy taxpayers who pay no federal income tax in a given year, as documented in recent ProPublica articles, and they are likely a small share of non-payers, Gleckman added.
“The tax code is actually quite progressive,” Gleckman said. “There may be some cases where someone with a lot of wealth has little income, or they realize gains and offset those with losses or a charitable deduction. But that’s unusual.”

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FedEx plans to test electric carts to make deliveries on its signature Express routes in 10 U.S. and Canadian cities throughout 2022.
The company hopes electric delivery carts will help address a major challenge it faces in every big city it serves: lack of parking.
So far, the delivery giant has tested using the EP1 electric cart made by General Motors’ BrightDrop in New York City and Toronto.

FedEx plans to test electric carts to make deliveries on its signature Express routes in 10 U.S. and Canadian cities throughout 2022.
The company hopes electric delivery carts will help address a major challenge it faces in every big city it serves: lack of parking.

E-commerce sales grew 86% over prepandemic levels in February, according to data from Mastercard. But the number of parking spots and loading zones remained largely the same in New York City and Toronto, where the global carrier has been testing the EP1 electric cart made by General Motors’ BrightDrop.
“You’re serving skyscrapers and very dense areas. What this allows us to do is cut down on the number of vehicles required to service that route, and have the courier operate in a more efficient manner so they are not going back and forth to a truck,” Russ Musgrove, the managing director for Global Vehicles for FedEx Express, told CNBC during a demonstration of the carts in Manhattan on Wednesday.
Electrifying the global supply chain has been a slow process for the largest global fleet operators, in spite of a flurry of deals between delivery services and EV makers. UPS has a commitment to purchase up to 10,000 delivery trucks from Arrival, and it uses electric bikes and ATVs in Europe. DHL bought electric planes to move packages from hubs to smaller markets. Amazon has a commitment to buy 100,000 EVs from Rivian and will be the first customer for Stellantis’ Ram ProMaster electric vehicle.

FedEx EP1 cart by Brightdrop
Source: Brightdrop

FedEx is encouraged by the early results from its pilot program. The company said its tests in New York and Toronto show a courier can deliver 15% more packages a day with the electric carts than with a traditional delivery model. By deploying a truck of the electric carts and by getting couriers to their routes in a separate passenger van, the company estimates it can reduce the use of trucks on each route by as much 25% per day.
The company acknowledges that its sample size is small with trials in New York and Toronto so far, and the 10 cities for this year’s pilot program have yet to be finalized. But, Musgrove added, the company sees the greatest potential upside is in international cities such as Sao Paulo, Barcelona and Hong Kong.

The sharp rise in diesel prices, 27% higher in the last month alone, according to AAA, has only increased interest in the electric cart and EV delivery vehicles, BrightDrop CEO Travis Katz told CNBC.
“Everyone is starting to take a look at this electrification movement and realize the time is now to make a change,” Katz said. “The instability that’s happening in the global oil markets, the surge in prices, is causing everyone to understand that that the status quo isn’t going to work long-term.”
He added: “As e-commerce is continuing to scale and continuing to grow, how do we enable it to grow without driving up costs, without driving up congestion without driving up emissions? So it’s really the start of what we see as a new era in delivery.”
The electric cart testing is a deepening of the relationship between FedEx and BrightDrop. Wedbush analyst Dan Ives has called the global shipping company the “Golden Goose” of EV customers. 
FedEx is also testing BrightDrop’s EV600 delivery van in California and has a deal in place to buy up to 20,000 EV delivery vans in the coming years as part of its $2 billion plan to be carbon neutral by 2040. 
In December, BrightDrop said the cost to charge and operate its electric van was approximately 75% less than fueling a diesel powered truck, approximately $7,000 per vehicle. Katz says now the potential savings have only increased.

FedEx EP1 cart by Brightdrop
Source: Brightdrop

“That was before gas prices surged,” Katz said. “At the current price the numbers have nearly doubled to almost $14,000 a year in operational savings.”
FedEx is also hoping the electric carts will allow it to shift operations before changes in zoning or laws force the change.
New York City is piloting a Green Loading Zone project starting in the first half of 2022 that will prioritize curb access for zero and low emission vehicles. The city Department of Transportation has also launched an “Off Hours Delivery” program offering resources to help logistics companies make deliveries during non peak hours.
“A lot of cities don’t want commercial vehicles operating during the day in some of these markets. Urban mobility is a component to being able to continue the movement of goods during the day during business hours,” Musgrove said.

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