Raphael Stevens

Anheuser-Busch is ending the controversial practice of cutting off the tails of its Clydesdale horses for cosmetic purposes.
Animal rights groups including PETA have decried the practice as “crude mutilation” and spent months protesting the company.
The Clydesdale-drawn beer wagon appears at hundreds of events across the country and has become a staple in Budweiser’s marketing since its debut nearly a century ago.

Budweiser Clydesdales handler walks several Clydesdales in Houston, March 31, 2014.
James Nielsen | Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

Anheuser-Busch InBev said it will no longer cut the tails of the iconic Clydesdale horses used in its signature Budweiser commercials and at events, following extended backlash from animal rights groups.
The beverage maker, which has seen sales suffer after criticism of its partnership with transgender activist Dylan Mulvaney, debuted its horse-drawn beer wagon nearly a century ago to celebrate the repeal of Prohibition of beer. The Clydesdale horses instantly became a hit with audiences and Anheuser-Busch has since used them in hundreds of appearances across the country each year for parades, television commercials and Super Bowl events.

However, the practice known as “docking,” which can involve cutting through a horse’s tailbone, has come under scrutiny. Anheuser-Busch on Wednesday said it has stopped cutting off tails.
“The practice of equine tail docking was discontinued earlier this year,” a spokesperson for the company said. “The safety and well-being of our beloved Clydesdales is our top priority.”
Tailbone amputation for cosmetic reasons is illegal in 10 states and multiple countries. The American Veterinary Medical Association has also condemned it.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said an investigation it conducted found Budweiser horses had their tails docked for cosmetic reasons, and it decried the practice as “crude mutilation.” PETA said it found some representatives for Anheuser-Busch have said they trimmed the hairs on the tails rather than cut them off.
Earlier this month, an international coalition of animal protection organizations, including PETA, sent a letter to Anheuser-Busch urging the beer maker to end the practice. PETA even purchased stock in the company to voice concerns at shareholder meetings, in addition to protests and other actions the group took.

In a statement to CNBC, PETA said it’s celebrating the beer maker’s decision to stop cutting horse tails by “cracking open some cold ones.”
In addition to saying it would stop the practice, the company also announced a new partnership with American Humane, the world’s largest certifier of animal welfare practices. More

Tobacco giant Philip Morris International is considering selling off a stake in its largest pharmaceuticals unit.
The company has been making inroads into the wellness and health-care space in recent years as it pivots toward becoming a business focused on smoke-free products and respiratory medicines.
More recently, the division has struggled, and Philip Morris has had talks with Deutsche Bank on a range of options to try to grow its wellness and health-care division.

A Vectura Group logo is seen on a smartphone and a PC screen.
Pavlo Gonchar | SOPA Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Philip Morris International is considering selling off a stake in its largest pharmaceuticals unit.
The tobacco company, which makes Marlboro cigarettes, made inroads into the health care and wellness space in 2021 with the acquisition of Vectura, a U.K.-based pharmaceutical company that makes inhaled medicines and inhaler devices.

But more recently, the division has struggled, and Philip Morris has had talks with Deutsche Bank on a range of options to try to grow its wellness and health-care division, The Wall Street Journal first reported.
The company has been looking for a new partner to help boost Vectura, and it’s contemplating different options including a licensing or royalties deal, a commercial partnership or a sale of a majority or minority stake in the business.
In recent years, Philip Morris has also acquired Fertin Pharma, a nicotine gum maker, and OtiTopic, a respiratory drugmaker.
The three deals, which together totaled more than $2 billion, were part of the company’s broader, long-term pivot toward developing smoke-free products and medicines aimed at treating respiratory diseases commonly associated with cigarette smoking.
The acquisitions, however, triggered backlash from the public health sector. In the second quarter of this year, the company took a $680 million impairment charge related to its wellness and health-care division.

At the time of the Vectura deal, Philip Morris said the acquisition would grow its “Beyond Nicotine” business and help the division achieve its goal of generating at least $1 billion in net revenues from these products by 2025. Following the setbacks, Philip Morris walked back on that goal and said it would begin reducing its investments in the division.
The company, in its Q2 earnings call, said it nevertheless will “remain committed to developing” its wellness and health-care business and it plans to “accelerate Vectura’s growth and will be exploring potential partnerships.”
The news comes as the tobacco company continues to face resistance from public health groups. This week, Philip Morris had its CEO removed from the lineup at the Concordia Annual Summit, a side event to the United Nations General Assembly meeting held in New York every September, after health experts refused to speak at the conference in protest against his appearance.
Concordia also rescinded Philip Morris’ membership in the conference effective immediately. More

GM said it idled an assembly plant in Kansas because of a shortage of parts due to the strike. About 2,000 of its workers were laid off Wednesday.
Stellantis also laid off about 370 workers at three parts factories that supply its Jeep plant in Toledo, where the United Auto Workers went on strike last week.
GM said because of the strike, the workers laid off Wednesday will not be eligible for the supplemental unemployment benefits it normally pays.

United Auto Workers members on a picket line outside the Stellantis NV Toledo Assembly Complex in Toledo, Ohio, on Sept. 18, 2023.
Emily Elconin | Bloomberg | Getty Images

General Motors and Stellantis said they have laid off additional workers because of consequences related to the United Auto Workers strike.
GM said in a statement Wednesday that it has halted production at its assembly plant in Fairfax, Kansas, because of a “shortage of critical stampings” that would have been supplied by its factory in Wentzville, Missouri, where workers went on strike last week. About 2,000 workers are affected.

Earlier Wednesday, Stellantis said it is laying off about 370 employees at three parts factories in Ohio and Indiana immediately due to “storage constraints,” also related to the strike. The plants make parts for Jeep vehicles built at the automaker’s Toledo Assembly Complex, where workers are also on strike.
UAW-represented workers walked out of the Wentzville and Toledo assembly plants, as well as a Ford Motor factory in Wayne, Michigan, near Detroit, on Sep. 15, after the three automakers failed to reach a deal on a new contract with the union.
GM’s Fairfax Assembly plant builds the Chevrolet Malibu sedan and Cadillac XT4 crossover. GM said that because of the strike, the 2,000 workers laid off from Fairfax will not be eligible for the supplemental unemployment benefits that its laid-off employees would normally receive.
“We have said repeatedly that nobody wins in a strike,” GM said in a statement. “What happened to our Fairfax team members is a clear and immediate demonstration of that fact. We will continue to bargain in good faith with the union to reach an agreement as quickly as possible.”
Nearly 13,000 GM, Ford and Stellantis workers are on strike at the Wentzville, Toledo and Wayne plants. UAW President Shawn Fain said the union would announce more strikes Friday unless there is “serious progress” in negotiations. More

Kraft Heinz announced a recall of Kraft Singles cheese slices after customers reported choking on stray pieces of plastic wrapping.
Nearly 84,000 cases of product are affected, the company said.
The hazard was caused by a faulty wrapping machine.

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Kraft Heinz recalled nearly 84,000 cases of Kraft Singles cheese slices on Tuesday after multiple customers reported a choking hazard.
The food giant received complaints of plastic film that stuck to the cheese even after consumers removed the wrapper, the company said in a press release. In six instances, customers said they choked or gagged because of the plastic.

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Source: Kraft

No injuries or health issues were reported.
After it received the complaints, Kraft Heinz discovered a manufacturing error in a wrapping machine used to enclose the cheese slices in the plastic. The issue in some cases caused a thin strip of plastic film to remain even after customers took off the packaging, Kraft Heinz said. The company has since fixed the error and inspected other machines for it.

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Source: Kraft

Kraft Heinz urged all customers with affected products not to eat them and to return the cheese slices to the store where they purchased them.
Recalled products include the 16 oz. Kraft Singles American Pasteurized Prepared Cheese Product with an individual package UPC code of “0 2100061526 1” and a “Best When Used By” date of Jan. 10, 2024, through Jan. 27, 2024. Packages included in the recall will have an “S” and “72” in the manufacturing code, the company said.

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Source: Kraft

Kraft Heinz is not the only major company to report a manufacturing error this year.

Trader Joe’s reported an issue of its own in July, when the grocery chain’s Almond Windmill Cookies, as well as the Dark Chocolate Chunk and Almond Cookies, were found to potentially contain rocks.
“If you purchased or received any donations of Almond Windmill Cookies and/or Dark Chocolate Chunk and Almond Cookies, please do not eat them,” the company said at the time. More

As the UAW union enters day six of targeted strikes against the Detroit automakers, GM President Mark Reuss is criticizing union leadership for its rhetoric and “flow of misinformation.”
Reuss focused on the union’s public bashing of the company and elements of GM’s contract proposal last week that included 20% pay raises and improved time off, bonuses and other benefits.
Reuss said that the union’s full demands would be “untenable,” or unsustainable, for the company.

Breaking with the long-standing tradition of the “handshake ceremony” with the auto executives of the Big Three auto makers to open contract talks, United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain instead speaks with and does “members’ handshakes” with Stellantis workers at the Stellantis Sterling Heights Assembly Plant on July 12, 2023 in Sterling Heights, Michigan. The UAW opens auto contract negotiations with Stellantis today, Ford on July 14, and General Motors on July 18. (Photo by Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
Bill Pugliano | Getty Images News | Getty Images

DETROIT – As the United Auto Workers union enters day six of targeted strikes against the Detroit automakers, General Motors President Mark Reuss is criticizing union leadership for its rhetoric and “flow of misinformation” during the ongoing contract negotiations.
Reuss, in an editorial, focused on the union’s public bashing of the company and elements of GM’s “record” contract proposal last week that included 20% pay raises and improved time off, bonuses and other benefits over the four-year term of the deal.

“As the past has clearly shown, nobody wins in a strike,” Reuss said in a Wednesday column in the Detroit Free Press. “We have delivered a record offer. That is a fact. It rightly rewards our team members, while positioning the company for success in the future. Often in these situations, the clouds of rhetoric can obscure reality.”
The UAW hasn’t responded to the op-ed, as of Wednesday morning.

GM’s last offer was made Sept. 14, ahead of the union initiating a “Stand Up Strike” at one assembly plant each for GM, Ford Motor and Stellantis. UAW President Shawn Fain said Monday the strikes will expand at noon Friday unless “serious progress” is made in negotiations.
Currently on strike are roughly 12,700 UAW workers from GM’s midsize truck and full-size van plant in Wentzville, Missouri; Ford’s Ranger midsize pickup and Bronco SUV plant in Wayne, Michigan; and Stellantis’ Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator plant in Toledo, Ohio.

What did GM offer?

Reuss said GM’s offer, which the union countered, recognizes “the many contributions our represented team members make to our company — past, present and future.”

Under the deal, Reuss said about 85% of current represented employees would earn a base wage of approximately $82,000 a year. That’s compared with the average median household income in nine areas where GM has major assembly plants of $51,821, he said.

GM’s current proposal is estimated to cost between $700 million and $1.2 billion over the life of the deal, Wells Fargo’s Colin Langan said in a Sept. 15 investor note. If GM gave in to all the union’s demands, it would cost the company between $6 billion and $8 billion under the deal, Langan said Wednesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“There’s a long way to go. We’re talking about fixed-costs, too. That’s the real pain point for the automakers,” Langan said, calling them “material numbers” for the companies.
Key demands from the union have included 40% hourly pay increases; a reduced, 32-hour workweek; a shift back to traditional pensions; the elimination of compensation tiers; and a restoration of cost-of-living adjustments. Other items on the table include enhanced retiree benefits and better vacation and family leave benefits.

‘Untenable’

Reuss said Wednesday that the union’s full demands would be “untenable,” or unsustainable, for the company.
“If we don’t continue to invest, we will lose ground — quickly. Our competitors across the country and around the world, most of whom are non-union, will waste no time seizing the opportunity we would be handing them,” he said.

Mark Reuss, executive vice president of global product development at General Motors Co. (GM), speaks next to a 2019 Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck during the 2018 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, Michigan.
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Reuss’ comments are the latest by automotive executives as the UAW takes a strategically aggressive approach during the talks, showing little leeway in its demands.
Late Monday, Ford released a lengthy statement fact-checking comments made by Fain, including auto worker wages, company profits and stock buybacks.
It followed Ford CEO Jim Farley last week saying the company would have “gone bankrupt by now” under the union’s current proposals. He’s also criticized Fain for his approach to bargaining.
“We’ve never seen anything like this; it’s frustrating,” Farley told CNBC’s Phil LeBeau last week ahead of the strikes. “I don’t know what Shawn Fain is doing, but he’s not negotiating this contract with us, as it expires.” More

Elon Musk’s SpaceX sued the U.S. Department of Justice in a Texas federal court, as the company aims to stop the DOJ’s hiring discrimination case on constitutional grounds.
“SpaceX wants to hire the very best candidates for every job regardless of their citizenship status, and in fact has hired hundreds of noncitizens,” the company wrote in its complaint.
Central to the dispute is whom SpaceX can hire under military technology regulations.

SpaceX headquarters in Los Angeles, California.
AaronP/Bauer-Griffin | GC Images | Getty Images

Elon Musk’s SpaceX sued the U.S. Department of Justice in a Texas federal court, as the company aims to stop the DOJ’s hiring discrimination case on constitutional grounds.
The countersuit comes after the DOJ sued the company last month, alleging it discriminates in its hiring practices against refugees and people granted asylum in the U.S. Unlike SpaceX’s suit, filed in the Southern District of Texas, the DOJ suit was filed within a division of the agency that adjudicates immigration cases, a key point of contention in the company’s response.

“SpaceX has not engaged in any practice or pattern of discriminating against anyone, including asylees or refugees. To the contrary, SpaceX wants to hire the very best candidates for every job regardless of their citizenship status, and in fact has hired hundreds of noncitizens,” SpaceX’s counsel, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, wrote in the complaint filed Friday.
SpaceX’s suit names a trio of defendants, including U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.

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Central to the dispute is whom the company can hire under military technology regulations, specifically given how rocket and spacecraft tech falls under International Traffic in Arms Regulations and the Export Administration Regulations.
“Every SpaceX employee has access to technology and data controlled by these statutory and regulatory regimes,” the company wrote in the countersuit.
Founded in 2002, SpaceX employs more than 13,000 people across the U.S. In its response, SpaceX alleged it has “hired hundreds of noncitizens, including hires who were not U.S. Persons under” ITAR.

“Throughout its rapid growth, SpaceX has always sought, and continues to seek, to hire the most talented people possible,” the company said.
In recent years, SpaceX said its job postings averaged more than 90 applications each — and more than 100 applications for each of its engineering positions. SpaceX’s hiring tops the acceptance rates of even the most selective, elite U.S. colleges, as “only about 1% of applications result in a hire,” according to the company.
The DOJ has been investigating SpaceX since June 2020, when the department’s Immigrant and Employee Rights Section received a complaint of employment discrimination from a non-U.S. citizen. More