Economy

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday called on partners and allies to make good swiftly on their existing commitments to support Ukraine and to join the United States in doing more as Russia continues its “barbaric” attacks.Yellen expressed her condolences to Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko and senior Ukrainian officials for the latest Russian attacks, aimed at the capital Kyiv and other safe-haven cities, and pledged Washington’s continued support.”Once again, the world has seen the true nature of Russia’s barbaric and illegal war. The United States continues to stand resolutely with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. We will continue to support you as you rebuild the prosperous and free Ukraine that your country has fought so hard to secure,” Yellen told Marchenko and his delegation before a meeting.Washington intended to disburse $4.5 billion in direct budget support to Ukraine in coming weeks, she said. Congress approved that funding two weeks ago, bringing total U.S. direct budget support for Ukraine to $13.5 billion – all in grants.”We’re committed to getting this funding to you as soon as possible because we know how important it is in supporting your brave resistance to Russia’s illegal invasion,” she said.Washington had also joined with Ukraine’s major creditors to suspend the country’s bilateral debt service payments this year and next year, she said.”But let me be clear: international support for Ukraine is a collective effort. We are calling on our partners and allies to join us by swiftly disbursing their existing commitments to Ukraine and by stepping up in doing more – both to help Ukraine continue its essential government services and to help Ukraine begin to build and recover,” she said.Ukraine has said it needs up to $5 billion a month in long-term commitments to cover its budget costs, including pensions, military spending and to continue servicing its debts. International creditors have frozen debt payments, but about 80% of its payments are to domestic banks.Yellen’s pointed comments about partners’ commitments reflect mounting frustration among U.S. and Ukrainian officials about the European Union, which pledged $9 billion in support for Ukraine, but has delivered only $1 billion thus far.Germany, in particular, has slowed the process of releasing the funds to Ukraine, sources familiar with the matter say.Yellen and other G7 finance officials will meet to discuss Ukraine’s financing and reconstruction needs on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.Officials from the IMF and Ukraine will meet in Vienna next week for technical discussions on Ukraine’s budget with an eye to laying the groundwork for a future full-fledged lending program.Germany, the current president of the Group of Seven rich economies, will host a conference on Ukraine’s recovery in Berlin on Oct. 25. More

Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the G7 countries to speed up supplies of air defence systems after another day of a Russian missile barrage struck civilian and infrastructure targets across Ukraine. The Ukrainian president’s plea came during a video conference held by the G7 leaders, including US president Joe Biden. Zelenskyy told the group Russia “has fired more than 100 cruise missiles and dozens of various drones” over the past two days, many hitting cities that have been free of attacks for months. “When Ukraine obtains enough modern and effective surface-to-air defence systems, the key element of Russian terror — missile attacks — will no longer work,” he said. The second Russian fusillade appeared to be less intense than the nationwide bombings on Monday that left dozens of Ukrainian civilians dead in some of the country’s largest cities. Russian president Vladimir Putin said strikes this week were ordered “at the defence ministry’s suggestion”, pointing to the newly appointed commander of Moscow’s invasion forces, Sergei Surovikin, a hardline general who has earned nicknames such as “the fierce one” and “General Armageddon”.Do you think G7 countries should speed up supplies of air missile defence systems for Ukraine? Tell us in our latest poll. Thanks for reading FirstFT Asia. — Emily

Five more stories in the news1. IMF forecasts ‘very painful’ outlook for global economy The IMF has said there is a growing risk that the global economy will slide into recession next year as households and businesses in most countries face “stormy waters”. A confluence of economic headwinds will lower global growth from 3.2 per cent in 2022 to 2.7 per cent next year, the fund predicted.2. Biden to ‘re-evaluate’ Saudi relations, White House says US president Joe Biden is re-evaluating America’s relationship with Saudi Arabia after the Opec+ decision last week to cut oil production, a top White House adviser has said, as tensions between Washington and Riyadh continue to rise.Go deeper: The production cuts highlight how under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman the kingdom is increasingly willing to pursue its own agenda even if it risks upsetting its partners.3. Bailey rules out extending Bank of England intervention Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey dashed pension funds’ hopes, saying the Bank of England would not continue its £65bn bond-buying intervention into next week. Bailey said that although strains had been felt, market conditions in the government bonds “seemed calmer” after it had staged its second emergency intervention in two days.Further reading: There is little sign that the Bank of England is going to get anywhere near the maximum potential size of the programme by the time it ends on Friday.4. EU cautions Hong Kong on sanctioned Russian superyacht Hong Kong could be helping Russian billionaire Alexei Mordashov who has moored his superyacht in the city’s harbour evade EU sanctions, the bloc’s diplomats in the city warned after the Chinese territory said it would not be taking action against the ship. 5. Uber and Lyft slide after US proposes new gig work rule Shares in the largest gig economy companies in the US tumbled after the Biden administration proposed a rule that would make it more likely that gig workers will be classified as employees instead of independent contractors. Ride-hailing app Uber fell as much as 16.7 per cent, while shares in Lyft and DoorDash hit record lows during trading in New York on Tuesday.The day aheadIndia economic data Monthly industrial production and consumer price index inflation data will be released today. The IMF yesterday projected 6.9 per cent consumer price inflation this year. See how your country compares on rising prices with our inflation tracker. (Hindustan Times, FT)

Israeli officials discuss Lebanon deal Israel’s security cabinet and government will meet today to approve details of the deal with Lebanon over the nations’ maritime border. The country’s parliament will then have 14 days to review it before the deal returns to the government for final approval. Anniversary of Bali nightclub bombings Today marks the 20 years since the Bali nightclub bombing that killed more than 200 people and injured more than 200 others. The Australian government will host a memorial service today.Nato meeting The group will host a meeting of western countries supplying arms to Ukraine today. What else we’re readingKishida backs BoJ’s ultra-loose policy despite yen plunge In an interview with the Financial Times, Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida said the Bank of Japan needed to maintain its policy until wages rose. Kishida said he would continue to “work closely” with Haruhiko Kuroda, ruling out speculation he would end the BoJ governor’s term prematurely.China property crisis spoils Communist party’s triumph As China’s Communist party congress meets this weekend to celebrate its achievements over the past five years, economists will be watching for how Beijing plans to confront its most momentous economic challenge: its property crisis. The CCP congress could reveal some clues.Ben & Jerry’s vs Unilever The ice cream maker’s decision to end its franchise deal in Israel to prevent its product from being sold in occupied Palestinian territories has placed it at odds with its parent company, turning a star acquisition into a legal nightmare for Unilever.Mind the gap! What women need to know about investing In this Money Clinic Investment Masterclass, Emilie Bellet, founder of VestPod, talks to host FT consumer editor Claer Barrett about how to get started investing, when to start saving for a pension and why some of the myths around women investors are just that.Most people don’t know what GDP growth is Liz Truss is all about growth in gross domestic product, writes Sarah O’Connor. But the problem is most people don’t know what GDP growth is (let alone care about it) and the market reaction to Truss’s unfunded tax cuts affected things like mortgage rates — which really matter to people.FashionWhy are we still obsessed with green? “The fashion industry didn’t invent our desire for green, it just read the room. It is surely not a coincidence that green is the decreed colour of environmentalism, something the fashion industry has an awkward relationship with,” writes Kate Finnigan.

Statement greens continue to dominate on the catwalk and on the street © Valentina Frugiuele/Getty Images More

The Amazon Labor Union has built momentum leading up to an election this week at an 800-person warehouse near Albany, N.Y.A federal labor official recently endorsed the union’s election victory at a Staten Island warehouse in April, which Amazon has challenged, while workers’ frustrations over pay and safety have created an opportunity to add supporters and pressure the company to bargain.But the union faces questions about whether it can translate such opportunities into lasting gains. For months after its victory at the 8,000-person warehouse on Staten Island, the union appeared to be out of its depths. It nearly buckled under a crush of international media attention and lost a vote at a second Staten Island warehouse in May.At times, it has neglected organizing inside the original warehouse, known as JFK8, where high turnover means the union must do constant outreach just to maintain support — to say nothing of expanding. Christian Smalls, the union’s president and a former JFK8 employee, seemed distracted as he traveled widely. There was burnout and infighting in the group, and several core members left or were pushed out.“It wasn’t clear what goal we should be working towards,” said Cassio Mendoza, a JFK8 worker and the union’s communications director, alluding to the sometimes competing priorities of pushing for a contract and organizing more warehouses.The election near Albany, to be spread out over four days between Wednesday and Monday in Castleton-on-Hudson, could help determine whether the earlier problems were natural growing pains or a sign of deeper dysfunction.Amazon employees at the barbecue signed a petition calling on the company to negotiate with the union. DeSean McClinton–Holland for The New York TimesAmazon has cast doubt on the Amazon Labor Union’s experience and says it doesn’t believe that the union represents workers’ views. The company said it was investing $1 billion over the next year to permanently raise hourly pay.Among the union’s biggest diversions in recent months was countering Amazon’s attempt to overturn its victory, which consumed time and resources, as supporters and leaders testified in hearings that dragged across 24 business days beginning in mid-June. The union delayed plans to train more workers as organizers. A national organizing call was put on hold.Just before Labor Day, the National Labor Relations Board official running the hearings recommended rejecting Amazon’s challenge and certifying the union. A regional official must still weigh in.More on Big TechInside Meta’s Struggles: After a rocky year, employees at Meta are expressing skepticism, confusion and frustration over Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for the metaverse.A Deal for Twitter?: In a surprise move, Elon Musk has offered to acquire Twitter at his original price of $44 billion, which could bring to an end the acrimonious legal fight between the billionaire and the company.Hiring Freezes: Amazon is halting corporate hiring in its retail business for the rest of the year, joining Meta as the latest tech companies to pull back amid the economic uncertainty.TikTok Nears Deal with U.S.: The Biden administration and the Chinese-owned video app have drafted a preliminary agreement to resolve national security concerns over the platform, but hurdles remain over the terms.The finding appeared to bolster the union within the Staten Island warehouse, though management responded by sending workers a message saying the company intended to appeal. “We believe a direct relationship with you is best,” the message said.Around the same time, the union began to refocus. It opened an office on Staten Island in late August, hired two full-time staff members and set up a database tracking worker support. “I feel we are in a better place than we have ever been,” Mr. Mendoza said.The union brought in prominent labor organizers to lead regular in-person training on how to push for a contract. It finally held two calls in an effort to recruit and train leaders for organizing drives nationwide.“Your building could be next, and that is why we are having this call,” Madeline Wesley, an Amazon employee who is a lead Amazon Labor Union organizer for the second Staten Island warehouse, said on one call. Workers who indicated they were from facilities in Kentucky, New Jersey, Ohio and Washington took part.The union, which says it has set aside about one-fifth of its more than half-million-dollar budget for expansion, is already backing other organizing campaigns, including the one in Castleton-on-Hudson and another at a warehouse east of Los Angeles. Nannette Plascencia, a self-described “soccer mom” who is the California facility’s lead organizer, met Mr. Smalls at a party in Hollywood and decided that the Amazon Labor Union “understood where we were coming from,” she recalled in an interview.On Tuesday, the union submitted a petition for an election to represent workers at Ms. Plascencia’s warehouse, according to the N.L.R.B. Officials have yet to verify whether the union demonstrated enough support to warrant an election.“Check out the Amazon 25-cent raise — we’re not falling for that,” Christian Smalls, the union’s president, said at the barbecue.DeSean McClinton–Holland for The New York TimesIn late September, Amazon told workers that it was increasing hourly wages to reflect local market conditions, pledging to raise them by more than $1 in many warehouses. But at JFK8, where pay started at $18.25 an hour, the raise was between 25 cents and 75 cents an hour, depending on level and tenure.“It’s not enough to buy groceries,” said Celia Camasca, an employee of the warehouse there. “It would be better if they would have said nothing.”The union emphasized the slim raise at a barbecue outside the warehouse that had been coincidentally planned for an afternoon shortly after workers learned about it. “Check out the Amazon 25-cent raise — we’re not falling for that,” said Mr. Smalls, the union’s president and the event’s M.C.Union officials circulated a petition demanding that Amazon come to the bargaining table and that it give workers on Staten Island an immediate cost-of-living wage increase. Brandon Wagner, a packer who said that he had worked at the warehouse for about a month and that he previously made $17 an hour at a Wendy’s, signed the petition while waiting in line for food because, he said, workers are underpaid.Paul Flaningan, an Amazon spokesman, said that the national average pay for most frontline jobs was more than $19 an hour and that the company offered “comprehensive benefits” for full-time employees, including health insurance from Day 1, paid parental leave and 401(k) matching.The union still faces numerous obstacles. Amazon could spend years appealing the election result on Staten Island, and the company still has enormous power over JFK8 workers. After workers protested Amazon’s response to a fire at the site last week, the company suspended more than 60 of them with pay while, it said, it investigated what had occurred. The union filed unfair-labor-practice charges over the suspensions; Amazon said most of the workers had returned to work.The voting near Albany presents the union with its most visible immediate test.In interviews outside the warehouse, which handles oversize items like lawn mowers and televisions, many workers cited safety concerns and said pay was too low given the difficulty of the work. New workers made a base wage of $15.70 an hour before an increase of $1.30 this month.Heather Goodall is a leader of the union effort at Amazon’s warehouse in Castleton-on-Hudson, N.Y.DeSean McClinton–Holland for The New York TimesSome also complained that Amazon was too quick to discipline workers for minor infractions.David Bornt, who scans in merchandise before placing it in bins, said a misunderstanding over a quota had recently led to his being written up. He argued that a union could ease such stresses.“It’s someone to have your back,” Mr. Bornt said. “I have four kids, one on the way. I can’t be worried about losing my job at any minute.”Other employees said they opposed the union because they were satisfied with their pay and benefits and didn’t see how a union could improve the situation.“There’s just no need for it,” said Anthony Hough, one of those workers. “We just got a raise.”According to government data, Albany is one of the most unionized metropolitan areas in the country, and many employees expressed positive views about unions. But some said past experience at unionized workplaces made them less eager to join another one. Some also said they distrusted the Amazon Labor Union in particular.“The A.L.U. is new,” said Jacob Carpenter, another employee. “They’re not giving us any information.”The election outcome is likely to shape perceptions of the union. Heather Goodall, the lead organizer at the warehouse, is a member of the Amazon Labor Union’s board, and leaders of the union like Connor Spence, its treasurer, have visited the Albany area regularly. Mr. Smalls has traveled there as well.Ms. Goodall said she was concerned about safety at the warehouse. An Amazon spokesman said the company had a better overall safety record than other retailers. DeSean McClinton–Holland for The New York TimesMs. Goodall said she joined Amazon in February to help unionize the warehouse because she was concerned about unusually high injury rates, among other safety issues. The facility was evacuated after a cardboard compactor caught fire last week, two days after the JFK8 fire, which was similar.“The timeline to fix things is before something tragic happens,” Ms. Goodall said.She accused Amazon of running an aggressive anti-union campaign, including regular meetings with employees in which it questions the union’s credibility and suggests that workers could end up worse off if they unionize.Mr. Flaningan, the company spokesman, said that while injuries increased as Amazon trained hundreds of thousands of new workers in 2021, the company believed that its safety record surpassed that of other retailers over a broader period.“Like many other companies, we hold these meetings because it’s important that everyone understands the facts about joining a union and the election process itself,” he said, adding that the decision to unionize is up to employees. More

The International Monetary Fund lowered its growth outlook for 2023 and suggested that interest rate increases could spur a harsh global recession.The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday that the world economy was headed for “stormy waters” as it downgraded its global growth projections for next year and warned of a harsh worldwide recession if policymakers mishandled the fight against inflation.The grim assessment was detailed in the fund’s closely watched World Economic Outlook report, which was published as the world’s top economic officials traveled to Washington for the annual meetings of the World Bank and the I.M.F.The gathering arrives at a fraught time, as persistent supply chain disruptions and Russia’s war in Ukraine have led to a surge in energy and food prices over the last year, forcing central bankers to raise interest rates sharply to cool off their economies. Raising borrowing costs will probably tame inflation by slowing business investment and consumer spending, but higher rates could also yield a new set of problems: a cascade of recessions in rich nations and debt crises in poor ones.There are growing fears among policymakers that a so-called soft landing will elude the global economy.“In short, the worst is yet to come, and for many people 2023 will feel like a recession,” the International Monetary Fund report said.The organization maintained its most recent forecast that the global economy will grow 3.2 percent this year but now projects that will slow to 2.7 percent in 2023, slightly lower than the fund’s previous estimate. Both figures are big comedowns from the start of the year, when the fund projected global growth of 4.4 percent in 2022 and 3.8 percent in 2023, highlighting how the outlook has darkened in recent months.Inflation is expected to peak later this year and decline to 6.5 percent in 2023 from 8.8 percent in 2022.“The risks are accumulating,” Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the International Monetary Fund’s chief economist, said during an interview in which he described the global economy as weakening. “We’re expecting about a third of the global economy to be in a technical recession.”The fund defines a “technical recession” as an economy that contracts for two consecutive quarters.Corporate America and Wall Street are already bracing for a downturn. Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, told CNBC on Monday that the United States was likely to be “in some kind of recession six to nine months from now.”Despite the dire tone of the International Monetary Fund’s forecasts, some private forecasters are predicting worse. The median economist in a Bloomberg survey expects 2.9 percent global growth this year and 2.5 percent next, as the euro area posts 0.2 percent growth in 2023 and Eastern Europe sees output fall.The I.M.F. report detailed how the economies of the United States, China and the 19 nations that use the euro are in various states of slowing, with effects rippling around the world.In the United States, inflation and rising interest rates are sapping consumer spending power, and housing activity is slowing as mortgage rates rise. A recent three-month dip in gasoline prices gave consumers some relief from inflation, but prices have started to rise again. There are concerns that trend could continue after the oil production cut announced last week by the international cartel known as OPEC Plus.The fund forecast that the U.S. economy would grow 1.6 percent this year, a downgrade from its previous projection, and 1 percent in 2023.In China, lockdowns to prevent the spread of Covid-19 continue to drag on its economy, which is projected to grow 3.2 percent this year after expanding 8.1 percent in 2021. Beyond its pandemic restrictions, China is facing a crisis in its property sector as cash-constrained homeowners refuse to repay loans on unfinished properties. The International Monetary Fund warned that China’s housing crunch would spill into the country’s domestic banking sector.Europe has been heavily reliant on Russia for energy and is facing sharp increases in oil and gas prices as additional sanctions go into effect later this year, just as the weather turns colder. Tourism has buttressed many of the economies of Europe in 2022, but uncertainty about energy prices has slowed manufacturing activity.Efforts to respond to inflation have led to policy proposals that have caused their own upheaval. Britain’s financial markets have faced turmoil after investors rebuffed the tax and spending policies of Prime Minister Liz Truss and her new government. The Bank of England stepped up its intervention in Britain’s bond market on Tuesday, the second expansion of its emergency measures in two days, as it warned of a “material risk” to the nation’s financial stability.Although Russia is responsible for much of the jump in food and energy prices, its economy is holding up better than previously projected even in the face of robust international sanctions. Russia’s economy is expected to contract 3.4 percent this year and 2.3 percent in 2023, much less than many economists believed earlier in the year.International Monetary Fund officials attributed that to the resilience of its energy exports, which have allowed Russia to stimulate its economy and prop up its labor market. Still, Russia is facing a deep recession, and its economic output is far lower than before the war.The impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was top of mind as policymakers gathered in Washington.Janet L. Yellen, the Treasury secretary, condemned Russia’s actions during a meeting on Tuesday of finance ministers who convened to discuss the global food crisis. Russia’s finance minister, Anton Siluanov, attended the meeting virtually.“Putin’s regime and the officials who serve it — including those representing Russia at these gatherings — bear responsibility for the immense human suffering this war has caused,” Ms. Yellen said, according to a copy of her remarks provided by a Treasury Department official.Ms. Yellen called on the Group of 20, which represents the world’s major economies, to step up financial assistance to nations facing food shortages and said she would support a freeze on debt repayment for countries that needed it.The slowdowns in advanced economies are putting pressure on emerging markets, many of which were already fragile and facing high debt burdens as they recovered from the pandemic. Higher interest rates, soaring food costs and diminished demand for exports threaten to push millions of people into poverty. And low vaccination rates in places such as Africa mean that the health effects of the pandemic are persistent.“The poor are hurt the most,” David Malpass, the president of the World Bank, told reporters before this week’s meetings. “We’re in the midst of a crisis-facing development.”The rapid appreciation of the U.S. dollar, which is the strongest it has been since the early 2000s, also represents a threat to emerging markets. The International Monetary Fund urged policymakers in those countries to “batten down the hatches” and conserve their reserves of foreign currencies for when financial conditions worsen.As the pain piles up in rich and poor countries alike, policymakers are under increasing pressure to blunt the fallout, with central bankers — including those at the Federal Reserve — facing calls to curtail interest rate increases.Still, the fund warned that doing too little to combat inflation would make the fight more costly later. It also said governments should avoid enacting fiscal policies that would make inflation worse.In its report, the fund acknowledged that its forecasts faced considerable uncertainty. The further withdrawal of Russian gas supplies to Europe could depress the continent’s economies, debt crises in developing countries could worsen, and the pandemic could come roaring back.“Risks to the outlook remain unusually large and to the downside,” the report said.Jeanna Smialek More

A proposed rule, long awaited by labor activists, would make it harder for companies to classify workers as independent contractors.The Labor Department on Tuesday unveiled a proposal that would make it more likely for millions of janitors, home-care and construction workers and gig drivers to be classified as employees rather than independent contractors.Companies are required to provide certain benefits and protections to employees but not to contractors, such as paying a minimum wage, overtime, a portion of a worker’s Social Security taxes and contributions to unemployment insurance.The proposed rule is essentially a test that the Labor Department will apply to determine whether workers are contractors or employees for companies. The test considers factors such as how much control workers have over how they do their jobs and how much opportunity they have to increase their earnings by doing things like offering new services. Workers who have little of either are often considered employees.The new version of the test lowers the bar for that employee classification from the current test, which the Trump administration’s Labor Department created.The proposal would apply only to laws that the department enforced, such as the federal minimum wage. States and other federal agencies, like the Internal Revenue Service, set their own criteria for employment status. But many employers and regulators in other jurisdictions are likely to consider the department’s interpretation when making decisions about worker classification, and many judges are likely to use it as a guide.As a result, the proposal is a potential blow to gig companies and other service providers that argue their workers are contractors, though it would not immediately affect the status of those workers.Uber and Lyft have said in federal filings that having to treat drivers as employees could force them to alter their business models, and some gig economy officials have estimated that their labor costs would rise 20 to 30 percent. The companies have repeatedly fought similar efforts by regulators and legislatures in states across the country.Share prices for both companies dropped more than 10 percent Tuesday.In a statement, Uber sounded optimistic that the proposal would not endanger the gig-economy model, at least if the administration heeded additional input.“Today’s proposed rule takes a measured approach, essentially returning us to the Obama era, during which our industry grew exponentially,” said CR Wooters, the company’s head of federal affairs. “In a time of deep economic uncertainty, it’s crucial that the Biden administration continues to hear from the more than 50 million people who have found an earning opportunity with companies like ours.”Read More About the Gig EconomyWaiting for Action: The Biden administration’s plans to strengthen labor protections have been slowed by Congress, the courts and a lobbying blitz. The delay has frustrated gig workers.A Thriving Sector: Conventional employment opportunities abound, but gig work continues to be a popular choice for people seeking flexibility and additional income.Para App: A former Uber employee created an app to help gig workers maximize their earnings. But the platforms that hire them are fighting back.Covid Risks: New York City’s gig workers risked their lives during the pandemic. A survey illustrates the hazards they faced.Lyft likewise noted that the proposal would restore the approach under President Barack Obama, when drivers were generally classified as contractors, and emphasized that it would not force the company to alter its business model. The company said the proposal was merely the beginning of a longer process.Companies, unions, workers and other members of the public will have a month and a half to formally comment on the proposal before the department incorporates feedback into a final rule. After that, the department will have considerable discretion over whether or not to enforce the rule at particular companies.“While independent contractors have an important role in our economy, we have seen in many cases that employers misclassify their employees as independent contractors,” Labor Secretary Martin J. Walsh said in a statement. “Misclassification deprives workers of their federal labor protections, including their right to be paid their full, legally earned wages.”David Weil, who oversaw the Obama Labor Department’s approach to classifying workers, cautioned that just because the department didn’t bring an enforcement action against Uber and Lyft didn’t mean it couldn’t have. He noted that the Obama rule had been adopted late in that administration.“I think it is true that there are lots of gray areas in the platform world, but with the caveats that you always have to go deep into the facts, Uber and Lyft do not strike me as that difficult,” Mr. Weil said in an interview, adding: “There is a lot about the relationship that looks like one of employees.”The proposal helps defuse growing pressure from activists supporting gig workers, who complained that the administration had been too slow to intervene to protect ride-hail drivers and other app-based workers.Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, a former leader on workers’ issues in the California Assembly who is now head of the state’s labor federation, said in an interview that the action demonstrated the Biden administration’s strong pro-worker stance but that the effect of the new rule would come down to how aggressively the administration enforced it.“Companies just continue to break labor law,” Ms. Gonzalez Fletcher said. “They break it at the local level, the state level and federally, and there are no consequences. Everything is about enforcement.”The Biden Labor Department delayed and then scrapped the Trump rule on worker classification before a federal judge reinstated it. The new proposal would formally rescind and replace the Trump rule when made final in the coming months.Opponents could ask a federal judge to block the new rule temporarily or strike it down, but administration officials expressed confidence that it would withstand judicial scrutiny. They said they were merely returning to a standard that federal courts had repeatedly upheld over the decades.Uber and other gig companies say changes to how some of their workers are classified could force them to change their business models.Jim Wilson/The New York TimesUnder President Donald J. Trump, the department argued that two factors should predominate in determinations of whether a worker is an employee or a contractor, even if other factors are relevant: the degree of control a company has over the worker, and the extent to which a worker can increase his or her income by taking entrepreneurial initiative, like marketing his or her services.The Trump Labor Department suggested that gig workers like Uber drivers would probably be considered contractors under these criteria. Proponents argued that the Trump approach was necessary so enforcement didn’t snuff out new ways of doing business, such as the gig economy.But in an interview, Seema Nanda, the Biden Labor Department’s top lawyer, said the Trump rule “threatens to actually increase rather than decrease misclassification.”The proposal by the Biden Labor Department argues that several factors must be weighed when assessing whether a worker is a contractor or an employee, and that none of them are necessarily more important than the others. Among the additional factors are whether the work being performed is central to a company’s business, and what kind of investments workers make to do their jobs, such as buying equipment.Administration officials cautioned that determining whether or not gig workers like Uber drivers are employees would hinge on applying the test laid out in the proposal to individual cases and that they were not prejudging the outcome of any one of them. They also emphasized that the proposal did not target a particular industry.“We make a determination based on the specific facts in any case that we look at,” Ms. Nanda said. “Misclassification harms workers across a wide range of industries.”Gig companies like Uber and Lyft have sought for years to influence laws and regulations on worker classification. After the California Legislature passed a bill proposed by Ms. Gonzalez Fletcher that effectively classified gig drivers as employees in 2019, gig companies spent roughly $200 million helping to pass a ballot measure that would exempt their workers from employee status while granting them limited benefits.A state judge later ruled that the measure was unconstitutional. The decision is being appealed.Gig companies have tried and failed to enact similar measures in other liberal states, like New York and Massachusetts, but did help pass a contractor measure in Washington State.Uber and Lyft have often argued that drivers prefer the flexibility that independent contractor status affords them, such as the ability to work when, where and however long they choose to. They have cited polling data that appears to affirm this.Legal scholars point out that there is nothing inherent about employment status that would forbid companies to grant workers similar flexibility.Mr. Walsh, the labor secretary, has sometimes appeared open to the idea that gig workers could be classified as independent contractors.But when asked in an interview this summer whether he thought drivers would prefer to be independent contractors or employees if the trade-offs were made clear, he argued that “95 percent of people would say yes” to being classified as employees. More

The boss of Rio Tinto has warned of the “excesses of globalisation” in critical mineral supply chains as the Anglo-Australian miner and Canadian government plan a C$737mn ($537mn) investment to loosen China’s stranglehold over metals vital to aerospace and defence.Rio announced on Tuesday that it will modernise the Sorel-Tracy site in Quebec to bolster the supply of minerals controlled by China while reducing emissions at the site by introducing a new smelter technology.The mining group will start producing titanium metal and quadruple scandium oxide output to 12 tonnes annually; the materials are essential to aerospace, medical products and fuel cells. China produces three-quarters of finished titanium products and 61 per cent of scandium globally, according to Project Blue, a consultancy.The investments over the next eight years, backed by up to C$222mn of government funds, will transform the 70-year-old facility built in the aftermath of the second world war from its focus on steel, metal powders and titanium dioxide towards supplying materials crucial for national security and the energy transition. Rio chief executive Jakob Stausholm said the push by the west to reduce its dependence on China for materials processing and Canada’s abundant hydropower resources had encouraged it to invest in new technology to smelt ilmenite — an ore used in the production of titanium. It is planned that these techniques could cut emissions by up to 70 per cent and diversify output at the site.“It’s the second chapter in [Sorel-Tracy’s] history that we are writing today,” he said. “After years where you have had excesses of globalisation of various materials, in order to address climate change you really, really need much more of the critical minerals that you can produce here.”Through the investment, Rio will strengthen North America’s first production capacity for titanium metal, a lightweight but strong material important to aerospace and defence groups such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Despite Stausholm’s warning on supply chain concentration, Rio depends heavily on China to buy its iron ore, aluminium and copper, generating 57 per cent of its $68bn in revenues from the country in 2021.This investment is only the latest in a string in Canada’s mining and battery sector. Cathode producers such as Germany’s BASF, Belgium’s Umicore and Korea’s Posco have signalled in recent months their intention to invest billions of dollars in building plants there.Over the summer, German and South Korean politicians had visited Canada to court the government and mining industry to secure supplies of minerals such as nickel and cobalt used in electric cars for the likes of Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and battery maker LG Energy Solution.

The charm offensive comes after landmark US climate legislation that provides tax credits for electric vehicle buyers if their battery uses raw materials extracted or processed from the US, from trade partner countries or through recycling. That has accelerated the drive for manufacturing groups to relocate their supply chains regionally and reduce dependence on China.“People understand it doesn’t make sense to mine in Africa, to refine in Asia and produce a battery with coal,” said François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s minister of innovation, science and industry. “What you’re seeing is a revival of manufacturing in North America.” More

For almost a month, young Iranians — working women and men, university students and school pupils — have stood up to the Islamic republic’s security forces to keep alive a wave of extraordinary protests triggered by the death of a young woman in police custody. The world has watched in awe as brave women have publicly removed and even burnt their hijabs, knowing full well the possible consequences. Their defiance has drawn a countrywide wave of support, uniting disparate groups. And a young generation that has only known life under the Islamic republic and grown up in the internet age has displayed a steely determination to actively repudiate the central tenets of the theocracy. The regime and its ageing, conservative leadership has clearly been rattled by Iran’s most vocal protests in years, which have underscored the level of anger many feel towards the oppressive system. However, the regime has a history of surviving crises and is ruthlessly efficient in stamping out dissent. Officially, more than 40 people have been killed in the unrest, although the full death toll is expected to be higher: security forces have used live ammunition, batons and tear gas against protesters. Men, and even certain religious factions, have voiced support for the protests, which have rippled out across Iran, from Kurdistan to Tehran and beyond. Citizens’ frustration has elided into anger in a country where, partly because of western sanctions but also chronic government mismanagement, 30 per cent of people live below the poverty line and inflation officially stands at 42 per cent. The demonstrations are now about more than the death of Mahsa Amini or the imposition of the hijab: protesters are openly calling for a more democratic and secular system.Women wave their headscarves as they rally in Ahvaz, Iran. Amini’s story resonated with a population who saw in her an everywoman © UGC/AFP/Getty ImagesAmini’s death, though, was the match to light a tinderbox. A prospective student visiting Tehran from a traditional family in Kurdistan, Amini, 22, was dressed conservatively when she was taken by the notorious morality police, who enforce a strict dress code. She was not seen again until lying comatose in hospital. Her story resonated with a population who saw in her an everywoman. Even President Ebrahim Raisi, a hardliner, said she felt like his own daughter. The authorities denied that there was any physical violence. But such is the deep distrust many Iranians have for their leaders, the official version of events was widely dismissed.Iran enjoys a healthy culture of protest, despite authorities’ apparatus of repression and control. But the current unrest constitutes the first major mass outcry over the hijab since the early days of the 1979 Islamic revolution; a symbol of a regime that has enforced strict restrictions on women. In recent years women, particularly in Tehran, have felt increasingly comfortable wearing their scarves loosely or even on their shoulders. There has, though, been a fresh crackdown on dress under Raisi as hardliners assert their authority.The Islamic republic has a well-honed instinct for survival, but even if these protests do dissipate, the anger and disillusionment that fuelled the unrest will continue to fester. The unrest has underlined the deep distrust that exists between the theocracy and many of its people, particularly among the young in a country where about half of the population is aged below 40.The regime must end all violence against protesters. Hardliners, who have taken control of all arms of the state since Raisi’s 2021 election, are unlikely to make major concessions. Yet for the sake of the beleaguered nation and its long-suffering population, they ought to heed the anguished voices of brave young Iranians risking their lives and liberty to take to the streets. More

LVMH, the world’s biggest luxury group, showed little sign of weakening demand for its high-end handbags and champagne in the third quarter despite growing fears over the global economy. The company controlled by Europe’s richest man, Bernard Arnault, reported quarterly sales of €19.8bn on Tuesday, ahead of analysts’ expectations for €19.1bn, according to FactSet data. When stripping out the effect of acquisitions and currency swings, sales were up 19 per cent from the same period last year and matched the pace of expansion in the second quarter. “Despite everything going on in the global economy, the demand for our brands remains very vigorous,” said Jean Jacques Guiony, LVMH’s chief financial officer. Driving the growth was an acceleration at LVMH’s all-important fashion and leather goods division, home to the Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior brands that generate two-thirds of group operating profit. Sales at the unit rose 22 per cent, beating analysts’ expectations for a gain of 16 per cent.Europe enjoyed a particularly strong 43 per cent growth in sales, helped in by American tourists whose splurging during their summer holidays was buoyed by a strong dollar. The US market rose 19 per cent, while Asia (excluding Japan) was the weakest region with growth of just 2 per cent as Covid-19 restrictions disrupted the Chinese market. Investors have been anticipating that luxury goods sales would slow because of recession fears globally, marking a break from the past two years which saw wealthy consumers in the US and China quickly resume shopping after the initial shock of the Covid-19 pandemic.The IMF on Tuesday cut its prediction for world economic growth from 3.2 per cent in 2022 to 2.7 per cent in 2023, saying there were “stormy waters” ahead because of the war in Ukraine, inflation and the energy crisis. Shares in LVMH have fallen about 16 per cent this year, compared with a slide of 19 per cent for smaller rival Hermes and 37 per cent for Gucci-owner Kering. But the reckoning has yet to begin for bellwether LVMH, which is the first luxury group to publish quarterly sales. Rivals Hermes and Kering do so on October 20. HSBC analyst Aurelie Husson-Dumoutier warned against complacency in a recent note. “Luxury is unfortunately not recession proof,” she said, and predicted a slowdown next year. “Resilience will be tested starting in the fourth quarter this year.” Asked whether LVMH was bracing for a downturn by contemplating cutting costs at its brands, Guiony said that was not at all the case. Instead, brands were planning to boost marketing and outreach to high-end clients during the key shopping season that runs from the US Thanksgiving celebration to Christmas and the Chinese new year.“We’ve not started belt tightening since there is no need to,” he said. “We must continue to invest because the growth is still there.” More