Business
L.A. County supervisors seek aid for hundreds of workers affected by Phillips 66 refinery closure
With a major oil refinery in Wilmington and Carson scheduled to close next year, Los Angeles County officials are looking to shore up resources for hundreds of workers who will be left without jobs.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed a motion Tuesday asking county staff to work with local partners such as the city of Los Angeles and the South Bay Workforce Investment Board to develop a plan to provide hiring fairs, training and other job placement resources for affected workers.
Oil giant Phillips 66 announced in October that the century-old complex, which sprawls across 650 acres and produces about 8% of the state’s gasoline, would cease operations late next year. Its closure will affect some 600 employees and 300 contract workers that keep its operations running.
Supervisor Janice Hahn said at the meeting that more than half of the affected workforce is Latino and includes skilled workers such as operators, welders, engineers and safety compliance experts that would bring “years of specialized training and certifications” to other jobs. She said they should receive support to help them make the transition to similar jobs in renewable energy, infrastructure development and advanced manufacturing.
“This is a time the county needs to lean in and support them as they face this abrupt transition,” Hahn said.
Supervisors Hahn and Holly Mitchell introduced the motion, which also asks various departments to identify career pathways for “hard-to-hire” skilled trade positions within the county itself.
“We have the responsibility to ensure that displaced workers can smoothly transition … not just by partnering with the private sector but also by opening up doors here at the county,” Mitchell said at the meeting.
The county’s Director of Economic Opportunity has 60 days to report back to the board with an action plan.
The announcement of the pending closure came amid community concerns of harmful emissions and high pollution levels. Mark Lashier, chairman and chief executive of Phillips 66, said in an October news release that the long-term sustainability of the operation was “uncertain and affected by market dynamics.”
“We understand this decision has an impact on our employees, contractors and the broader community,” Lashier said. “We will work to help and support them through this transition.”
The closure will leave the state with eight major refineries, three in the Bay Area and five in Southern California, operated by Chevron, Valero and others.
Business
Biden looks to abolish law allowing low pay for disabled people
The Biden administration’s Department of Labor is moving to phase out a controversial program that allows some employers to pay disabled employees less than the federal minimum wage, the department announced Tuesday.
Enacted in 1938 during the late years of the Great Depression, the measure was intended to increase employment opportunities for workers with disabilities but has been denounced by advocates who say it amounts to legalized discrimination. The measure is part of the Fair Labor Standards Act and based on the premise that disabled employees are less productive.
The Department of Labor’s proposed rule would phase out sub-minimum wages by ending the issuance of certificates that permit the lower wages and establishing a three-year period for employers to stop using existing certificates.
“One of the guiding principles of the American workplace is that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay,” said Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman in a statement. “Opportunities and training have dramatically expanded to help people with disabilities obtain and maintain employment at or above the full federal minimum wage.”
Around 40,000 American workers with disabilities currently receive less than the federally mandated minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Some are employed through nonprofit organizations that aim to provide opportunities for people with autism, cerebral palsy or other disabilities.
According to documents obtained by Bloomberg, some employers have paid workers as little as 25 cents an hour to sort clothes and 5 cents an hour to cut rags. The first certificates permitting sub-minimum wages were issued half a century before the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990.
The Department of Labor expects workers currently being paid a sub-minimum wage to move into full wage positions rather than face unemployment, said acting Secretary Julie Su in a statement.
The elimination of the low wages will “strengthen inclusion for people with disabilities in the workforce” and “improve their economic wellbeing,” Su said.
The decision to phase out the Great Depression-era program is based largely on evidence that legal and policy changes in recent years have lowered barriers to employment for disabled people. The permission to pay low wages is no longer needed to incentivize employers to hire a disabled person, according to the Department of Labor’s proposed rule.
“Employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities have vastly expanded in recent decades,” the rule says. “The Department has tentatively concluded that subminimum wages are no longer necessary to prevent the curtailment of employment opportunities.”
The fate of the program will rest with President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office next month. During Trump’s first term in office, his administration worked to roll back existing labor mandates and expand businesses’ discretion over a range of issues.
Some Republican lawmakers have raised alarm over the potential elimination of a sub-minimum wage, writing in a letter to Su last December that the lower wages allow individuals with disabilities to work and transition into higher-paying jobs. Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina and Trump ally Elise Stefanik of New York were among the eight signees.
The letter, along with some parents of disabled adults, voiced support for so-called sheltered workshops that employ disabled workers and pay them less than $7.25
“For many Americans with disabilities, these centers provide a unique sense of purpose and community,” the letter said.
Business
TikTok loses court bid to stop U.S. ban. Supreme Court appeal is expected
TikTok’s future in the U.S. is now in greater jeopardy after the popular social video app on Friday lost a major court battle as it tries to prevent its banishment.
In May, TikTok sued the government, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals to declare unconstitutional a law that would require its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest TikTok’s U.S. operations or face a ban in the country.
Legislators backing the law said a ban or sale was necessary to address national security concerns posed by the app’s ties to China.
The law, signed by President Biden, is set to go into effect Jan. 19.
TikTok had said in its lawsuit that the law violated its 1st Amendment rights to free speech. TikTok contended that the law “offers no support for the idea” that TikTok’s Chinese ownership poses national security risks.
More than 170 million Americans use the video app, where people share dance routines, cooking tips, funny videos and news stories.
“On the merits, we reject each of the petitioners’ constitutional claims,” the judges said in their decision issued Friday.
Legal experts said they anticipate TikTok will appeal its case to the Supreme Court. It is also possible that Biden could offer ByteDance an extension to divest, but some experts said they believe that is unlikely.
“The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue,” said TikTok spokesman Michael Hughes in a statement on Friday. “Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people.”
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said TikTok could ask the court to put a hold on the ruling until the Supreme Court hears its case.
“They still have another shot with the Supreme Court,” Tobias said. “It’s an important issue. It’s a difficult one, and it affects a lot of Americans, foreign policy and national security. If it’s a matter of [the Supreme Court’s]interest in it, I expect that interest would be high.”
President-elect Donald Trump had campaigned on supporting TikTok, despite having pushed for a ban during his first term.
“We’re not doing anything with TikTok,” he said on a video posted on social media earlier this year.
The Trump transition team did not immediately return a request for comment. His statements in support of TikTok have given creators some hope, though it’s not clear what action his administration will take.
The ban would go into effect the day before Trump takes office.
A ban on TikTok could hurt the livelihoods of many Southern California video creators and influencers who post content on the platform. Many of those creators over the years have diversified where they post their content to prepare for a potential ban.
Sabrina Mercado, 21, is a full-time content creator from Downey. She created her TikTok in 2019 and today has 459,000 followers on the platform.
About a year ago, Mercado briefly considered creating a press-on nail business and selling on TikTok Shop, the company’s e-commerce platform, but hesitated.
“If TikTok were to be banned, what would happen to business?” she said. “It just makes things riskier.”
Mercado now posts on Instagram, TikTok YouTube and Snapchat, with Instagram being her main focus.
Joey Soboleski II, 26, a full-time content creator from Glendale, has grown his following to more than 403,000 people who watch his comedy and lifestyle content since joining TikTok in 2019.
Still, he’s not concerned about a ban.
“I built a platform on Instagram that’s bigger than TikTok and I think the viewership will go over to Instagram honestly or YouTube or both. And then the money will go over,” he said.
Business
ESPN on Disney+ launches Wednesday, as Disney looks to increase streaming subscribers
Disney+ subscribers will now see an ESPN tile on the streaming service’s homepage, part of Walt Disney Co.’s continued efforts to increase subscribers and reduce churn.
Starting Wednesday, bundle subscribers to Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ will be able to access ESPN content from the Disney+ app.
Those who subscribe only to Disney+ will also be able to watch some Hulu and ESPN+ content through the app, including certain live NBA games, the first day of the Australian Open and some “30 for 30” sports documentaries, as well as series and movies such as FX’s Emmy-winning “Shogun,” crime procedural “Will Trent” and the film “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.”
The idea, Disney officials said, is to whet people’s appetites and encourage upgrades to the full bundle.
“There are opportunities to use the sampling experiences [as] lead-in to a more fulsome experience,” said Alisa Bowen, president of Disney+.
The addition of ESPN content to Disney+ is similar to the roll-out of the Hulu tile earlier this year. By integrating all three of its streaming services into one platform, Disney is betting that a more seamless experience will keep subscribers engaged and increase retention, Bowen said.
“This strategy is really about making it easier for them to consume everything that they’re paying for, giving them less friction in terms of navigating between the different apps and better ability for us to personalize the content from all those different services,” she said.
Disney’s streaming business is key for its growth plans. The company has projected that its entertainment streaming business, which includes just Disney+ and Hulu, will have a 10% operating margin by 2025.
On the sports front, the company is planning to launch its ESPN flagship product in August.
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