🚚 Axios PM: Looming strike

Plus: Baseball's All-Stars | Wednesday, July 05, 2023

Open in app View in browser   Presented By The American Bankers Association   Axios PM By Mike Allen · Jul 05, 2023 🐪 Hello, Wednesday happy hour! Today's PM — edited by Erica Pandey — is 542 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Sheryl Miller for the copy edit.     📦 1 big thing: Drivers on the brink Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios   Labor talks between UPS and its unionized drivers and warehouse workers broke down today. Both sides are accusing the other of walking away from the negotiating table, Axios' Ivana Saric writes. Why it matters: If no deal is reached, a strike could disrupt a massive shipping network that touches customers and companies around the globe. 📊 By the numbers: UPS' unionized workforce in the U.S. is 340,000 employees. The company's 24 million average daily deliveries make up about a quarter of America's total parcel volume, according to global logistics firm Pitney Bowes. Should a strike occur, competitors — including FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service — likely wouldn't be able to absorb all of the extra load, snarling supply chains. 🔭 What to watch: The workers' current contract expires July 31. No additional negotiations are currently scheduled, the Teamsters Union said. Negotiations have been held up by disagreements over pay and cost-of-living increases. The union argues that salaries haven't reflected the large profits UPS enjoyed in recent years, Bloomberg notes. Share this story.     2. 📈 Where minimum wage is rising Data: FRED. Chart: Thomas Oide/Axios The federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour hasn't changed since 2009. If it had been adjusted for inflation since then, it would be up to $10.24, Axios' Emily Peck reports. ⚡️ Three states and 16 localities raised their minimum wage this summer, many of them through automatic inflation adjustments, the Economic Policy Institute notes in a new report. Oregon raised its minimum by 70 cents to $14.20 as part of an automatic inflation adjustment. Portland's minimum wage is $1.25 higher, by law, and went up to $15.45. D.C.'s minimum wage also got an inflation adjustment, rising to $17 — an increase of 90 cents. Nevada went to $11.25, from $10.50, per legislation. Connecticut's minimum wage went up by $1 to $15. Inflation adjustments also happened in 12 locales in California, including San Francisco ($18.07), Los Angeles ($16.78) and West Hollywood ($19.08), which now has the highest minimum wage in the country. Chicago and Montgomery County, Maryland, also inflation-adjusted their minimum wages. Share this story.     A message from The American Bankers Association Don't let Congress take away your credit card rewards     Americans love their credit card points and cash back rewards, but now some in Congress want to take them away. The Durbin-Marshall-Lofgren-Gooden credit card bill is a gift to big-box retailers at the expense of consumers and small businesses.   Join the fight to save your hard-earned rewards.       3. Catch me up Data: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Map: Tory Lysik/Axios 🚨 Maternal mortality rates more than doubled in the U.S. between 1999 and 2019, according to a JAMA study. The highest mortality rate was in New Jersey, with 41 deaths per 100,000 live births, while the lowest rate was in the neighboring state of Delaware. Go deeper. 🏛️ The cocaine found at the White House on Sunday was discovered on the ground floor, near where visitors touring the West Wing are instructed to leave their cellphones, The Washington Post reports. 🗽Former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and his wife Chirlane McCray are separating, they told The New York Times in an interview. They don't plan to divorce and will continue to share their Brooklyn townhouse while dating other people. Read on.     4. ⚾ Parting shot Photo: Rachael Jones/Visit Seattle Above: A mural of Mariners center fielder Julio Rodriguez by Seattle artist Brady Black. Black created 16 portraits depicting baseball players and local fans to turn the city's monorail columns into an outdoor gallery. Seattle is expecting tens of thousands of visitors as it hosts MLB's All-Star Week, with festivities beginning Friday. More from Axios Seattle.     A message from The American Bankers Association Don't let Congress take away your credit card rewards     Americans love their credit card points and cash back rewards, but now some in Congress want to take them away. The Durbin-Marshall-Lofgren-Gooden credit card bill is a gift to big-box retailers at the expense of consumers and small businesses.   Join the fight to save your hard-earned rewards.     Are you a fan of this email format? Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. To stop receiving this newsletter, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: