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Recent Editions
Human Times
North America
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has proposed to eliminate the EEO-1 reporting requirement, which mandates that employers submit data on the race and sex of their workers. The EEOC has previously used the information to probe bias complaints filed by individual workers and to determine if companies exhibit a pattern of discriminatory conduct. EEOC chair Andrea Lucas, a Trump administration appointee, said that sorting workers by race and sex can encourage discrimination, including against majority groups such as white people and men. "The EEO data reports stand in direct tension with (federal law's) requirement that employment practices be colorblind," Lucas said. Kalpana Kotagal, the lone Democratic member of the commission who voted to reject the proposal, said: "These efforts should be seen for what they are: an attempt to weaken equal employment opportunity, and to undermine progress for women and historically marginalized communities."
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Human Times
UK
Last month's record-breaking heatwave cost the UK economy an estimated £1.15bn and resulted in 24m lost working hours, according to research by the London School of Economics' Grantham Research Institute. The study found that workers lost an average of 0.47 hours during the final week of June. The survey also found that 5% of respondents sought medical attention and around 3% reported an accident or injury at work during that week, with around two-thirds of them feeling it was linked to the weather. Elizabeth Robinson, the institute's director, said: “Our findings point to a country that remains insufficiently adapted to the changing climate. The government cannot continue to ignore extreme heat. Unless it acts now, and makes workplaces safer, we are likely to see growing impacts on workers' productivity, health, and the economy.” Shouro Dasgupta, environmental economist at the Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change (CMCC), said: “While £1 billion is lost overall, the greatest effects are borne by outdoor workers and those in physically demanding jobs, many of whom are among the lowest paid in the labour force. Extreme heat is widening existing inequalities in the labour force.”
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Human Times
Europe
Italy's Filt CGIL, Fit CISL and Uiltrasporti unions have signed an agreement with Amazon covering leave, employee rights and video surveillance. The unions said 57 local sites were included in the deal with Amazon Italia Transport and Amazon Italia Logistica. It has been agreed that video surveillance cannot be used for disciplinary purposes, and workers have been granted the right to take parental leave in increments as small as a single hour. The deal was hailed by the unions as the first such national collective agreement reached with Amazon in any country.
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Human Times
Middle East
Denis Machuel, chief executive of Zurich-based Adecco Group, the world's largest staffing company, has told Reuters that AI will not precipitate a collapse in employment despite concerns the technology will displace large numbers of workers. "AI is bringing a massive evolution in the world of work, but a job apocalypse is not on the horizon," Machuel said. "It's more about changing roles and tasks than eliminating jobs." He said employers needed to reinvent the entry-level roles that are however disappearing so AI can complement them, observing that upskilling, reskilling, and closer collaboration among companies, governments and education systems was essential.
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