Seattle Times: Amazon wants the upcoming unionization election at its Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse to be held in-person, arguing against National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) guidance to hold mail-in balloting in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic.

The e-commerce giant late Thursday appealed the ruling by an NLRB hearing officer a week ago to allow roughly 6,000 workers to take seven weeks, starting Feb. 8, to cast their ballots by mail to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Amazon argued in one of two filings that the agency’s pandemic-voting policy is flawed, in part because it fails to define what a COVID-19 “outbreak” actually is.

That guidance “reflected assumptions developed comparatively earlier in the pandemic — before scientific understanding of the virus and possible precautions had developed to where it is today,” Amazon says in the filing.

A union spokeswoman declined to comment on the filing. Read More

Breitbart: President Joe Biden’s first day in office may have been historic in more ways than one: he may have set a single-day record for the number of jobs killed by an American president.

Biden revoked the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline, as promised. In so doing, he killed some 11,000 direct jobs that the pipeline’s construction was to have created, and an estimated 60,000 indirect jobs in secondary, related industries.

Over 1,000 workers already on the job — mostly union workers — will be laid off as a result of the decision, even if it is litigated, as many expect it will be, in the courts.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) confronted Secretary of Transportation nominee Pete Buttigieg over the Keystone XL decision on Thursday morning, during Buttigieg’s confirmation hearing. If the administration was serious about infrastructure, Cruz asked, why was it killing an infrastructure project with “good, paying union jobs”? Read More

Breitbart: The Biden Department of Interior has paused oil and gas leasing and permitting on federal lands for 60 days as part of an effort to review the program’s policy ramifications, according to an agency memo obtained by Reuters.

The move comes after a newly-sworn-in Biden signed executive orders aimed at combating climate change, including placing the U.S. back into the Paris accord and pausing oil leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Additionally, Biden has canceled the highly lucrative Keystone XL pipeline and ordered agencies to review over 100 other environment directives by the Trump administration.

The 1,700-mile (2,735-kilometer) pipeline was planned to carry roughly 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.

“The Permit is hereby revoked,” Biden’s executive order says. “Leaving the Keystone XL pipeline permit in place would not be consistent with my Administration’s economic and climate imperatives.”

Keystone XL President Richard Prior said over 1,000 jobs

Additionally, Biden has canceled the highly lucrative Keystone XL pipeline and ordered agencies to review over 100 other environment directives by the Trump administration.

The 1,700-mile (2,735-kilometer) pipeline was planned to carry roughly 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.

“The Permit is hereby revoked,” Biden’s executive order says. “Leaving the Keystone XL pipeline permit in place would not be consistent with my Administration’s economic and climate imperatives.”

Keystone XL President Richard Prior said over 1,000 jobs

Additionally, Biden has canceled the highly lucrative Keystone XL pipeline and ordered agencies to review over 100 other environment directives by the Trump administration.

The 1,700-mile (2,735-kilometer) pipeline was planned to carry roughly 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta to the Texas Gulf Coast, passing through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma.

“The Permit is hereby revoked,” Biden’s executive order says. “Leaving the Keystone XL pipeline permit in place would not be consistent with my Administration’s economic and climate imperatives.”

Keystone XL President Richard Prior said over 1,000 jobs the majority unionized, will be eliminated in the coming weeks. Read More