Economy & Business Wednesday, January 6, 2021 09 Unemployment in Workers at parent Germany stable at end of crisis year Alphabet form trade union thanks to furlough This marks the culmination of years of rising activism at the internet giant and across Silicon Valley

DPA 2008/09 financial crash, Nuremberg when Germany set up the scheme, before reviving it The number of people later for the coronavirus out of work in Germany crisis. rose slightly in December “The effects of the col- to reach 2.707 million, lapse of the labour market the Federal Employment early in the year are still Agency said on Tuesday, felt. The repercussions of capping a crisis year in the coronavirus pandemic which state aid propped up and measures to contain a huge chunk of the labour it remain very clearly vis- market. The December figure was around 8,000 more than the previous month, and 480,000 more than the same period in 2019, the agency added. In numbers The unemployment rate in December remained un- Germany’s unemployment changed on the previous figure in December was month at 5.9 per cent. around 8,000 more than “The number of unem- the previous month, and ployed people has increased 480,000 more than the in December - but not as same period in 2019, the strongly as we usually see agency added. The in this month,” said agency unemployment rate in chairman Detlef Scheele. December remained He pointed to a recent unchanged on the previous increase in the number of month at 5.9 per cent. applications for short-time work, the German govern- ment’s furlough scheme to ible,” Scheele said, reflect- avoid mass lay-offs during ing on the whole of 2020. the coronavirus pandemic, “The stabilizing effect which has intensified in the of short-time work has country in recent months however secured employ- and forced a nationwide ment and prevented a high- lockdown. er rate of unemployment,” On Monday, Google employees announced a union that includes hundreds of workers. (Dreamstime/TNS) However, demand for he added. the furlough programme The unemployment Tribune News Service account posted on . studies at UCLA. has “stabilized at a low lev- rate for the whole of last “If your main motive is It will probably be difficult el,” Scheele said. year was given as 5.9 per profit, you may not put ethical In a nutshell for employees in a company as At its height in April, cent, up by 0.9 percentage Google employees an- concerns as high as the profit ● large as Google to reach a criti- the scheme was cover- points compared to 2019. nounced the creation of a un- motive. We want to serve as a The Alphabet Workers Union represents more than 200 cal mass of workers and hold ing the bulk of 6 million German unemployment ion Monday that includes hun- counterbalance to that,” said employees in the United States elections for a traditional union workers’ salaries, some 18 tends to rise in the last dreds of workers, marking the Isaac Clerencia, a site reliabil- ● The union alliance wants to work for fair pay and working straight away, he said. Workers per cent of the number of month of the year. culmination of years of rising ity engineer in Google’s Moun- conditions at Walmart made a similar ef- people in Germany subject The December 2020 activism at the internet giant tain View, California, head- fort through a minority union a to social insurance contri- figures do not show the ef- and across Silicon Valley at quarters. ● The members also demand that Alphabet make needed few years back that appears to butions. The numbers fell fects of the lockdown cur- large, where high salaries and The group’s structure as structural changes. have lost momentum, he said. steadily in the months that rently in place to stem the ample perks have long kept a so-called minority union, “These minority unions followed. spread of the coronavirus, unionization at bay. representing a relatively small ● The union was organized with support Communications only pan out if they’re member According to the lat- as the data was only col- The new group of at least number of Google employees, Workers of America, which represents workers from telcoms driven,” he said. “If people in est data available from the lected up to December 10. 227 engineers and other em- means that the union can- companies including AT&T and Verizon. the workplace see the organi- employment agency, from Non-essential shops, ployees, called the Alphabet not negotiate a contract, as is zation as valuable to them as a October, there were 1.99 schools, restaurants, bars, Workers Union after Google’s typical for unionized workers. Google has long been confronted with internal protests due representative, that’s the thing million short-time workers and leisure and cultural fa- parent company Alphabet Notably, it allows for the com- to allegations of sexism, racism and abuse of power by that will drive the union for- in Germany. cilities were forced to close Inc., has been quietly in the pany’s part-time or contractor executives. ward.” That was still higher under the lockdown, which works for about a year, people employees — who make up In Google’s case, company than at the peak of the began on December 16. involved or familiar with its a vast portion of the Google employees and those familiar organization said. It has come workforce — to join alongside woman Beth Allen said. other tech companies too, with with the unionization effort together with support from the full employees, unlike in a tra- In recent years, Google some of the loudest voices re- say the group’s numbers grew Communications Workers of ditional union. workers have protested — in verberating from Google. Until last month after , America, a labor group repre- Raine Serrano, a Google some cases successfully — how now, very few have voted to a prominent artificial intelli- senting about 700,000 work- privacy software engineer in the company has handled al- formally join a union. gence researcher and ethicist, ers that launched a campaign Seattle, said including subcon- leged incidents of sexual har- “We’ve always worked said Google fired her after she earlier this year aimed specifi- tracted workers, sometimes assment, what employees de- hard to create a supportive and challenged the company on its cally at unionizing video game called “a shadow workforce,” scribe as disparate treatment rewarding workplace for our diversity hiring practices. The and tech companies in the U.S. was a priority. These work- of contract workers, and some workforce. Of course, our em- incident was a high-profile and Canada. ers — who fill a range of roles, business decisions including ployees have protected labor public blowout, with some em- The effort is unique not from serving meals in the caf- contracts with the military or rights that we support,” Google ployees coming to Gebru’s de- only because it is first-of-its- eteria and cleaning offices, to law-enforcement agencies. spokeswoman Kara Silverstein fense and asking the company kind among big tech compa- writing code, handling sales “Yet problems persist,” the said in a statement. “But as for more transparency on the nies but also for its focus on and managing teams — are union said in its introductory we’ve always done, we’ll con- circumstances around what what employees describe as the employed through secondary posts on Twitter, citing alleged tinue engaging directly with all happened. civic and ethical responsibili- companies, with little direct discrimination, harassment, our employees.” Clerencia, the Google engi- ties of their employees — and oversight of their pay and work and retaliations. “A few at the Minority unions began in neer, said he became actively the say that company workers conditions. “They need some- top are getting enormously the industrial era as first step to involved with the union af- should have in that. “We de- one to fight for them,” Serrano rich while others see nothing mobilize and channel workers’ ter Gebru’s termination. He serve meaningful control over said. of that wealth.” discontent with a broader goal said the union aims to ensure The number of people out of work in Germany rose slightly in the projects we work on & the The new union held officer A swell of walkouts and pe- of gaining more power in the Google behaves in an ethical December to reach 2.707 million direction of this company,” a elections and established by- titions related to race, inclusiv- workplace, said Toby Higbie, a way, both with its own workers new Alphabet Workers Union laws last month, CWA spokes- ity and other issues have swept professor of history and labor and “society at large.”

challenges highlighted Poland’s cbank confirms foreign currency purchases

MENA region to witness modest recovery in 2021: WB DPA tum,” Glapinski explained. Agencies the effects of Covid-19, they Warsaw A weaker zloty makes Polish Washington added. Growth in other coun- exports cheaper for customers tries in the region is expected Poland’s central bank abroad. The World Bank on Tuesday to reach 3.2 per cent in 2021 (NBP) Governor Adam Glap- Poland has gradually re- predicted a moderate eco- due to the easing of travel re- inski said on Tuesday that the duced its main interest rate nomic recovery for the Mid- strictions and a slow recovery bank has been buying foreign during the coronavirus pan- dle East and North Africa of domestic demand. currencies on the market since demic from 1.5 per cent to just (MENA) region in 2021, while However, it is expected mid-December in an attempt 0.1 per cent. However, the zlo- highlighting the many chal- to reach only 2.7 per cent in to shore up the domestic econ- ty has weakened only slightly lenges still posed by the coro- Egypt, the most populous omy. and temporarily, in part due to navirus pandemic. country in the region, follow- The aim was to “strength- loose monetary policy by ma- The Washington-based ing the “collapse” of various en the impact” of looser mone- jor central banks, Glapinski institution said that the pan- sectors, notably tourism and tary policy on the local curren- pointed out. demic had seen the region’s gas extraction. cy, the zloty, and the economy This weakened “the natural economies shrink by about The World Bank warned as a whole, he said. mechanism that allows econo- 5 percent in 2020, inflicting that regional economies faced Glapinski’s comments con- mies with a floating exchange heavy job losses and a sharp a variety of hurdles as they try firm recent suggestions from rate to soften the weakening of increase in the number of peo- World Bank has said that the COVID-19 pandemic had seen the region’s economies shrink by about 5 to get back on their feet. central bank officials and mar- economic sentiment, strength- ple living below the poverty percent in 2020. “The recovery is con- ket participants that the NBP en the prospects for recovery line of less than $5.50 a day. tingent on containment of has been trying to weaken the and avoid the risk of excessive “Among oil exporters, cuts, policy support, and the will benefit from the resump- ping a 2.0 per cent expansion. the pandemic, stabilising oil zloty. disinflation,” he said. growth is expected to recover gradual phasing out of domes- tion of public projects, which Growth should also ac- prices, no further escalation of “The recently increasing The zloty weakened visibly to 1.8 per cent this year, sup- tic pandemic-related restric- had been postponed at the celerate to 1.5 per cent in geopolitical tensions, and the pressure for zloty apprecia- in the last three weeks of 2020. ported by normalising oil de- tions,” it said in a report. beginning of the crisis, and Iran thanks to the recovery assumption of a vaccine roll- tion is very disconcerting and At Tuesday midday the Polish mand, the scheduled easing Saudi Arabia, the largest the recovery of demand after a of domestic consumption and out in the second half of the very harmful... from the point currency gained some ground of the Opec+ oil production economy in the Arab world, sharp rise in VAT, it said, tip- tourism and the mitigation of year,” it said of view of GDP recovery and against the euro, trading at maintaining export momen- 4.5446 zloty for one euro.