Workers at a Buffalo, NY-based Starbucks location have voted to unionize, the first ever union to form at one of Sbux’s “nearly 9,000 company-owned stores.” Though but one, the victory “represents a challenge to the labor model at the giant coffee retailer” - NYTimes and WSJ
Boeing’s series of delays in production of its 787 Dreamliner is catching up to its customers, with American Airlines revealing that it’s reducing the number of planned transatlantic flights for summer 2022 due to disruptions in Boeing’s production of 13 new Dreamliners American was expecting this winter - NYTimes and WSJ
Weekly jobless claims in the U.S. fell to 184,000 for the week ending December 4, the lowest level in 52 years—capping (for now) a remarkable turnaround in the labor market after exceeding 700k/week for the first three months of the year - WSJ
Today’s CPI figures, however, are likely to show annual inflation topping 6% and price hikes expanding beyond sectors beset by supply-chain issues. The numbers (and the breathless coverage of them) help explain the less-than-bullish feel about the U.S. economy despite the labor market bounceback - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg and MarketWatch
VW’s supervisory board backed CEO Herbert Diess this week, but it cut some of his responsibilities in a bid to “win back investor confidence lost in recent weeks during a dispute about his leadership style” - NYTimes and WSJ
NBCUniversal announced on Thursday that it’s following the lead of other studios with streaming arms and will start airing movie releases on its Peacock service “as soon as 45 days after they are released theatrically”—a timetable that nearly matches that of WarnerMedia (and HBOMax) and that “could help boost the company’s flagging streaming service” - NYTimes and MarketWatch
After an impressive public debut, Robinhood shares have come crashing back to earth in recent weeks, closing at just shy of $22 last night—“a 42% decline from its IPO price and a 74% drop from its intraday high of $85 reached earlier this year” - WSJ
In a speech this week, agency chair Gary Gensler explained that recent high-profile SEC SPAC scrutiny has at its core the need to “address the differences in protections for investors between traditional initial public offerings and the two-step process for SPACs” and reduce the opportunity for “information asymmetries, conflicts and fraud” – Law360
Europe has nearly the whole of the gig economy in its sights, with the European Commission proposing new rules that would require companies relying on that model to consider their drivers, couriers, and other workers to be “employees entitled to a minimum wage and legal protections” - NYTimes
Lest you think Peter Jackson’s 7-hour Beatles documentary is just about the music (or the band’s coming breakup, or Yoko’s performative staying power, or friendships collapsing), try viewing it as “a series of valuable creativity lessons, set to a Beatles soundtrack” - NYTimes
Stay safe, get boosted, and have a great weekend,
MDR
