Lula Won’t Send Arms to Ukraine – HuffPost to Strike at Midnight – Amazon to Shutdown Hotbed Shop

Lula is refusing to send arms to Ukraine (Bloomberg)

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Lula Won’t Send Arms to Ukraine

Yesterday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrived in Brasilia to meet President Lula. When asked if Lula would join Germany’s call to send arms to Ukraine, Lula denounced the Russian invasion of Ukraine but warned that his country would not be sending arms. 

“Brazil has no interest in handing over munitions that can be used in the war between Ukraine and Russia,” Lula said at a press conference in Brasilia. “We are a country committed to peace.”

As President of Brazil in the 2000s, Lula sought to be a peace broker between nations, even brokering peace deals between the U.S. & Iran. Once again, Lula hopes to play that role on the national stage. 

For more, check out POLITICO. 

HuffPost Reporters to Strike at Midnight 

As Payday went to press late Tuesday night, a deal yet had to be reached between the HuffPost reporters union, WGAE, and Buzzfeed, who owns HuffPost. If an agreement is not reached by midnight, more than 98% of HuffPost’s reporters have signed a pledge to walk out. 

The union is upset by a proposal from management that would effectively result in lower wages. 

“Their most recent economic proposal would result in lower yearly wage increases for about 90% of our members at a time of high inflation,” HuffPost Union said in a statement. “This is not a serious proposal and is not acceptable to our members.”

For more, check out the statement from HuffPost Union. 

Amazon to Close Minnesota Warehouse that Went on Strike

Amazon’s Shakopee Sorting Center in Minnesota employs 680 workers, who are mainly Somali. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the warehouse has been the site of various strikes over working conditions. 

Local labor advocates denounced the decision. 

“I have reached out to Amazon to let them know that I will do everything in my power as a member of Congress to ensure they keep their word about finding new jobs for these individuals where possible in Shakopee as well as the broader Twin Cities area,” U.S. Rep. Angie Craig told Minnesota Public Radio. 

For more, check out Minnesota Public Radio.

Massachusetts Teachers on Illegal Strike 

Finally, in Massachusetts, strikes by teachers are illegal. However, that hasn’t stopped a group of Coburn, who went on strike on Monday. Teachers say they were forced to strike by the refusal of the school district to bargain in good faith. 

“Mayor Galvin and (Woburn School Committee Chair) Ellen Crowley’s reckless refusal to return to the negotiation table until 2:30 p.m. Monday is why school is canceled for another day. This is simply unacceptable,” WTA President Barbara Locke said in a statement. “Significant progress was made in the last few hours on improving wages for our paraprofessionals. We strongly felt that a contract could have been resolved tonight and that our educators would return to doing what they do best: teaching our Woburn students.”

For more, check out WCVB. 

Alright, folks, that’s all for today. Please, keep sending tips, story ideas, comments, and complaints to [email protected] 

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About the Author

Mike Elk
Mike Elk is an Emmy-nominated labor reporter and alumni of the Guardian. In addition to filing nearly 2,000 stories from 46 states, Elk traveled with Lula from Sáo Bernando do Campos all the way to the Oval Office in the White House. Credited by the Washington Post for being the first reporter to track the strike wave systematically, Elk started Payday Report using his NLRB settlement from being illegally fired for union organizing in 2015. He lives in his hometown of Pittsburgh and works frequently in Rio de Janeiro, where he attended college at PUC-Rio. He speaks both Portuguese and Pittsburghese fluently. His email is [email protected]

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