Category Archives: News

Supreme Will Not Hear Challenge to Seattle Minimum Wage Law

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After Seattle became one of the first US cities to adopt a minimum wage law aiming to reach $15 per hour, five franchises and the International Franchise Association sued the city. The group says that the new law is discriminatory against them because the law treats the 623 franchises in Seattle like big businesses just because they are part of a multi state network.

The Seattle law is the first of such laws to reach the US Supreme Court, but the courts decided on Monday that it will not hear the case.

Labor advocates say that the court’s move is a sign that SCOTUS will continue to refrain from hearing challenges to similar laws from other cities.

Miami Business Opens Office in Cuba

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La Habana. Photo from Wikipedia.

The International Port Corp, a Miami-based shipping company, is the first US company to open a staffed office in Cuba since restrictions on US trade with Cuba have been eased.

A number of companies have applied for and have been given licenses from the US government to open operations in Cuba, but so far only IPC has followed through. Owner and President of IPC, Larry Nussbaum, said that his company rented a warehouse in Havana from the government of Cuba. It is staffed with six employees who were hired by a Cuban government employment agency. IPC pays the employment agency.

“The opportunities are great. Cuba is open for business,” Nussbaum said. “Now we need the American legislation to make it legal for companies like mine to expand what we can legally do in Cuba.”

IPC was first awarded their license to ship between Miami and Havana in July 2012 on humanitarian grounds. Since that time Nussbaum has expanded his company to also include commercial shipments and cargo for diplomats, by air and sea.

Despite the lifting of restrictions there has not been a serious upsurge in shipments to Cuba because Cuba is not buying too much from the US right now. The main problem is that the US embargo does not allow the offer of credit to Cuban purchasers of US products, so there is no competition in the market.

“The growth of my business is dependent on the U.S. making more activities legal,” Nussbaum said.

Inflation-Plagued Venezuela to Print Larger Denomination Bills

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Aerial view of Caracas from Plaza Venezuela.
Aerial view of Caracas from Plaza Venezuela. Photo by Paulino Moran

 

With inflation at 181 percent, Venezuela has the highest inflation in the world. A top finance official in the government said that due to the runaway inflation, Venezuela will be force to print paper money of larger denominations. Right now the country’s largest bill has a value of only ten cents.

The first confirmation that Venezuela will be issuing larger notes came from Central Bank President Nelson Merentes in an interview with the Associated Press. Rumors have been circulating for months that Venezuela was planning such a step.

Market economists believe that larger bills will only quicken the already nightmarishly skyrocketing inflation, make it more difficult to bring under control.

Merentes, disagreeing with that assessment, said the new money will reduce panic in the public, reducing price pressures since “you’re going to have less bills circulating.”

This is a big project that will take us to a monetary system more in line with the Venezuelan situation,” Merentes said.

Panasonic Quietly Recognizes Same-Sex Marriage

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Attitudes towards expansion of certain types of worker’s rights, such as same-sex marriage, do not get the same kind of wide-spread support in Japan as they do in the United States. In a move that is out of step with the prevailing cultural and business attitudes held in Japan, Panasonic has, albeit quietly, recognized the legitimacy of same-sex partnerships.

Panasonic decision is highly unusual, and although it is bold, it is unlikely to be the beginning of a new trend in Asia. “Coming out” is highly problematic in countries like China, South Korea and the Philippines, as well as much of the rest of Asia. Not only do the individuals coming out face extreme ridicule, their families also have to endure abuse and even ostracism.

Lenny Sanicola, an expert on employee benefits policy at a Washington DC-based non-profit called WorldatWork, thought Panasonic’s low-key approach to their announcement was a mistake. He said that “Panasonic would be a pioneer in Japan,” if they would announce their new policy loud and clear to the entire world. The message they would project would show that the company placed a high value on diversity, thus attracting younger talent to Japan, a country that is aging quickly.

Sanicola added that it is just a matter of time until the Asian countries adopt the same position as that held in Europe and North America.

Cubaexport and Bacardi in Dispute Over Trademark

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Rum Mojito. Photo by
Roberto Ventre.

In a move which Eduardo Sanchez,  general counsel for Bacardi called, “unprecedented, sudden, and silent,” the US government has decided to allow Cuba to sell its Havana Club rum in America as soon as the US trade embargo on Cuba comes to an end.

One month ago the United States renewed on behalf of the Cuba-owned company Cubaexpoert its use of the Havana Club trademark. The two parties, Bacardi and Cubaexport, have been mired in court for almost 20 years over who has rights to the trademark.

Since the 1990s Bacardi has been selling its own brand of Havana Club rum. It is distilled in Puerto Rico and sold in the United States. In the rest of the world Cubaexport is the owner of the trademark.

Last Monday Bacardi said in a statement that it filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the US Department of Treasury concerning the renewal of the trademark, which Bacardi says is against the “language and spirit if US law.”