Amazon during Covid-19, Rana on corporate interests

FT News Briefing

Forhecz Topher

News, Daily News, News & Politics

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2020

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Amazon has pitched itself as an essential business to provide those sheltering in place with needed products. The FT’s Dave Lee reports on how the e-commerce group could emerge as a hero if deliveries remain on track, but only if it does so without pushing employees to take excessive health risks. Meanwhile, insurers are tightening the terms of their business coverage to make sure anything related to the pandemic is explicitly excluded. Plus, Rana Foroohar argues that 50 years of US policy in favour of private sector interests have come home to roost as the economy copes with coronavirus.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Good morning from the Financial Times.
0:01.7	Today is Tuesday, March 31st,
0:04.1	and this is your FT news briefing.
0:06.4	With more and more people ordered to stay confined to their homes
0:10.2	to stop the spread of the coronavirus,
0:12.3	many are turning to Amazon for their online shopping needs.
0:15.0	We'll take a look at how the e-commerce giant could turn out to be a hero of the outbreak if deliveries stay on track,
0:21.0	but only if it does so without pushing employees to take excessive health risks.
0:26.2	Meanwhile, employees working for some other private companies are facing dismissal, furloughs,
0:31.0	and pay cuts.
0:32.3	The F.T.'s Rana Faruhuhar argues that decades of policy
0:35.3	favoring the American private sector brought the U.S. economy to where it is today.
0:39.7	We've always had a very contentious relationship between labor and employers in this country,
0:45.2	but I think hopefully this is a time to re-evaluate that and maybe make some changes.
0:49.8	And how the insurance industry is preparing for coronavirus-related business claims.
0:54.7	I'm Mark Filipino and here's the news you need to start your day.
0:58.8	Leaders from around the world have repeatedly ordered citizens to stay at home to stop the spread of coronavirus.
1:07.0	And as people are confined to their couches, they've been turning to online resources, such as Amazon, to do most of their shopping. Now logistics experts say Amazon needs
1:16.2	about 270,000 workers to turn up each day to keep its US operations up and
1:21.3	running. Two weeks ago the company said it would be hiring another 100,000 in the U.S. and Europe.
1:27.0	But can the company keep its workers safe while they're in warehouses and delivering packages?
1:32.0	And what does consumer reliance on Amazon mean for its market power once we return to normal life?
	...

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