Tyson plant closure, Tim Cook still CEO, ISS should fight, Dollar General preach

Tyson plant closure, Tim Cook still CEO, ISS should fight, Dollar General preach

Free Float Media

LABOR DAY/STAKEHOLDER RULE STUFF (CARES/DON’T CARE)

1. Mamdani Opens Office of Worker Power DC

   1. The new city agency intends to connect workers who want to unionize with resources and organizing contacts, and use worker stories of exploitation to inform policy.

2. Starbucks faces another union boycott, activist investor pressure C

   1. The SOC Investment Group, an investment advisory group affiliated with the Strategic Organizing Center — a major coalition of North American trade unions — filed a shareholder proposal last week seeking to separate Starbucks’ CEO and board chair roles.

   2. The investor pressure came days after Starbucks Workers United called on consumers to boycott the coffee chain until it settles a contract with the union, which represents approximately 12,000 workers.

3. ‘Treated Worse than Cattle’: 2,500 Tyson Workers Laid Off, Plant Shutters Overnight DC

   1. Tyson beef plant in Joslin, Illinois: 2,500 workers–represented by Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 1546–from Africa, Latin America, and Burma

4. Campbell’s Cuts 13% of Workforce in Effort to Turn Around Struggling Operations C

5. Read Uber CEO's Memo as 3,300 Workers Lose Their Jobs Despite Business 'Performing So Well' C

   1. Uber is cutting roughly 10% of its global workforce in its biggest round of layoffs since the Covid-19 pandemic.

   2. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi: acknowledged that Uber's business is performing strongly. He said the company's revenue has nearly tripled over more than five years as it expanded its products, businesses, and global reach.

   3. The changes were designed to “make Uber simpler and faster, and create more capacity to invest in our future”

6. Volkswagen Superviosory Board Approves Plan To Slash Models & Reduce Workforce By 100,000 C

   1. In June, Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume had a plan to close four factories in Germany and eliminate 100,000 workers, both in Germany and around the world, by 2030. It said the plan would be made public at a company board meeting on July 9. 

   2. July 9 came and went, and the plan did not get the approval from the board of directors that Blume expected. The vote was 12 against and only 7 in favor of Blume’s vision.

   3. Then, on September 3, 2026, Volkswagen Group announced that the plan submitted in June had been approved unanimously by the supervisory board.

   4. CEO Oliver Blume: “The Supervisory Board has unanimously approved the Executive Board’s Future Plan presented today. This is a strong sign for the future of the Volkswagen Group. We are taking responsibility for our entire team, for our partners and for industrial jobs worldwide.”

7. A record 47% want stronger unions. Labor's challenge is turning support into power. DC

NERDY ESG STUFF (CARES/DON’T CARE)

8. Tim Cook Could Still Out-Earn Apple's New CEO John Ternus Under a Special Pay Arrangement C

   1. Apple set John Ternus's fiscal 2027 salary at $3M and his annual equity award at $55M, giving him a calculated fiscal 2027 salary-and-equity package of $58M.

   2. Cook will receive a $2M salary and a $45M annual equity award as executive chair, giving him a calculated salary-and-equity package of $47M.

   3. Almost all of the value in both packages comes through Apple shares rather than salary. Ternus has 75% of his equity award tied to performance, while Cook has 50% tied to performance.

   4. That structure gives Ternus greater exposure to performance, for better or worse. If Apple performs strongly against other S&P 500 companies, Ternus could receive more from his equity award. If the performance-based awards pay little or nothing, Cook could receive more from salary and equity even though he is no longer CEO. Cook also has a retirement provision that Ternus does not have.

9. Good Good's CEO and president are out after ad debacle C

   1. Co-founder Matt Kendrick said that he didn't view the ad before it ran and that the marketing team oversaw it.

   2. Co-founder Nahid Giga will step in as interim CEO

   3. “Matt has decided to step down as CEO of Good Good”

      1. No mention of ad

10. SEC sues ISS as Trump administration ramps up scrutiny of proxy advisers C

    1. The Securities and Exchange Commission sued Institutional Shareholder Services, seeking to force the influential proxy adviser to turn over information as the Trump administration steps up scrutiny of firms that help investors decide how to vote their shares

AI STUFF (CARES/DON’T CARE)

11. Data Center Spending to Reach $31.6 Trillion by 2050 on AI Boom C

12. Meta Hit With Sweeping New Claims That Its AI Glasses Violated the Consent of “Millions” of Bystanders in Searing Lawsuit DC

    1. "No bystanders anywhere had any opportunity to, much less in fact did, consent to having their faces, bodies, voices, and personal information captured, reviewed, labeled, and embedded into Meta's AI systems."

13. Zohran Mamdani Bans AI for NYC Public School Students Up to Eighth Grade C

14. OpenAI Is Now Facing Over 50 Consumer Harm and Wrongful Death Lawsuits DC

15. OpenAI Chief Scientist Warns AI Is Beating Humans at Key Tasks: 'No One Is Prepared' DC

BLOWHARD INDEX (SHUT UP/PREACH)

16. Sam Altman says he doesn’t like smart glasses: 'I find it very uncomfortable talking to people with a camera and a light’ SHUT UP

17. Sam Altman says he's 'a mega Apple fan boy' and is sad they are suing OpenAI SHUT UP

18. Dollar General CEO says its core customers are in distress PREACH

    1. CEO Todd Vasos 432:1

19. Billionaire Warren Buffett Says He’s ‘Impressed’ His 3 Kids Want to Give Money Away Rather Than Spend It on Themselves Or ‘Build Huge Office Buildings’ ’ SHUT UP

20. Vivek Ramaswamy takes credit for "calling out the epidemic of woke capitalism, educating the country on that" PREACH

DUMB STUFF (DUMB/NOT DUMB)

1. Target is under fire over another Halloween costume just weeks after apologizing for the last one DUMB

   1. Target, Walmart, and Amazon have pulled a “German Army Soldier Adult Costume” from their websites that resembles the uniforms of Nazi soldiers during World War II.

2. Halloween chocolate eyeballs sold at TJ Maxx and Marshalls recalled over hidden milk allergen NOT DUMB

3. German Far Right Party AfD Wins Regional Election, Thanks Musk for Support NOT DUMB

4. 26% of Gen Z Investors Include Sports Betting in Their Financial Strategy  DUMB

5. Zoom Appoints Former Oracle CFO Jeff Epstein to Board of Directors; Jonathan Chadwick to Retire DUMB

6. Humanoid Robot Fights Back After Getting Shoved DUMB

   1. A viral CCTV video shows the individual lightly shoving what appears to be a Chinese Unitree G1 humanoid robot. After it recoils slightly, it suddenly starts playing cheesy fighting music and pops into a wide-legged stance, ready to pounce. Two store clerks then try to restrain the robot as it tries to throw technical, high-legged kicks.