Amazon offers to cover full college tuition costs for 750,000 U.S. hourly workers
CBSN
Amazon on Thursday said it will pay for full college tuition for its 750,000 U.S. hourly employees, expanding its education benefit at a time when employers are struggling to hire workers amid a tight labor market. The retailer said it will fund full college tuition for workers who have been at the company for more than 90 days.
The company said the offer makes all of the 400,000 workers that it has hired since the start of the pandemic eligible for the benefit when it goes into effect in January. The new educational program will also pay for high school diplomas, GEDs, and English as a Second Language (ESL) proficiency certifications, the company said. While Amazon has been buoyed by demand for online shopping during the pandemic, and swiftly grown to become the nation's second-largest private employer, it's also battled allegations about worker conditions, such as a lawsuit filed by New York State alleging that the company failed to protect workers from COVID-19. Some workers have also claimed that warehouse conditions are driven by demanding quotas and algorithms that make it difficult to find time to use a restroom, an issue that is now targeted by lawmakers in California who want to place limits on warehouse production quotas.Washington — More than 50 former football players and coaches, including several Pro Football Hall of Famers and Super Bowl MVP's, announced their endorsement Friday of Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The group represents 25 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU's) and consists of 10 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees, two Super Bowl champions and MVPs, former No. 1 overall picks and some of the first Black athletes and coaches to break the color barrier.
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The Justice Department on Thursday announced it is opening a civil rights investigation into Rankin County, Mississippi, and the Rankin County Sheriff's Department. A group of the agency's former officers — who called themselves the "Goon Squad" — pleaded guilty last year to a series of charges for torturing two Black men.