DOE awards grants for battery recycling
The Energy Department on Wednesday awarded nearly $74 million from the bipartisan infrastructure law for 10 projects to advance recycling and reuse of batteries for electric vehicles and other purposes.
The funding will go to academic and commercial applicants in seven states, including one each in Tennessee and Alabama.
Sales of electric vehicles have skyrocketed in the past two years and are expected to continue rising under the $1 trillion infrastructure law signed last year and the climate-and-health law adopted in August.
"With demand for critical battery minerals, such as lithium and graphite, projected to increase by as much as 4,000% in the coming decades, this latest round of funding supports the recycling and reuse segment of the domestic battery supply chain," the Energy Department said. The projects should help accelerate battery production in America, mitigate battery supply chain disruptions and create good-paying jobs, officials said.
The announcement follows $2.8 billion in grants awarded last month to boost domestic manufacturing of electric vehicle batteries in 12 states. A total of 20 companies will receive grants for projects to extract and process lithium, graphite and other battery materials, manufacture components and strengthen U.S. supply of critical minerals.
Meat companies accused of conspiring to fix wages
Three meat plant workers have filed a federal lawsuit accusing 11 of the United States' largest beef and pork producers of conspiring to depress wages and benefits.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Denver on Friday, seeks class-action status and alleges the producers have worked together since at least 2014 to keep workers' compensation lower than the market would allow, violating the Sherman Antitrust Act.
It was brought by two meat plant workers from Iowa and one from Georgia but seeks to represent hundreds of thousands of other people who have worked in jobs from slaughtering to production at the companies' collective 140 plants. Together, the plants produce about 80% of the red meat sold to U.S. consumers, according to the lawsuit.
The companies are JBS USA Food Company, Cargill Inc., Hormel Foods Corp., American Foods Group LLC, Triumph Foods LLC, Seaboard Foods LLC, National Beef Packing Co. LLC, Iowa Premium LLC, Smithfield Foods Inc., Agri Beef Co. and Perdue Farms Inc., along with some subsidiaries.
Cargill denied any wrongdoing.
"While we cannot comment with specificity during the pendency of litigation, Cargill sets compensation independently to ensure that it pays fair and competitive wages to employees in each of the company's plants," company spokesman Daniel Sullivan said.
Perdue Farms spokeswoman Andrea Staub declined to comment, saying the company does not discuss pending lawsuits. Smithfield spokesman Jim Monroe said the company has not had a chance to review the allegations and had no comment at this time. Representatives of the other companies did not immediately return emails and telephone messages seeking comment Wednesday.
Fed official open to slower rate hikes
Christopher Waller, a key Federal Reserve official, added his voice to a rising number of Fed officials who have suggested that the central bank will likely slow the pace of its interest rate hikes beginning in December.
Waller, a member of the Fed's Board of Governors, said he was open to raising the Fed's key rate by a half-point next month in light of evidence that inflation may be cooling.
At each of its four most recent policy meetings, the central bank has raised its benchmark rate by an aggressive three-quarters of a point. The cumulative effect has been to make many consumer and business loans costlier and to raise the risk of a a recession.
Amazon begins layoffs of corporate workforce
Amazon has begun mass layoffs in its corporate ranks, becoming the latest tech company to trim its workforce amid rising fears about the wider economic environment.
On Tuesday, the company notified regional authorities in California that it would lay off about 260 workers at various facilities that employ data scientists, software engineers and other corporate workers. The company would not specify how many more layoffs may be in the works beyond the ones confirmed through the filing in California.
Some corporate employees in Seattle said on LinkedIn on Tuesday they were let go, too. In an announcement posted on its website Wednesday, Amazon said impacted employees were notified on Tuesday.
— Compiled by Dave Flessner