Silicon Valley Tech News Roundup – April 3rd

Amazon workers in Staten Island vote to unionize – 4/1

This Friday, Amazon workers at the Staten Island warehouse voted in favor of unionizing. According to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the vote was 2,654 for and 2,131 opposed.

Amazon spent years and a lot of money trying to prevent the workers from unionizing. The Huffington Post reports, based on the US Department of Labor filings, Amazon spent $4.3 million in 2021 alone for the services of anti-union consultants. Furthermore, a report published by The City claims several Staten Island warehouse workers were required to have mandatory meetings with staff to dissuade them from unionizing.

In a statement to Gizmodo, Amazon stated: “We’re disappointed with the outcome of the election in Staten Island because we believe having a direct relationship with the company is best for our employees.” Likewise, the company confirmed they are “evaluating their options.” Amazon might file objections due to claims of “inappropriate and undue influence” from the NLRB.

Tristian Martinez, the Amazon Labor Union organizer, said: “With our inexperience, we organized one warehouse and have another election already on the way… We have more drive than any other union because we are the workers. We have worked in that warehouse, we have worked for Jeff Bezos. Every union in the country started from somewhere.”

Russia refuses to cooperate on the International Space Station – 4/2

Dmitry Rogozin, the director of Roscosmos, tweeted on Saturday that Russia will stop working with NASA and other space agencies on the International Space Station (the ISS). The director of the Russian Space Agency said cooperation is not possible until the Western sanctions against Russia are lifted.

In his tweet, Rogozin stated the purpose of the sanctions is to: “kill Russian economy and plunge our people into despair and hunger, to get our country on its knees… That’s why I believe that the restoration of normal relations between the partners at the International Space Station and other projects is possible only with full and unconditional removal of illegal sanctions.” Furthermore, Rogozin said Roscosmos would prepare proposals on when to end cooperation on the International Space Station with other space agencies. They will submit the proposal to the Russian government.

Five countries (US, Canada, EU, Japan, and Russia) jointly operate the International Space Station under a cooperative agreement. Russian Orbital Segment is responsible for guidance control of the station.

Meanwhile, two Russian cosmonauts and one US astronaut aboard the same capsule landed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

WeChat suspends accounts linked to NFTs – 4/1

WeChat suspended several accounts connected to NFTs (non-fungible tokens). Tencent owns WeChat.

The company explained its decision by saying it was to prevent any potential speculation in digital assets. In a statement to the local media, the company said it had: “recently standardized and rectified public accounts and small programs for speculation and secondary sales of digital collections.” Furthermore, WeChat said that the decision was made “according to relevant national regulations, in order to prevent the risk of speculation in virtual currency transactions.”

The Chinese government banned trading and mining cryptocurrencies last year. NFTs are still unregulated. The government took action against social media platforms, E-commerce firms, and online financial services (among others). However, NFT trading is still not illegal. But the government regulates the technology used to create digital assets. Buyers can purchase NFTs using yuans, while digital currencies are not allowed.

Tesla delivers over 310,000 vehicles – 4/2

In a press release published on Saturday, Tesla confirmed it delivered 310,048 vehicles in the first quarter of 2022. Model 3 and Y made up for 295,324 deliveries, while 14,724 deliveries consisted of Model S and X. It is a slight increase compared to the previous quarter.

Elon Musk lauded the work of the Tesla team and said “it was an exceptionally difficult quarter” because of global supply chain interruptions and China’s zero Covid policy that led to the brief closure of the Shanghai factory.

In March, the Shanghai factory closed for two days due to the spike of Covid 19 cases. Likewise, last week the factory had to close for a week as the city grapples with an outbreak of Covid 19. The factory in Shanghai is crucial for Tesla. China is the company’s second-largest market, and the cars produced at the factory are exported to the rest of Asia and Europe.