Hillicon Valley: Progressive groups press for mail-in voting | Grocery deliverers report delays getting protective equipment | Amazon hiring surges

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PRESSURE INCREASES FOR MAIL-IN VOTING: More than 50 progressive organizations signed an open letter Monday calling on Congress to appropriate $4 billion to states to boost mail-in voting efforts in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The groups — which were led by Stand Up America and included Greenpeace USA, Planned Parenthood, and the Sierra Club — strongly urged the leaders of the House and Senate to immediately pass legislation that included funds for states to allow elections to go forward this year. 

“Congress has an obligation to safeguard the integrity of our elections by setting national voting rights standards and providing state officials with urgent financial support so that they can institute these common-sense reforms while there is still time,” the groups wrote. 

They said Congress should give states funding to go toward giving every voter the option to vote-by-mail, extending in-person early voting, expanding registration and educating voters about their voting options.  

“None of us know how long this pandemic will last,” the groups emphasized. “Failing to provide states with this necessary funding puts the November elections and the rights of every voter at risk.”

Some funds already given to states: The coronavirus stimulus package signed into law by President Trump last month included $400 million to help states put on elections this year during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The legislation did not include any specific mandates for how states could spend the money, and required states to match the funds by 20 percent, an issue some state officials have said could be difficult to accomplish. 

Read more here. 

GROCERY PPE DELAYED: Workers at two grocery delivery firms are reporting delays in getting personal protective equipment (PPE) from the companies, even as cities begin to require customers to wear masks to enter the stores. 

A dozen shoppers at Shipt and Instacart recounted delays, unfilled commitments and challenges in getting masks, hand sanitizer and gloves in interviews Monday with The Hill.

“Instacart and Shipt [are] spending all of their time working on their PR, trying to sound good, but not actually doing anything that helps workers,” a spokesperson for the organizing group Gig Workers Collective told The Hill.

“They’re all saying ‘we’re doing this and that,’ but we still don’t have any PPE.”

Demand for the firms has exploded as states and cities recommend individuals stay home to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Shipt’s commitments: Shipt sent an email, reviewed by The Hill, on April 5 to all of its shoppers saying that they could pick up a set of gloves and mask from any Target, which owns the grocery delivery company.

The email also recommended “using the CDC’s latest resource to make your own cloth face covering out of cloth or old t‑shirts,” if they needed a mask immediately.

Multiple workers said their local stores did not have equipment for them, and many locations seemed unaware that they were supposed to have the protective gear. 

And Instacart’s: Instacart announced April 2, after a strike by its workers, that it would be providing each full-service shopper with a kit including a reusable face mask, hand sanitizer and a thermometer.

Shoppers can request kits on Instacart’s website. They can also request a single bottle of hand sanitizer.

Instacart shoppers who spoke to The Hill said the kits were labelled as either coming soon or unable to order until Sunday night, when they became available for pre-order. Sanitizer has continuously been sold out, according to the shoppers.

Read more.

AMAZON IS HIRING: Amazon announced Monday that it will hire an additional 75,000 workers to handle rising demand driven by the spread of coronavirus.

The online retail giant has already hired 100,000 workers since the beginning of the pandemic as stay-at-home orders and empty shelves at grocery stores drive demand for deliveries.

The company has also raised wages for hourly workers by $2 and boosted overtime pay.

“We know many people have been economically impacted as jobs in areas like hospitality, restaurants and travel are lost or furloughed as part of this crisis and we welcome anyone out of work to join us at Amazon until things return to normal and their past employer is able to bring them back,” Amazon said in a blog post.

Decision follows criticism: However, several workers say the company has not done enough to keep them safe from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Employees at warehouses across the country have walked out to protest facilities staying open after positive cases among their workforces. More than 60 warehouses have had positive cases.

Read more here. 

CYBER FEARS ON THE RISE: Americans rank the spread of infectious disease, terrorist attacks and cyberattacks as the top national security threats, a study released by the Pew Research Center on Monday found. 

Pew researchers found that 79 percent of those surveyed ranked the spread of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, as the top threat to the country. More than 70 percent of those polled identified cyberattacks from other countries and the spread of nuclear weapons as major threats.

Concerns around threats from global warming, the economy and global poverty were also cited by those polled. 

The results were compiled based on calls throughout March with 1,000 American adults, with the calls taking place as COVID-19 spread throughout the world and became a pandemic. The researchers saw a noted spike in those polled identifying infectious diseases as a top threat as the month went on. 

“Worries about both the threat of infectious diseases and the condition of the global economy rose after President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on March 13,” the researchers noted. 

The researchers found generational and political-party gaps in those who identified certain issues as major threats. Those who identified as Republicans were more likely to point to terrorism and migration between countries as top national national threats, while Democrats saw issues including increasing Russian power, global poverty and climate change as higher threats. 

Read more here. 

JOHN OLIVER VS. AMAZON: HBO host John Oliver on his “Last Week Tonight” show Sunday night criticized Amazon over its treatment of employees during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Oliver slammed the online retail giant over its initial paid leave policy as well as over employees’ claims that the company has failed to provide protective gear, time for workers to clean their hands or an environment where workers are able to implement social distancing guidelines. 

Oliver specifically called out Amazon’s firing of Chris Smalls, an Amazon worker at a Staten Island warehouse. Smalls was fired after demanding Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos better protect workers. 

The company claimed Smalls was fired for coming onsite after being told to remain home because he had come in contact with another employee who tested positive for COVID-19. 

But Oliver said leaked notes from an internal meeting in which Bezos was present show the company’s leadership discussing plans to make Smalls the face of the entire movement since he is “not smart or articulate.” 

“That is so racist I can’t even point out how smart and articulate Smalls is without also sounding racist,” Oliver quipped. 

Kristen Kish, an Amazon spokesperson, pushed back on Oliver’s claims. 

Kish said the company has made more than 150 “significant process changes” at its sites to ensure “the health and safety of our teams.” 

“Like all businesses grappling with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, we are evaluating and making changes in real-time and encourage anyone to compare our overall pay, benefits, and speed in which we’re managing this crisis to other retailers and major employers across the country,” Kish said. 

Read more here. 

Lighter click: Better than the Easter Bunny

An op-ed to chew on: COVID-19 will accelerate AI’s replacement of humans as factor of production

NOTABLE LINKS FROM AROUND THE WEB: 

Tech loves Google and Apple’s unholy alliance (Protocol / David Pierce) 

Security cameras are keeping track of social distancing in public spaces (Motherboard / Samantha Cole) 

Why you can’t trust your vote to the internet (CyberScoop / Brett Winterford) 

How millions of Chinese gently mourn a virus whistleblower (The New York Times / Li Yuan)