The New York Times - USA (2020-06-25)

THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 2020 B1

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TECH ECONOMY MEDIA FINANCE

3 ENVIRONMENT

The I.R.S. is clarifying rules

on tax breaks for companies

that use carbon capture to

fight climate change.

6 VIRUS FALLOUT

The Times’s chief restaurant

critic goes in search of his

first sit-down restaurant meal

since the March shutdown.

11 SPORTS

Bryson DeChambeau is

pumped for the PGA Tour,

and we mean that in a very

literal way.

SEATTLE — Last week, Jeff Bezos,

Amazon’s chief executive, wrote a

rare note to all of the company’s

employees. His leadership team

had been reflecting on the “sys-

temic racism” facing black com-

munities, he said, and he urged

employees to take time to learn

and reflect on Juneteenth, the hol-

iday marking the end of slavery in

the United States.

“I’m canceling all my meetings

on Friday, and I encourage you to

do the same if you can,” he said.

But some of Amazon’s employ-

ees said there was one big prob-

lem with his suggestion: For the

vast majority of Amazon’s black

workers, canceling a meeting is

not an option. They work in Ama-

zon’s fulfillment operations, pack-

ing, shipping and delivering prod-

ucts to millions of customers.

Several other retailers, like Tar-

get, J.C. Penney and Nike, made

Juneteenth a paid holiday. At Am-

azon, many warehouses recog-

nized the day by encouraging

workers to dress in black.

“What does a black shirt do for

anybody in terms of social jus-

tice?” said Adrienne Williams, a

black contract driver for Amazon

in the Bay Area, who organized a

vigil for Juneteenth. Better pay,

she said, would do far more. “That

would cut down the pre-existing

Race Issues

Grow Louder

At Amazon

By KAREN WEISE

CONTINUED ON PAGE B4

ViacomCBS has reversed course.

Days after announcing that its

television adaptation of “A Higher

Loyalty,” the best-selling book by

the former F.B.I. director James B.

Comey, would appear after the

election, the company has moved

the broadcast to September.

The director, Billy Ray, sent an

email to cast members on Monday

expressing disappointment that

the mini-series had been sched-

uled to broadcast in late Novem-

ber on the ViacomCBS cable net-

work Showtime. In the email,

which was reviewed by The New

York Times, the director said he

had completed the project in the

spring with the expectation that it

would air before Election Day,

Nov. 3.

The two-part, four-hour pro-

gram, “The Comey Rule,” was

adapted by Mr. Ray, the screen-

By RACHEL ABRAMS

CONTINUED ON PAGE B4

Comey Show

To Precede

Election Day

When Bayer, the giant German chemical and phar-

maceutical maker, acquired Monsanto two years

ago, the company knew it was also buying the

world’s best-known weedkiller. What it didn’t antici-

pate was a legal firestorm over claims that the weed-

killer, Roundup, caused cancer.

Now Bayer is moving to put those troubles behind

it, agreeing to pay more than $10 billion to settle tens

of thousands of claims while continuing to sell the

product without adding warning labels about its

safety.

The deal, announced Wednesday, is among the

largest settlements ever in U.S. civil litigation. Nego-

tiations were extraordinarily complex, producing

separate agreements with 25 lead law firms whose

clients will receive varying amounts.

“It’s rare that we see a consensual settlement with

that many zeros on it,” said Nora Freeman En-

gstrom, a professor at Stanford University Law

School.

Bayer, which inherited the litigation when it

bought Monsanto for $63 billion, has repeatedly

maintained that Roundup is safe.

Most of the early lawsuits were brought by home-

owners and groundskeepers, although they account

for only a tiny portion of Roundup’s sales. Farmers

are the biggest customers, and many agricultural as-

sociations contend glyphosate, the key ingredient in

Roundup’s maker

agrees to pay

more than $10 billion

to settle thousands

of claims that

the weedkiller

causes cancer.

By PATRICIA COHEN

Monsanto’s legacy to Bayer.

CONTINUED ON PAGE B7

Just two months ago, the auto in-

dustry was bracing for disaster.

As the coronavirus spread, au-

tomakers shut down plants, and

car sales plunged.

But the industry is starting to

breathe a little easier. Factories

are churning out trucks and sport

utility vehicles, with many of the

plants nearly back to production

levels that prevailed before the

pandemic took hold. While some

factory workers have tested pos-

itive for the coronavirus, au-

tomakers have reported no major

outbreaks. Perhaps most impor-

tant, vehicle sales have perked up

more than many industry execu-

tives had expected.

“At the end of March, it did seem

like we were heading for a dooms-

day scenario,” said Jessica Cald-

well, a senior analyst at Edmunds,

a research firm. “But people are

starting to buy cars now. June

sales will still be well off record

levels, but they will be OK. It’s

pretty encouraging.”

A rebound in the auto industry

Automakers

Pulling Out

Of a Skid

By NEAL E. BOUDETTE

CONTINUED ON PAGE B5