A total of 3,215 votes were cast in what could have been a ground breaking election. The ballot asked if workers at Amazon’s Bessemer, AL warehouse would unionize. The voters responded with 1,798 votes opposed and 738 in favour.

Unpack It: This is the first time an Amazon warehouse has voted on unionizing. Stakes were high on either side — President Biden and Republican Senator Marco Rubio endorsed the Union, while Amazon execs and bots vented their frustrations on Twitter about how the company was being portrayed.

Challenge It: The RWDSU isn’t quitting without a continued fight, pledging to challenge “Amazon’s lies, deception and illegal activities.”

That ain’t it: Amazon is happy with the results. The company isn’t claiming victory for themselves, rather saying it’s a win for their employees who chose not to join a union.

This is it: Workers who were in favour of the union aren’t completely deflated. They will be meeting with senior management, and believe the push earned them a seat at the table.

That’s It?

Not Quite. Jeff Bezos is still one of the world’s richest men and he employs 800,000 people who continue to raise concerns about their working conditions. A legal battle over the Bessemer vote will drag on while other unionization drives are launched at other facilities.

If you're an American in a town/city that borders Canada, do I have a business opportunity for you... It's called 'ground transportation' and because of our hotel quarantine policy, taxi and limo services in border towns are booming with demand from Canadians returning home from down south.

What's the policy: Canadians returning home from the US who travel by air are required to conduct a mandatory 3 day hotel quarantine as they await results from a COVID-19 test. Travellers must pay for the cost of the hotel and fees can be up to $2,000.

And savvy travellers have caught on to the loophole and are exploiting it in droves.

Limo Luxury: A limo service in Buffalo — whose business was almost wiped out by COVID — told the CBC there's been a surge in demand from Canadians looking for his help.

In BC, some Canadians are crossing the Washington border by foot and taking an Uber to their final destination.

And why are these US drivers allowed to cross? They're an essential service, of course.

Bottom line: The Peak is a no judgement zone. These Canadians are — by the letter of the law — following the government's guidance. But if the government is actually serious about stopping the transmission of foreign variants, they're going to have to find a way to close this loophole.

That's gotta sting: Chinese regulators slapped e-commerce giant Alibaba with a USD$2.8 billion fine — equal to 4% of its annual domestic sales — for using its dominant market position to squash competition.

What they said: The State Administration for Market Regulation said Alibaba penalized merchants who sold on other e-commerce platforms in addition to its own.

Why it matters: The fine is the latest in a series of moves by the Chinese government to rein in the power of tech giants, particularly those controlled by business titan Jack Ma.

Late last year the government axed a planned IPO for Ma's Ant Group and launched an anti-trust investigation into the company.

Big picture: $2.8 billion isn't nothing, but ultimately a fine totalling 4% of annual revenue isn't going to slow down Alibaba too much. The size of the penalty suggests that the Chinese government wanted to flex its muscle without actually crippling one of the country's biggest tech platforms.

Here’s a common misconception: to work in tech, you have to be a software engineer.

The reality is there are tons of amazing jobs in tech beyond software engineering, like careers in strategy, ops, or product.

And they’re great jobs: interesting, fun, well paid. But how does a professional actually land those roles?

That’s where Skillful comes in. They’ve created a program that provides you with:

That’s why graduates of Skillful’s 6-week part-time program have been hired at places like Amazon, TikTok, Duolingo, and more.

Want to land a great business job in tech?  Check out Skillful and join the waitlist for their next cohort today.

New Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) chief John Graham says he has no plans to stop investing the pension's cash in oil and gas.

What he said: "We’ve taken the position that we invest in the entire energy ecosystem, and we do not pursue a path of blanket divestment"

This is controversial.

As you might expect, environmentalists have argued for divestment as a way to shift resources out of fossil fuels and into clean energy. But some economists say that fossil fuel assets are now too risky to invest in and various investors are divesting from at least some fossil fuels.

Big picture: Big funds — especially public ones like the CPPIB — are facing growing pressure to make environmental goals a part of their investment calculus. Balancing these demands with the need to deliver returns for their investors (in this case, that's us) is a thorny problem.

South Korean battery giants LG and SK Innovation announced a deal, ending a dispute that threatened US electric vehicle manufacturing.

Backstory: LG and SK are two of the biggest EV batter manufacturers in the world — and they're fiercely competitive with each other. So competitive that the International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled in favour of LG, claiming that SK stole trade secrets.

The problem: But the Biden Administration didn't want the headache. Their goal is to get as many electric vehicles on the road as possible and losing a huge battery manufacturer with existing US contracts could put a huge dent in their plans.

Zoom out: With the announcement, SK's Georgia factory can restart operations and the Biden Administration can continue to push electric vehicles as part of their broader climate plan.

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