People & Profit

Ahead of the November 5 US presidential election, both Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump have been courting union support. Some 14 million American voters are union members, and they could prove to be a deciding force in several battleground states. We take a closer look in this edition of People & Profit.

Bob Bruno, Professor of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, says there are "stark" differences between the candidates' labour proposals, which are reflected in the number of union endorsements that Harris has received.

"Those kinds of endorsements really do matter. Organised labour has lost a lot of its political clout, but even with reduced membership, it can still be a decider in national elections, particularly in many of the competitive states."

Bruno notes that in the post-pandemic era, power has shifted to workers, and led to more public support for union action. "Both the structural moment and the realisation among workers, an increased consciousness, that only through collective action could they maximise their power, has led to this moment where we see very high-profile and successful strikes, along with increased numbers of workers organising, increased numbers of workers filing complaints about management abuse, and workers winning more."

He adds that Joe Biden's presidency will be remembered for legislation that supports labour and protects workers' rights. "He justifiably has earned that moniker, as the most pro-union president in the modern era."  

As the International Monetary Fund and World Bank mark 80 years since their founding, how can they stay relevant and effective? During the annual fall meeting in Washington, World Bank Senior Managing Director Axel van Trotsenburg told FRANCE 24 that reforms are underway, but need to happen more quickly.

"I think an international organisation should always be subject to scrutiny, there should be critical questions, there should be criticism, and we should be held accountable. (...) It makes us better to respond," van Trotsenburg said.

He also underscored the importance of tackling climate change and biodiversity alongside the Bank's mandates of development, reconstruction, and reducing poverty.

"You cannot only talk about climate change or biodiversity, and then move to the topic of development. They are all intertwined, so you have to analyse them together, because they affect the economic prospects, social prospects, and particularly the communities."

Also in the show: the IMF hails the end of the global economy's inflationary spiral, but warns that geopolitical risks could derail its "stable but underwhelming" return to growth.

Just how sustainable is your happy hour? The beverage industry is among those facing pressure to mitigate its impact on the environment. In 2021, it accounted for 3.8 percent of global carbon emissions. We take a closer look in this edition of People & Profit.

Drinks sustainability consultant Anne Jones says both packaging and raw materials are key to reducing the industry's carbon footprint. "Every drink starts its life in a field, it's a very agricultural product. Although the journey from field to glass can be very complicated, we have to look at it holistically. We have to remember that there are two key influences that the drinks industry has on the environment. Packaging is obviously one of the most influential from a carbon footprint perspective, but we also have to think about biodiversity."

When it comes to water sustainability, she notes that "the drinks industry is probably at the forefront of the impact of climate change in this sense because it is so dependent on water".

Following the inaugural "Sustainability in Drinks" conference in London, Jones says there is growing momentum to tackle the industry's problems.

"People often say that sustainability can be expensive and actually I don't believe that is the case (…) Sustainability is about efficiency and prudent use of our resources. What's expensive, I think, is change. So what we're seeing is a drinks industry that is collaborating better than ever before to learn from each other and to understand how to drive change as an industry."

Can European industry regain its competitive edge on the global stage? A new EU report penned by former ECB chief Mario Draghi highlights a growing gap in both productivity and innovation, and warns that businesses will face an "existential challenge" without drastic change and significant investment. Tim Figures, a partner and associate director at the Boston Consulting Group, believes the proposals "turn challenges into opportunities for growth and improved productivity in the European economy". He spoke to FRANCE 24's Kate Moody.

Figures says that tariffs – like the tit-for-tat measures enacted by the EU and China on electric vehicles and brandy imports – can help provide "short-term breathing space for European industry to innovate".

However, he adds: "On their own, they're not a mechanism that will deliver the kind of changes that we need to see to maintain European competitiveness; they need to be seen alongside a whole raft of other measures, as Mr Draghi sets out in his report."

The French government plans to subject the budget to a €60 billion belt-tightening drive next year in the hope of bringing the deficit down to 5 percent of GDP from an estimated more than 6 percent this year. Two-thirds of that sum are to come from spending cuts, and the rest from new taxes. Why does the country find itself in this fiscal hole? How will this new budget impact the country's economy? FRANCE 24's Charles Pellegrin talks to OFCE Economist François Geerolf. 

This week we look at ethical fashion in the age of "direct-to-consumer" giants like China's Shein and Temu. Thanks to their business model based on ultra-fast design and production, consumers can purchase a new look at incredibly low prices. But at what cost for the environment and worker wellbeing? Charles Pellegrin talks to Kamila Boudova, a Paris-based slow fashion coach who helps her clients create ethical wardrobes. They discuss the challenges of wearing ethical clothes in an age of ultra-fast fashion.

Also in the show:

Our China correspondent Yena Lee obtained access to a clothes manufacturing site that focuses solely on selling items on Temu. The platform has been described as "Amazon on steroids". Since launching two years ago it has exploded onto the global e-commerce scene, shipping to around 50 countries.

The athletes have crossed the finish line of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. Now economists are trying their best to accurately assess the economic impact of this global event on the city and on France. Our guest, Wladimir Andreff, is one of them. He is a specialist of sports economics and a professor emeritus at the university of Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne. 

After a summer of Olympic fever, it's back to business in France. But uncertainty dominates after snap elections earlier this summer returned a hung parliament. As suspense continues over who will be the country's next prime minister, France's largest employer federation, Medef, held its annual conference on the theme of ''power''. So after seven years of pro-business policies, what's next for France's business community? FRANCE 24's Yuka Royer talks to Medef's Vice President Fabrice Le Saché and asks business leaders what their top concerns are.

While the tech world has been flying high on a wave of optimism over all the potential applications of AI, booming demand for the technology is increasingly straining energy resources. One simple search on ChatGPT consumes almost 10 times more electricity than one on Google. Charles Pellegrin speaks to Mary de Wysocki, Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Cisco, a major US-based company that provides data centre products and services.

Scene on Radio, the Peabody-nominated podcast series produced by The Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, has dedicated its latest season to exploring the history, failures and future of capitalism over the course of 13 episodes. John Biewen, co-host of the podcast, joins us from North Carolina for a big picture conversation about the system that governs the lives of a large chunk of humanity.