Macy’s announcement that it wanted to go ahead with its July 4th fireworks display in the midst of this pandemic should be disturbing to all New Yorkers for several reasons. Macy’s should not be spending millions on fireworks after laying off its entire workforce. Most of their employees cannot even afford health care coverage at this time. Many Macy’s employees have worked for the company for decades, and now they are on the street with nothing from their employer.

Business Roundtable—a lobbying organization made up of almost 200 chief executives from Apple, Walmart, JPMorgan Chase, and many more of the world’s largest companies—released a statement in August that purports to change the role of corporations in our society. The new stated goal, according to the report, is that corporations should promote “an economy that serves all Americans.”

Amazon has finally said publicly what we know the record clearly shows: It is a company staunchly hostile to workers forming a union. For the first time in the debate since the so-called second headquarters deal was unveiled, Amazon finally uttered a truth the company and its political supporters have tried to obscure. “Would you agree to neutrality if workers at Amazon wanted to unionize?” asked City Council Speaker Corey Johnson at a hearing. “No, sir” was the reply from Amazon Vice-President Brian Huseman.

Amazon’s plan to raise wages for nearly 400,000 of its workers in the United States and the United Kingdom is a positive step. However, as the dust settles and the details become known, it is clear that there is still much more to do for the internet commerce giant to be considered a global leader in good employment practices.