Platform workers can no longer be fired automatically by algorithms, according to new European Union rules agreed today in a sweeping reform of the gig economy that will affect Uber drivers and Deliveroo couriers. “Now we have a proper system, which is something that doesn't exist anywhere else around the …
Read More »Tesla Is Suing Sweden
Tesla is suing Sweden as the carmaker hits back at an attempt by local unions to disrupt its business in an ongoing battle over workers’ rights. In the lawsuit, filed Monday, Tesla says it is suing “the Swedish state through the Swedish Transport Agency” because local union members were refusing …
Read More »Sweden’s Tesla Blockade Is Spreading
Swedish workers are uniting against Tesla. From tomorrow, cleaners will stop cleaning Tesla showrooms, electricians won’t fix the company’s charging points, and dockworkers will refuse to unload Tesla cargo at all Swedish ports. What started as a strike by Tesla mechanics is spreading, in something Swedish unions describe as an …
Read More »The SAG Deal Sends a Clear Message About AI and Workers
On Monday, the leadership of the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists held a members-only webinar to discuss the contract the union tentatively agreed upon last week with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. If ratified, the contract will officially end the longest labor strike …
Read More »This AI Bot Fills Out Job Applications for You While You Sleep
In July, software engineer Julian Joseph became the latest victim of the tech industry’s sweeping job cuts. Facing his second layoff in two years, he dreaded spending another couple months hunched over his laptop filling out repetitive job applications and blasting them into the void. Joseph specializes in user interface …
Read More »Apple Store Workers Fear the Tech Giant Is Dodging Accountability for Shady Labor Practices
In January, Apple agreed to let its board oversee an independent audit of its US labor practices after five investors with $7 billion in company stock raised concerns about the unfair treatment of workers trying to unionize. Today, workers at two Apple Stores wrote to the company’s board claiming that …
Read More »Epic Games’ Sale of Bandcamp Has Left the Artist-Friendly Music Platform in Limbo
After work hours on September 27, employees of Fortnite maker Epic Games received a calendar invite informing them of a mandatory meeting the next morning, according to an employee who received the message. Just before the surprise all-hands was scheduled to begin, employees of the online record store Bandcamp, which …
Read More »Generative AI Is Coming for Sales Execs’ Jobs—and They’re Celebrating
Wining and dining, wooing clients with creative offers, and cashing big bonuses provide the glamor to sales work. Drafting answers to hundreds of dull questions posed by a prospective customer’s request for proposals? That’s just drudgery. Mercifully for workers, after months of speculation about ChatGPT-style AI taking over white-collar work, …
Read More »Your Project Management Software Can't Save You
When I worked as a copywriter at a dog-toy-slash-tech company, we used Airtable and Basecamp to organize our workflows. At my next job, the marketers made us learn Asana (“same as Airtable but much better”), but the product team pushed their work and sprints through Jira. I was laid off …
Read More »Workers Demand Job Security in the Autonomous, Electrified Future of Transport
The internal combustion engine ruled the 20th century. In the 21st, electric motors and automation are reshaping the way stuff and people get around. Transportation workers aren’t entirely thrilled about how it’s going. On Tuesday, a caravan of big rig trucks roared into Sacramento as the Teamsters union rallied support …
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