August 2014

Would you buy “Inglorious Vegetables”?

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

One French supermarket chain had an idea about how to reduce food waste—by selling “Inglorious Fruits & Vegetables.” And while we’re on the topic of food waste—what if the leftover grounds from your local coffee shop could be turned into home heating fuel?

Australian Ikea and AirBnB are teaming up for a promotion where the winner gets to spend the night in an Ikea. Sharing meatballs, I suppose?

Uber is taking on Google & Amazon with its new on-demand delivery service.

Organizing Theory

Most of this post, by Quinn Norton, on what to bring with you when covering a protest is as good for activists as it is for journalists.

From Partners

Politics nerds: NGP VAN is expanding their dominance of data! Let’s all be happy about this, it seems amazing.

In NY? Why not hit this forum on how to impact global supply chains, on September 11th. http://bit.ly/1p2i2Ae

Geeking Out

The UK is about to launch a GPS system that can locate you down to the the centimeter.

The Verge takes a jokey look back, from 2035, on the development of self-driving transportation.

What’s Going on in the Workforce?

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times: net neutrality is a workers’ rights issue. Video creators have just launched a new site to talk about why it matters to them.

I kinda don’t understand how the NFL thinks they are exempt from state labor laws. But this is why cheerleaders don’t even make minimum wage, in most places.

Shorten the workweek? Sure. But why do we have to maintain 40 hours?

The European Freelancers’ Movement is writing a new book on independent worker rights. They’ve just released the first five chapters, and are crowd-sourcing funding to pay for the rest.

Don’t forget to join our tweet chat next week–Monday, 9/1 at 8 pm Eastern (US)–use the hashtag #robotwork.

Robots vs. Apps: What’s an Organizer To Do?

When I started writing this blog, around this time last year, I wanted to get more folks in the economic justice community thinking about technology, and the ways it is changing work. Historically, the labor movement has been painted as a foe of technological change, and I didn’t (and still don’t) think that’s an accurate picture. But I also get that the rapid pace of technological change makes all but the most tech-savvy nervous, at times. And those times seem to be increasing.

In the intervening year, it feels to me as if this topic has gotten a lot more coverage in the mainstream, particularly when it comes to the apps of the sharing economy. There was a little worry, a year ago, about Uber and what it might do to the taxi industry–but there hadn’t been, yet, local government taking action against the company (or Lyft, or any of the other big ride-sharing apps). There was some concern about what AirBnB might mean for hotels, but there hadn’t yet been regulatory action pushing them to pay taxes, or to protect their users. It feels, now, like we are starting to have more of a conversation about the gig economy and what it means for workers today–and I’m happy to have played some very small role in that conversation.

But I’m also worried that we haven’t started yet having the bigger conversation, which to my mind is not about apps, but robots. I’m going to use the term “robot” here pretty broadly–basically meaning any mechanization of work that was formerly done by humans.

If you haven’t yet watched this video that was linked in this week’s newsletter, go do it.

Our movement can be great at reacting–and it’s easy to feel, in the light of so many challenges that face us RIGHT NOW that we don’t have bandwidth to think about what might happen in ten, fifteen or twenty years. But if we don’t, who will be worrying about the impact of widespread job displacement on workers of all kinds?

Next month, as my own celebration of the US’s Labor Day, I’m hosting a tweet chat about robots and work. Please join me–8 pm Eastern, Monday 9/1/14. #robotwork will be the hashtag.

Can basic income develop a passion for washing the dishes?

Original Content

This week’s challenge–Robots vs. Apps: What’s an Organizer To Do?

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

Would a universal basic income give you a passion for washing the dishes? One German startup founder wants to find out. I’m willing to let him experiment on my teen and tween.

The story about building a cooperative economy in Jackson, MS is consistently uplifting to me. Here’s more, on how they’re transforming the poorest state in the US.

Sustainable communities that locate intentionally near one another have more support, if something goes wrong in one.

Reputation, reputation, reputation

You say you haven’t seen enough farmers talking about data privacy & protection? You wanna see a guy wearing a tractor hat talk about bleeding edge technology? Done. Apologies—the video gets a little choppy.

Organizing Theory

Voting technology seems like some of the least sexy technology there is. And yet, people strive to make it better, though open source.

In a week where national journalists have been detained by police for covering the increasing militarization of Ferguson, MO—it’s not just every activist who should read the EFF’s updated cell phone guide. Every American should read it. Because you never know when you’ll be caught up in history.

From Partners

Last week, the Steelworkers passed a resolution at their convention promoting worker-owned co-ops. On a related note, USW’s Rob Witherell launched a new blog promoting worker ownership.

Geeking Out

Civic tech sometimes gets a bad rap (reporting potholes? is this the best we can do?), but these five projects are designed to use tech to solve real problems for low-income communities.

Oh, so your government is making you participate in mandatory job search in order to get benefits? Why not hack together a Google Chrome extension that automatically searches for and applies for jobs for you?

What’s Going on in the Workforce?

The Pew Research Center has been asking industry leaders what they think will happen with the future of jobs. Here’s their report (this may be the first white paper I’ve ever seen with suggested tweets embedded in the text).

Workers at a non-union grocery store in MA walked off the job, to protest a shift to a more shareholder-priviligeing form of management. PBS seems perplexed.

Headed to an Aloft hotel near you—the robot butler.

Sure. In the face of job-killing robots, just become a robot investor in order to ensure your economic survival. Sounds easy enough.

Final Thoughts

“even if Baxter is slow, his hourly cost is pennies’ worth of electricity, while his meat-based competition costs minimum wage. A tenth of the speed is still cost-effective, when it’s a hundredth the price.”

I guess I can retire this blog now.

“To have democracy in our society, we must have democracy in our economy.”

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

“To have democracy in our society, we must have democracy in our economy.” Why union coops are spreading in the EU and the US.

Here’s an innovative idea for dealing with exorbitant student debt: the Salish Sea Cooperative is refinancing high interest student loans and returning the savings to their members.

It’s not okay to “share” the parking rights to a public parking space—but this new British service wants to help you rent out your driveway.

London is running out of room…so it’s developing waterfront—and water-based—housing options.

Organizing Theory

Micah Sifry on what has—and hasn’t—changed in politics, after a decade of online organizing.

Do you have a website that’s optimized for search? If you want to keep it that way, you’re going to want to transition for HTTPS, as Google announces that they’re changing (slowly) their search algorithms.

Justin Ruben (formerly of MoveOn) has been thinking about how progressive organizations can learn to scale up, from 12-step movements.

Geeking Out

If the robots are coming, how many of us will they accidentally kill, before they reach perfection?

Do you wish you understood more about how computers work within networks? Quinn Norton’s got you covered.

What’s Going on in the Workforce?

Yeah, wearable computers that let your boss know when you need a break. That couldn’t possibly go wrong, could it? And while we’re on the topic of tech that many of us would be uncomfortable with, at work—I introduce you to Moodhacker.

No longer just a fancy costume for a Matt Damon movie…Japan tests robotic exoskeleton for shipyard workers.

Final Thoughts

“Levying additional taxes involves a simple principle: go where the money is. Since money has been increasingly going to the top, that’s where additional tax revenues have to come from. It’s really that simple. It used to be said that the top didn’t have enough money to fill the hole in the deficit; but that’s becoming less and less true. With those in the top 1 percent getting more than 20 percent of the nation’s income, an incremental 10 percent tax on their income (without loopholes) would generate revenues equal to some 2 percent of the nation’s GDP.”

Joseph Stiglitz, The Price of Inequality

“It’s not terribly uplifting to think that the future of labor is delivering stuff to rich people.”

What’s Going on in the Workforce?

“It’s not terribly uplifting to think that the future of labor is delivering stuff to rich people.” On the “new” kinds of workers, in our new economy.

Read the public testimony of four co-op owner/workers who testified before New York City Council, and eventually helped to win an historic $1.2M investment in co-op development.

1,000 units of robot bartender that let you order a drink from across the room, or put a tiki bar in your restaurant, now on order.

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

If your gig in the gig economy involves international travel, it could also involve free housing with this new service.

Guerrilla gardening is one way to build a more sustainable world—even in Guantanamo.

Reputation, reputation, reputation

In France, you can be sued for posting a bad review that damages a business online. In the UK, the business might go under, instead.

A fascinating infographic about what Americans believe whether social media networks can be trusted with their private information.

Organizing Theory

Online voter reg tool TurboVote has just partnered with 27 colleges & universities in Florida, to increase civic engagement among young, particularly first-time, voters.

Final Thoughts

“The language of money is a powerful tool, and it is also a tool of power. Incomprehension is a form of consent. If we allow ourselves not to understand this language, we are signing off on the way the world works today—in particular, we are signing off on the prospect of an ever-widening gap between the rich and everyone else, a world in which everything about your life is determined by the accident of who your parents are. Those of us who are interested in stopping that from happening need to learn how to measure the Nile for ourselves.”

“Money Talks,” John Lancaster, New Yorker August 4, 2014