Month: July 2016

What’s Going on in the Workforce

Why do employers reimburse us for the things they reimburse for (and not for others)? Sexism plays a part.

Uber is facing legal action for the first time in the UK, over the question of whether they are an employer or not. In the Philippines, ALL applications for new ride-sharing vehicles have just been suspended by the government. And will Brexit be a boon to the gig economy?

Cue the “but Seattle is a special snowflake filled with unicorns” tweeting from people who won’t want to take this new data seriously.

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

The Obama Administration is investing in helping veterans and low-income households increase their access to rooftop solar.

Reputation, reputation, reputation

The quantified self is all the rage—but so is the human behind the dataset.

Organizing Theory

Interesting look at the inner workings of Code for America. Some of the challenges of running a largely volunteer-led group of local organizations will be familiar to most of us.

I’m super-excited about this effort by white people to take on the burden of educating other whites not to be racist on social media.

From Partners

Friend-o-the-blog Stephen Lerner asks how unions can be involved with social movements that expand the scope and scale of what we’re organizing workers for.

Geeking Out

A 40-hour workweek isn’t optimal for high performance—especially if you’re over 40.

Organizing Theory

“If you’d like the priorities of movement organizations not to be dictated by the mega-rich, then lead generation is an important function (for the movement).” Dave Karpf, on what Change.org’s switch to crowdfunding might mean for social justice groups.

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

Maybe regulating ride-sharing in your city will create opportunities for new kinds of ride-sharing companies to prosper, as it did in Austin.

Reputation, reputation, reputation

OSHA has finalized new rules that require employers to file workplace safety reports online, in order to make incident rates more transparent. Industry, shockingly, opposes this idea.

From Partners

We need to work harder to convince the Clinton campaign to adopt policies around digital work…

Last week, the Aspen Institute released a resource guide for those who are promoting portable benefits for the fissured workforce.

Geeking Out

I’m sure by now you’ve heard of Pokemon Go, and the good news that it seems to have gotten America’s kids off the couch during summer vacation. Here’s an interesting look at some of the challenges the apps present for non-urban or disabled people (and some thoughts about what that might mean for augmented reality apps in general).

What’s Going on in the Workforce

“My body is not public property, and it’s not someone else’s right to tell me how to live…” Meet the movement for fat acceptance in the workplace (and everywhere).

New research from Pew shows that most Mechanical Turkers are earning less than the minimum wage.

Adidas is building an automated factory to make shoes. What does the threat of robotic factories mean for workers in Asia and the global South?

Alex Rosenblat has been doing academic research on Uber, Lyft, and taxi drivers. Here, she shares some of her anecdotal findings.

What’s Going on in the Workforce

“It’s not like you need a pimp anymore. You just need a computer.” Is sex work becoming more mainstream, thanks to the internet?

The Rideshare Guy’s Harry Campbell, on some things that Uber could do, besides raising wages, that would help retain drivers.

Researchers from the LSE have concluded that tech employment increasing has basically zero effect on lifting people out of deep poverty.

This is a good look at how the “attractions” of self-employment are forced on people who used to have more stable jobs.

Organizing Theory

Breather CEO talks about how he built his business—definitely some lessons that could carry over for organizers.

From Partners

Freelance writers interested in tech—Shareable is looking for you!

Geeking Out

I’m curious if any HTU readers have experience using Trokt for contract management? h/t to Matt Richards for pointing it out to me.

Tesla has announced an update to their Autopilot, which will allow the car to recognize stop signs and stoplights.

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

This might be the most adorable way to share surplus resources ever.

Home-cooked food sharing app Josephine is trying to make its business legal, countering the scorched earth approach that has been adopted by the likes of Uber & Airbnb.

I had a great time at the CommonBound conference this weekend—hoping to be able to share video of at least one of my two panels next week. Great to see so many readers there (and meet some in person)!

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

San Francisco supervisors are considering a tax on tech companies, to help deal with the city’s affordable housing crisis.

Reputation, reputation, reputation

Uber has adopted new in-app monitoring technology that Lyft considers not ready for prime time, to know when drivers are performing poorly.

Organizing Theory

Can we build algorithms that disrupt the politics of fear and resentment? (Well, I can’t–but someone should!)

The always-interesting Mobilization Lab at Greenpeace surveyed subscribers and organizational contacts to find out what’s going on with campaigning organizations. Read the report here.

From Partners

NELP’s new paper looks at the dangers of the on-demand economy, and posits that its workers should be covered by workers’ comp.

We’re hearing a lot about portable benefits these days—but what does that actually mean? This new paper from the Aspen Institute takes a look (authored by friends o the blog Shelby Clark, David Rolf & Corrie Waterson Bryant).

What’s Going on in the Workforce

The folks over at Campaign Zero have released their analysis of how police union contracts are used to erase the civil rights of citizens who have legitimate complaints about conduct.

The Aspen Institute recently interviewed employers about their practices and intents regarding current hiring of permanent employees versus freelancers. Shocking perhaps only one person who reads this newsletter, employers like permanent workers, but plan to keep using temps and other contingent workers anyway.

Will the C-Suite be more susceptible to automation than previously thought?

The next time you read an AP story about Minor League Baseball, it will have been written by a robot. And speaking of Minor League Baseball, the owners of said League are trying to exempt themselves from wage and hour laws.