Month: June 2017

Robot of the Week

The question of whether a robot can have a soul is as yet, unanswered. But this Protestant church did just roll out a robot priest, to celebrate the 500th year of the Reformation.

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

This new report from Pew shows that, while 25% of Americans participate in the gig economy, only a small portion of them earn more than $500 per month doing so.

Organizing Theory

How one enterprising young journalist made a connection with readers using SMS.

From Partners

New York’s Civic Hall just announced an Organizer-in-Residence program. Applications are due on July 10th.

Geeking Out

Been wondering when your next local election is? This new app will help you figure it out.

The beginning of summer means the beginning of ice cream truck season. But it’s also the start of many kids’ lack of food, since they aren’t in school. Feeding America has combined these two facts to raise awareness of issues around childhood hunger in the US.

What’s Going on in the Workforce

Welp. 2017 is not really Travis Kalanick’s year. It’s definitely looking up for Uber drivers, though. In other Uber news, Miami has apparently been fining drivers who don’t speak English $250.

Staten Island just got its first worker-owned coops, as domestic workers in the borough launched two new ones last week.

Great piece by Sarah Jaffe about the struggles of retail workers—and the various efforts to organize them, across the US.

Reid Hoffman (founder of LinkedIn) pens a surprisingly woke essay about sexual harassment in the VC/entrepreneur space.

The Perils of Trumpism

Trump’s Labor Department is ramping up enforcement against unions & worker centers, reducing enforcement against employers.

From Partners

Congrats to our friends at Good Jobs First, who just updated their new searchable database for tracking corporate violators of dozens of types of regulations (not just labor, but environmental & consumer protection too). Researchers, start your engines!

UC Berkeley’s Labor Center just put out a new analysis of independent work in the state.

Reputation, reputation, reputation

Want to clear a criminal record in California? Now, there’s an app for that.

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

Some public sector agencies are developing chatbots to provide basic information to residents or constituents. Does it deepen the digital divide?

If the future of work involves more fissuring, does the future social safety net involve more collaboration between fissured workers?

You probably already heard that Amazon announced last week that it’s buying Whole Foods. I wondered what that might mean for Instacart—here are a couple of takes. I have yet to see a tech site opine on what it might mean for UFCW—if you catch that, send it my way.

Organizing Theory

Political How is collecting videos from people who are doing basic civic engagement work (like making a phone call to a representative), so newbies can see how it’s done.

A good look, from the Electronic Freedom Foundation, about the differences between public, closed and secret Facebook groups.

What’s Going on in the Workforce

A New York State administrative law judge just found that Uber drivers are employees, for the purpose of collecting unemployment benefits.

Estonian ride-sharing startup Taxify wants to dominate Uber by launching in smaller European and African markets, paying drivers a bigger share of the ride fee, and allowing drivers to accept cash for rides.

I’m curious if anyone organizing low-wage workers has run into this new payroll app, and if so, how it works.

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

Well, here’s an interesting solution to a long-standing civic problem—a judge in Ohio is making “download Uber or Lyft” a condition of sentences for those caught drunk driving.

The San Francisco city attorney has ordered Uber & Lyft to provide 4 years’ worth of data about their rides in the city.

“If we win the fight for more paid leisure time, then the creation of new public spaces – from theatre foyers to parks to gyms, cafes, beaches – needs to become a social technology, not just an afterthought of planning or architecture.” An interesting take on the promise by Jeremy Corbyn to add 4 bank holidays to the British work year…

Boston organizers who are working to build the solidarity economy have launched a democratically controlled investment fund.

“Residential assessments have been so far off the mark for so many years that the credibility of the entire property tax system is in doubt.” The Chicago Tribune just exposed an immense amount of institutionalized racism coming out of the tax assessor’s office.

Reputation, reputation, reputation

I’m pretty excited about this new feature in iOS 11—all apps will have to give the option of only sending location data while using the app (not all the time).

Should a private software company’s trade secrets be enough to keep inmates in jail?

Organizing Theory

25% of Americans boycotted a brand, in the first 3 months of the Trump administration.

From Partners

Congrats to folks in Illinois, who just passed an anti-wage theft bill. Now to see if the governor will sign it!

What’s Going on in the Workforce

If sectors in corporate America are pushing to make 3 weeks of vacation mandatory, can we start with fast food and retail?

Interesting look at the success of Stella & Dot in building a new network of women home sellers.

UK taxi drivers threaten to boycott Britain’s biggest grocery chain over a presumed partnership with Uber.

Original Content

Last week, I talked to Organization United for Respect co-director Andrea Dehlendorf, about their recently launched app, and excellent work that threads together online & offline organizing. Check it out here.

Thanks to all our supporters who keep this site going. If you like the original content on this site, please kick in a small contribution ($1/mo?) to help us keep it up and running.

From Partners

Georgetown Law School’s Poverty Center just issued this new report, calling for workforce investment to improve the caregiving sector of the economy, which disproportionately employs women of color.

We haven’t yet seen a lawsuit brought under the Freelance Isn’t Free Act play out in court—here’s how one lawyer imagines it might go.

Reputation, reputation, reputation

Ethiopia has been using private Facebook message histories in the trials of activists.

Organizing Theory

Interesting walk-through of the tactics that Trump’s team used on Facebook to suppress the Democratic vote in 2016.

Geeking Out

Quartz has launched a new section on the Future of Work.

Here’s an interesting use for telepresence bots—allowing sick kids to still participate in school.

What’s Going on in the Workforce

The Independent Drivers’ Guild is going after Lyft for apparent wage theft in New York.

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

So much for local control…the ridesharing companies have convinced the Texas legislature to overturn Austin’s ban on companies that don’t use rigorous fingerprint checks.

Using mobile phone credits to pay for health insurance may solve some access issues in developing countries.