Month: September 2017

Personal news

Hey folks, I’m looking for short term consulting work between now and the end of the year. Got an idea for something I could help you with? Let me know. 

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

No doubt, the biggest sharing economy news of the week is that the City of London is taking away Uber’s right to operate there (pending an appeal). In other news, the company has admitted in court that there is basically no relationship between the fare quoted to riders and the fee paid to drivers.

In bad news for Instacart & other grocery delivery companies, customer dissatisfaction with online grocery buying grew this year.

YCombinator has put out some more information about the basic income experiment that they are planning to conduct. And a h/t to reader Stephan Edel, who sent me this request for progressives to oppose neoliberal basic income schemes, on the basis that they increase rather than decrease precarity for the poor.

Lyft is partnering with the AARP and other senior organizations to figure out how they can better serve the senior population—including by giving free rides to seniors (test market: Los Angeles).

Organizing Theory

A hotel chain adds direct lines to Congress, so you can phone your representative from your room and let him/her know your political opinions. What is this life?

Do you need a guide to offering community training on data & technology? Look no further.

What’s Going on in the Workforce

An interesting look at how the world of NYC cab drivers is changing, in the age of Uber.

Events

The Aspen Institute is hosting a discussion of how to improve jobs in the long-term care industry in DC in mid October.

Jobs

Want to help privately owned small businesses convert to worker ownership? Democracy at Work is hiring.

Reputation, reputation, reputation

A bot created by Microsoft has now had billions of conversations with humans, in the guise of a 17 year old girl.

Great piece by Tressie McMillan that breaks down how your drug store loyalty card might be influencing the kinds of loans you can get—or education you can access.

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

Bloomberg imagines the journey of a pair of sneakers, from manufacture to end consumer, after the entire supply chain is automated.

From Partners

Our friends at NELP put out this guide to receiving disaster unemployment insurance, in the wake of Harvey & Irma.

The Century Foundation and National Domestic Workers Alliance partnered on this report about how to improve retirement savings among some of the most vulnerable workers in our society.

Geeking Out

Interesting look at how organizers in Barcelona built a platform for civic participation—and how they are dealing with the digital divide.

h/t to my colleague Stephen Boykewich, for pointing out this article about a new way to learn economics.

The Perils of Trumpism

There’s rarely good news out of the Department of Labor these days—but they have just announced grants to help workers dislocated by Hurricane Irma.

Events

In Denver? Check out this event next week, featuring friend-o-the-blog Nathan Schneider.

What’s Going on in the Workforce

Maybe there’s some scientific evidence behind the idea of moving to a 4-hour workday.

Larry Summers advocates pro-worker labor law reform. No, really.

“The dependence of the market on state planning is fundamental; the jobs you have are ones that the state has allowed to exist.” In other words, does a basic income make any less sense than forcing everyone to work?

Over the weekend, my phone refused to stop blowing up, thanks to some amplification that my friends at the Fight for 15 & Jacobin Magazine provided. I guess this Pizza Hut franchise owner didn’t have a very much chill during the run up to Hurricane Irma. My crazy Twitter obsession is vindicated.

Organizing Theory

The Intlawgrrls blog makes a good case for why workers’ rights protection—particularly around compensation for on-the-job injuries—should be included in free trade agreements.

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

Interesting piece by Civic Hall Labs on the lessons they’ve learned in attempting to create a culture of “pro bono tech.”

Last week, Airbnb launched their Living Wage Pledge, asking hosts to publicly declare whether they pay their house cleaners (if they use them) $15/hour. In other Airbnb news, they also became the first tech company to announce that they would keep employing Dreamers, even after their work visas expire.

Universal healthcare? There’s an app for that. And a VC firm, too.

Can behavioral science help non-profits deliver more services to the poor?

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

Lots of last week’s news was, of course, about the devastation brought by Hurricane Harvey (and, to some degree, flawed human planning for such a disaster). Here’s a good piece about how civic tech folks in Houston worked with all kinds of volunteers to create technology to inform rescue efforts. Text-messaging app Hustle also announced that it would be giving 30 days of free access to groups involved in fundraising or organizing around Harvey rescue & cleanup.

Shareable reports on a new nurses’ coop, launched by members of United Health Workers West (SEIU).

Organizing Theory

Million Hoodies just launched a “We Keep Us Safe” network, to enable everyday people to stand up for their neighbors.

“Facebook for the labor movement?”

What’s Going on in the Workforce

Interesting piece about an employment classification lawsuit against Grubhub, which unfortunately contains an unrelated auto-play video about Uber. You’ve been warned.

Ford & Domino’s pair up to study self-driving pizza delivery.

Georgetown University has convinced Nike to make a major concession around workers’ rights monitoring in their factories.

The gig economy’s workforce could benefit from understanding the experience of independent workers in Hollywood.

The Perils of Trumpism

The Guardian reports on new efforts by right-wing forces to defund the labor movement.