Original Content
One of my longest-running ambitions for Hack the Union has been to chart the ecosystem of organizations that exist to do economic justice work. I’m happy to announce that it’s finally starting to get off the ground. You can check it out here—and I’m curious to get your feedback. (Also, if you have any expertise in embedding javascript into a WordPress page, I could use a 15-minute consult.)
A couple of notes: 1) I haven’t started collecting info on unions yet—that will be coming soon, although it will take time to get up, of course; and 2) one of the things I was interested in seeing is the geographic spread of the economic justice movement—take a look at the chart at the bottom of the page, to see what that looks like.
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From Partners
Do you have the patience to read and rebut a bunch of ridiculous tax proposals? Me neither. Happily, the Patriotic Millionaires has taken the heavy lifting out of that, with this new site.
Cornell’s Institute of Labor Relations has launched a new website, Mobilizing Against Inequality, to provide case studies about the new labor movement.
What’s Going on in the Workforce
What can cities do to protect reproductive rights? Plenty of things, says the National Institute for Reproductive Health in this new report. (And yes, that includes protecting the safety of health care workers who provide reproductive health services, as well as protecting workers from discrimination based on their personal decisions around family planning.)
Americans are ambivalent about automation, except when it comes to banking.
Fast Company has an issue looking at LGBTQ equality in the workplace, in the age of Trump.
Anil Dash announces that his company will start to provide climate leave, when staff are disrupted by extreme weather events—and urges other CEOs to do the same.
A UK “zero hours” worker just won a claim against his former employer for refusing to pay him holiday pay, despite the fact that he was off the schedule (through no fault of his own).
Geeking Out
Oh come on, let’s be clear. They had me at robot bees.
Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability
Worker-owned coops will no doubt be expanding in Rhode Island, after their legislature passed this new bill.
An interesting look at why WeWork’s attempt to launch communal living hasn’t succeeded as quickly (or at all?) as their coworking business has.
“I can go anywhere, I’m like a gypsy.” I guess that’s the upside, if you live in an RV in Silicon Valley.
Etsy has some suggestions about how tax reform could be done in favor of gig economy workers.
And while we’re on the subject of gig-economy policies, the National League of Cities has just issued a report about how cities are getting along with the likes of Airbnb, Lyft & Uber.
Reputation, reputation, reputation
Look, I get it. Google Drive is the default cloud apparatus of every non-profit or union I’ve worked for, too. But here’s one perspective on why it’s maybe not the best bet.