What’s Going on in the Workforce
“…workplace surveillance is becoming increasingly pervasive and worryingly sophisticated.” Who doesn’t want their pizza created under the eye of a pizza-botic supervisor?
“Target worked me hard from mid-July of 2018 to February 2019, right before my medical coverage was about to kick in,” Workers say Target cut their hours, after receiving kudos for raising their starting wage to $15/hour. Fair workweek for everyone!
From Partners
Unionbase has launched a new publication, designed to educate stewards and other workplace leaders.
The Century Foundation has released a new report on how robots are affecting workers & their wages, and find that the Midwest is more affected than any other part of the country.
Reputation, reputation, reputation
Amazon is taking over elections. They’re also interested in defense contracts. Is there some kind of reason to keep these things separate? ?
Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability
Mayor Lightfoot is proposing a new tax on rideshare vehicles that operate in downtown Chicago, in part to fund an expansion of bus routes in the city’s neighborhoods.
In the fight to get more people out of their cars (or other peoples’ cars) and onto buses, one Swedish city is now underwriting 2 week free passes for people who move there, to encourage public transit use.
Adding to last week’s story about the impact of AB 5 on dancers, is this story, looking at how it will impact freelance journalists. (One wonders about the lack of critique of online outlets that are paying $1-25/piece?) And Salon’s Nicole Karlis wonders if AB5 would drive Uber & Lyft out of business, if it were expanded nationally.
66% of Amazon workers in Staten Island, NY experience physical pain as a result of their work, according to this new report from NYCOSH.
Events
The tenth annual digital labor conference is being held at the New School November 7-9. Who Owns the World? The State of Platform Cooperativism.