Month: July 2020

From Partners

Today’s the day! Big Tech is called to answer Congress’s questions—sign up for Athena’s Watch Party, starting today at noon.

What’s Going on in the Workforce

Last week, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled that a laid-off person who decided to drive for Uber did not lose eligibility for unemployment, because they became self-employed. Kudos to regular reader Larry Mishel, and his daughter Julia Simon-Mishel, who argued the case in court in her capacity with Philadelphia Legal Services. 

Various California agencies are investigating Amazon workers’ safety concerns, after COVID has raged through warehouses. 

Geeking Out

“In recent months, the coronavirus pandemic has offered a test run on whether humanity has the capacity to avert a predictable — and predicted — catastrophe. Some countries have fared better. But the United States has failed. The climate crisis will test the developed world again, on a larger scale, with higher stakes. The only way to mitigate the most destabilizing aspects of mass migration is to prepare for it, and preparation demands a sharper imagining of where people are likely to go, and when.” ProPublica & the New York Times magazine take a detailed look at how climate change will impact migration patterns. 

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

WNBA players walk out in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, dedicate their season to Breonna Taylor. 

Jobs

Class Action is on the hunt for a new Executive Director. 

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

“We wanted to be fair, but we also wanted to set a very important standard, which was safety first.”You’ve probably heard a lot about how various major-league sports are planning on returning to play. But did you know that roller derby has the best plan to respond to covid, of any sport? 

The Fight for $15, SEIU, & the Movement for Black Lives are holding a Strike for Black Lives next week. 

Reputation, reputation, reputation

Uber, seeking to protect its own proprietary data, hid its involvement in a coalition about protecting data from cities. 

“Advertisements created by algorithms encourage certain people to send in their résumés. After the résumés have undergone automated culling, a lucky few are hired and then subjected to automated evaluation, the results of which are looped back to establish criteria for future job advertisements and selections. This system operates with no transparency or accountability built in to check that the criteria are fair to all job applicants.” Automated hiring can reinforce discrimination. We should let job-seekers sue. 

What’s Going on in the Workforce

As the pandemic continues to rage on, and shoppers are nervous about in-person shopping, Instacart goes on a hiring spree. 

This new paper from NBER looks at where & who are switching to work from home during the pandemic. 

Uber took a teensy tiny baby step toward actually letting drivers set their own rates (in order to avoid misclassification challenges, of course). It only took, what, 11 years from the time they were founded? 

Shipt workers are striking today to protest the company’s new algorithmic pay model. 

Geeking Out

Check out this great new map, from Bargaining for the Common Good, that shows the contracts bargained for the common good around the US. 

Jobs

Here’s a kick-ass job that someone on this list should apply for: SVP at Omidyar Network. 

The Perils of Trumpism

“It has been 54 days since we’ve felt the sun on our faces.” COVID-19 is hitting people living in institutions harder than the rest of us. Here’s a gripping story of life on the inside, told by an anonymous incarcerated person in MA. 

What’s Going on in the Workforce

Hospital robots are helping fight covid-19. Are they also getting trained to replace humans in some types of hospital work?  Happily, Adam Seth Litwin just penned a new paper about health care automation, in conjunction with UC Berkeley Labor & Working Partnerships. 

From Partners

ACRE is hosting a series of webinars this summer that will teach activists about the relationships between the police and financial institutions. The next one is July 15 at 10 am Pacific. Register here.

Organizing Theory

How non-profit workers in Wisconsin turned their non-profit into a worker-owned coop. 

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

Want to build a solidarity business? Here’s a new manual, from Geo Coop & others. 

Can mutual aid groups grow into standing organizations to address the long-term causes the disproportionate impacts of immediate emergencies? 

It’s likely that the pandemic will kill the mall as we know it. Can malls survive by turning into housing?

And while we’re on the subject of housing, check out what the City of Lisbon is doing—working to turn Airbnb-style rentals into housing for essential workers. (h/t to Scott Mintzer for sending me this one.) 

Geeking Out

Do you want a hydroponic garden the size of a dishwasher, that can grow up to 60 plants? Not yet, but soon. 

Geeking Out

“None of these game-changing moments in narrative history arose by identifying the “right organization,” or by brainstorming the perfectly compelling campaign. None of these moments had an organizational logo attached to them. They had heart, spontaneity, humor, creativity, community, and an ability to quickly outmaneuver and outsmart the enemy.” A love song to GenZ and its brilliant ability to weaponize memes to shift narrative and take down racists, including the Racist-in-Charge. 

Organizing Theory

 An important piece examining how one mutual aid effort that sprang to life in the early days of the pandemic has morphed into an effort that now includes political education for the “helpers.” “It’s first important to recognize what mutual aid is and what it’s not,” Rodriguez says. “We don’t want this to be charity, and it can be perceived as charity for nine out of ten people involved. It’s a political process through which communities that have been ignored and deprived deliberately empower themselves with the resources they have to take care of one another.” 

Sharing, Solidarity & Sustainability

 If you have the fundamental belief that work of any kind in a capitalist system is the highest calling, of course you will set up your government to force people to work, no matter the circumstances. Welcome to North Carolina, please don’t ever lose your job. 

On the continent, however, Spain seems to have looked at the pandemic and decided, “gee, maybe a guaranteed minimum income is good!” 

Not just Philly specific—what can companies & organizations do to be more uplift a Black workforce? 

Reputation, reputation, reputation

“The risk is that [tracking technologies] become an avenue for more extensive data collection that’s really unconnected with the public health emergency and they will continue on after the public health emergency is over.” Companies are adopting surveillance techniques, allegedly to keep workers safe during the pandemic. 

What’s Going on in the Workforce

Amazon warehouse workers in Germany went on strike on Monday to protest the company’s handling of the coronavirus. 

“The stylist’s lead changed the conversation away from compensation details and pointed her to Stitch Fix’s core values, including being “motivated by challenge,” asking if that clause resonated with her.” How Stitch Fix silences internal dissent & creates a culture of silence within their workforce. 

The Supreme Court of Canada just dealt Uber a blow, when it ruled that drivers could join a class action lawsuit, and did not have to pursue individual arbitrations. 

From Partners

Are you interested in telling workplace stories? The Sidney Hillman Foundation has grants to make for reporters writing about working people and their struggles on the job. Applications on a rolling basis.