Issue 2: When We Organize We Win
01 Jun 2018
Today, we learned that Google will not renew its AI contract with the Department of Defense, after months of employee-led opposition. Over 4,000 Google workers signed an internal petition to cancel the project, and the Tech Workers Coalition launched our own petition on CoWorker.org, followed by an open letter from the academic community with over 1,000 signatures.
WHEN WE ORGANIZE, WE WIN
Today, we learned that Google will not renew its AI contract with the Department of Defense, after months of employee-led opposition. Over 4,000 Google workers signed an internal petition to cancel the project, and the Tech Workers Coalition launched our own petition on CoWorker.org, followed by an open letter from the academic community with over 1,000 signatures.
To the Google workers and allies who fought for this, we extend infinite love and solidarity. To employees of Amazon, Microsoft, IBM, and any others who may be facing a similar situation: you’re not alone. Collective action can work. Let’s get organized.
Yesterday in San Francisco. Image from @FitzTheReporter / Source
Worker’s Perspective
We spoke to Lisa “Tiny” Grey Garcia, from Poor Magazine, an independent media network originally in San Francisco but displaced to deep East Oakland. Tiny shares:
We serve the people. We had 4 days of action this week: We marched from San Jose to Google, and yesterday we were in San Francisco where we led a symbolic act on the rampant tech gentrification in the Bay Area. Our action yesterday was about highlighting our work to develop a tech reparations fund, a grassroots community pot to rebuild equity that’s been stolen. At times the stealing happens indirectly and people may not be aware they’ve benefitted from structural privilege — but folks need to realize the impact it has on the community through removal and displacement. We say and will continue to say: Let’s do something about it.
Conscious tech folk need to step up and give to those who’ve been evicted through gentrification. The money in the fund will go to those getting displaced in Temescal, and a Black martial arts center in Oakland; we’re supporting three families right now facing eviction. We’re trying to get them something — a car, apartment, anything.
We know the aristocracy and those with privilege will tell you there’s a right and wrong way to protest. Some tech elites would prefer if the protests happened at City Hall so they wouldn’t have to see it. But that’s not the answer and to tech workers of conscience, I would say: Don’t let the aristocracy reduce what’s going on, they want to reduce and destroy. As folks are waking up, we need to build a stronger shield, staying in truth and walking in liberation.
Upcoming Events
Learning Club: The Revolution Will Not Be Funded
Saturday, 6/2 1PM at Montlake Branch of Seattle Public Library in Seattle
Learning Club • Facebook
Towards An Organized Tech Industry: Panel at #LEFTFORUM2018
Sunday, 6/3 12PM in New York
Event info
Seattle Tech Contractors: Know Your Rights
Sunday, 6/10 1PM at University Branch of Seattle Public Library in Seattle
Facebook
Seattle TWC General Meeting
Thursday, 6/14 6:30PM at Seattle Labor Temple in Seattle The Code of Conduct is in effect at all TWC events.
The Code of Conduct is in effect at all TWC events.
News
Amazon bows to the demands of unionized warehouse workers at its hub in Piacenza, Italy. Meanwhile in the UK, the GMB union revealed that ambulances were called to warehouses in the area 600 times in three years. A pregnant worker described being forced to stand for ten hours of work; another worker reported a miscarriage as a result of “continuous pressure to hit targets”.
Eric Schmidt disagrees with Musk on the evil of AI: “’The fact of the matter is that AI and machine learning are so fundamentally good for humanity.’ He acknowledged that there are risks around how the technology might be misused, but he said they’re outweighed by the benefits.”
“A report from the Economic Policy Institute estimated that employees lose $15 billion to wage theft every year, more than all of the property crime in the United States put together.”
“The Supreme Court’s arbitration ruling is already screwing thousands of Chipotle workers” fighting for a massive wage theft settlement. “Their case is a perfect example of how the Supreme Court’s ruling will benefit powerful companies at the expense of their employees, many of them working for low wages in industries like fast food.”
“Microsoft laid off Xbox support staff” and replaced them with volunteer “Xbox Ambassadors” who are “rewarded” with prizes and had been trained by the paid workers.
Facial recognition cameras are coming to schools. “Such surveillance powers are likely to be wielded disproportionately against students of color, who already face disciplinary bias at school. Several studies have shown that black and Latino children are routinely viewed as more dangerous than their white peers, regardless of their behavior. Black students are not more likely to misbehave than white students, yet they are more likely to be suspended, receive corporal punishment, or have a school-related arrest.”
“Very few Americans have enjoyed steadily rising pay beyond inflation over the last couple of decades, a shift from prior years in which the working and middle classes enjoyed broad-based wage gains as the economy expanded.” The message from executives who convened last week at the Dallas Fed? “Americans should stop waiting for across-the-board pay hikes coinciding with higher corporate profit; to cash in, workers will need to shift to higher-skilled jobs that command more income.”
“Why are so many white-collar professionals in revolt? From teachers to nurses, growing numbers of professionals are seeing their privileges vanish – and are questioning their place in the world… The very identity of professional is a historical invention, an ideology rather than a reality. Like privileged Victorian craftsmen, professionals will have to trade in the distinctions that separate them from other workers for the commonalities that join them if they want to turn the tide. Remarkably, they seem to be awakening to this urgent necessity—perhaps just in time.”
“On the first day of GDPR enforcement, Facebook and Google have been hit with a raft of lawsuits accusing the companies of coercing users into sharing personal data.” The lawsuits total $8.8 billion dollars and were filed by an Austrian privacy activist. More on the promises and perils of regulation approaches like the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) here.
Boeing technicians have voted to unionize.
A retro on what our teachers have taught us on the power of strikes
What the history of unionization in the media industry tells us about the present and future of worker organization.
Song Of The Week
Can’t you hear, can’t you hear the thunder?
You better run, you better take cover