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For the first time ever, video game workers in the U.K. are getting the chance to unionize with the help of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB). “The game workers’ decision to unionize with the IWGB should be a wake-up call for the UK’s gaming industry,” IWGB General Secretary Jason Moyer-Lee said in a press release. As one of the fastest growing industries in the U.K., video games are taking a toll on employees who work long hours with unpaid overtime, commonly referred to as “crunching.” Workers have been reported to work as much as 100 hours a week in an effort to meet demand and deadlines for projects. The union is also targeting zero-hours contracts, which do not guarantee employees a minimum amount of hours to work each week. These use-as-needed contracts can negatively impact workers’ pay and are often used among quality assurance testers. “For as long as I can remember it has been considered normal for games workers to endure zero-hours contracts, excessive...
History was made in Staten Island, NY to kick off the new month of April. On April 1, Amazon workers in the city celebrated a major win against Jeff Bezos after voting to unionize the Amazon Staten Island warehouse, Vox reports. With the retail giant having a long history of being anti-union since its inception, there were 2,654 votes for the union and over 2,131 against, which “marks the first time a majority of workers at an Amazon facility in the US have voted to join a union.” The historic victory was led by Amazon Labor Union founder Chris Smalls. Chris Smalls, fired from Amazon almost two years ago to the day, just popped champagne outside the NLRB offices where he and his peers won one of the greatest labor victories in a generation. “To the first Amazon union in history,” he said. pic.twitter.com/ZHNcjFC5N1 — Jodi Kantor (@jodikantor) April 1, 2022 “@amazon wanted to make me the face of the whole unionizing efforts against them…welp there you go! @JeffBezos @DavisZapolsky...
It’s no secret that Silicon Valley companies don’t support their workers unionizing, but employees have been pushing back recently. After the civil unrest last summer following the death of George Floyd, employees across the nation have been calling on their leadership to make actionable changes on the front of diversity, equity and inclusion. By definition, labor unions are organized associations of workers, often in specific trades, companies or professions, formed to protect and further their rights and interests from pay to benefits, working conditions and beyond. Unions are especially unusual for big tech companies. However, after years of confrontation between management and workers, more than 400 engineers and other personnel at Google recently unionized to apply pressure on their leadership, according to The New York Times. That may seem like a big union to you but to put the numbers into perspective, the internet giant employs more than 260,000 full timers. The Alphabet...
Instacart has proven to be a boon to shoppers who want to avoid a germy supermarket in the wake of COVID-19. However, its workers may not have as high of an opinion of the company. According to Motherboard, the company — which has a history of union-busting efforts — announced that they’re firing every employee who voted to unionize the collective of gig workers. Though the announcement most directly affects Chicago-area workers, experts are concerned that this will have an effect on other gig workers throughout the United States. In a statement, Instacart tried to downplay the union connection, blaming the pandemic and the company’s participating stores’ desire to switch to curbside pickup for the layoffs. “As a result of some grocers transitioning to a Partner Pick model, we’ll be winding down our in-store operations at select retail locations over the coming months,” they said . “We know this is an incredibly challenging time for many as we move through the COVID-19 crisis, and...
Over the past year, the general public has become increasingly aware of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) human rights abuses. From children dying within detention facilities that are akin to concentration camps to Muslim detainees only being given pork to eat — the stories coming out have encouraged increased action. Tech workers, in particular, have begun turning critical eyes on their own companies. Today, Googlers for Human Rights called upon Google to publicly commit to not supporting Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) or ICE until they cease engaging in human rights abuses. That includes not offering infrastructure, funding, or engineering resources, whether directly or indirectly. In a petition on Medium, the organizers wrote: “In working with CBP, ICE, or ORR, Google would be trading its integrity for a bit of profit, and joining a shameful lineage. We have only to look to IBM’s role working with the Nazis during the Holocaust...