Stories and links that are of interest or relevance to union leaders, strategists, campaigners and organisers.
Unions and union growth
Thousands of early-career NIH researchers forming union for first time
Push for better pay and benefits among US scientists arrives at world’s largest biomedical funder.
New Unionization, Upskilling And The Future Of Work
Union-skeptical employers should reconsider. They may discover a unique opportunity to redefine the traditional contours of employer/employee bargaining.
Amazon, Starbucks and the sparking of a new American union movement
Successful union drives at two of America’s biggest companies were led by committed individuals, rather than established unions.
Workers’ rights
Starbucks union says workers at more than 150 stores will strike over Pride decor
The union representing Starbucks baristas claimed some stores were not allowed to put up Pride month decorations.
Striking Marriott workers focus on new technologies
Robots delivering roomservice, self-check-in kiosks with facial-recognition technology and smart speakers that serve as an in-room concierge are not just ideas of the future—they are right here and | Employees want to have a voice in how and where technology is implemented, be retrained for jobs in…
Jackson defends “the right to strike” in her first big dissent
For those wanting to understand Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson better in her new role, her solo dissent in Thursday’s labor law decision is “a feature, not a bug.”
Google AI ‘raters’ who were fired after speaking out are reinstated
Appen, a Google contracting firm, has reinstated workers who recently filed an unfair labor practices complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.
Americans want to join unions. The supreme court doesn’t like that
Court’s new ruling makes it harder for workers to join a union, easier to break one and riskier to try to force concessions
AI and the future of work
AI gives big business the power to bust labor unions
Artificial intelligence is being used to snuff out the only institution able to give workers a modicum of control.
AI Regulation Is Here. Almost.
The European Union’s Parliament voted to push forward draft legislation that is positioned to be the West’s first comprehensive set of AI regulations.
Why an Octopus-like Creature Has Come to Symbolize the State of A.I.
The Shoggoth, a character from a science fiction story, captures the essential weirdness of the A.I. moment.
White House Holds AI Innovation Listening Session with Union Leaders
Today, senior Biden-Harris Administration officials convened a listening session with leaders and officials from the labor community to discuss the
The workers already replaced by artificial intelligence
Some workers are already finding that they have been replaced by artificial intelligence systems.
Campaigning, organising and digital/social media
The Ron DeSantis campaign website is quite unusual
RonDeSantis.com looks to be straight out of the MySpace days of the internet, with blocky content… [scroll down a bit to get to this]
Society, media, news and culture
First misinformation susceptibility test finds ‘very online’ Gen Z and millennials are most vulnerable to fake news
University of Cambridge psychologists have developed the first validated “misinformation susceptibility test”: a quick two-minute quiz that gives a solid indication of how vulnerable a person is to being duped by the kind of fabricated news that floods online spaces.
