ACM – Cory Doctorow Urges Tech Workers: Join Unions
18 hours ago
- #Big Tech
- #Labor Rights
- #Unionization
- Tim Cook's leadership in moving Apple manufacturing to China led to brutal working conditions, including suicide nets at Foxconn factories.
- Jeff Bezos's Amazon warehouses and delivery drivers face harsh conditions, including no toilet breaks and AI surveillance.
- Google executives covered up sexual misconduct allegations, paying off the accused while silencing the victim with arbitration clauses.
- Big Tech companies have historically exploited workers but treated some well due to fear of losing hard-to-replace talent.
- The current administration canceled labor investigations, focusing instead on trivial issues like 'wokeism' rather than corporate abuses.
- Tech workers historically had significant workplace power, but mass layoffs have shattered their bargaining strength.
- Vocational awe—workers' belief in their job's social value—has been exploited to extract grueling hours from employees.
- Unions are the only proven way to ensure fair wages and decent working conditions, benefiting even non-union workers.
- Tech workers are now showing unprecedented interest in unionization, with groups like Tech Solidarity gaining traction.
- The future of tech work risks harmonizing downward to match the harsh conditions seen in warehouses and factories unless workers organize.