If the myth of tech over the past decade has been one of constant innovation, algorithmic scale, and new products and devices that “simply work,” the truth is that all of those illusions were made possible by the obfuscation of labor: the contract content moderators who sanitize the feeds of Facebook and YouTube from violence and extremist content; the warehouse workers at Amazon fulfillment centers trying to meet the guarantees of same-day shipping; the gig workers of all kinds — Uber drivers, food delivery cyclists, Instacart shoppers, among them — all of whom are at the whims of increasingly efficient platforms and wayward legislation.
And that’s not even to speak of the white-collar tech workforce that, while better compensated, is still being taken advantage of by NDAs and mandatory arbitration clauses that keep hidden the realities of discrimination and harassment in the office. But now, some workers across tech companies are organizing for better treatment and pay. Others are making efforts to unionize. Most importantly, the movement will reach everyone who works in tech — and anyone who uses those platforms. The story of the tech industry over the next decade will be the reckoning brought on by its workforce.
Following a report from The Wall Street Journal, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is notifying employees that the company’s ongoing layoffs will affect 18,000 workers.
It’s the first time we’ve gotten a concrete number from Amazon since The New York Times reported in November that the company planned on cutting 10,000 jobs.
QA workers at Microsoft’s ZeniMax Studios have voted to join the Communications Workers of America and, true to its word, Microsoft has formally recognized the organization. That means that the National Labor Relations Board won’t have to litigate the election, and the company and the union can start negotiating.
The approximately 300 workers in the union are looking to “put an end to sudden periods of crunch, unfair pay, and lack of growth opportunities within the company,” according to one employee quoted in the CWA’s press release.
[Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA)]
Less than a month after a second group of Activision Blizzard workers voted to unionize, the Communications Workers of America announced the latest group filing for a union representation election.
The 57 workers in the unit include animators, designers, engineers, producers and quality assurance workers. Earlier this year, quality assurance workers at Activision’s Raven Software studio in Wisconsin and Blizzard Albany won their union elections, despite Activision Blizzard’s repeated attempts to prevent workers from voting.
“Everyone in the video game industry knows Activision Blizzard’s reputation for creating a hostile work environment, so earlier this year, when we heard that Blizzard was planning to acquire Proletariat, we started to discuss how we could protect the great culture we have created here,” said Dustin Yost, a Software Engineer at Proletariat. “By forming a union and negotiating a contract, we can make sure that we are able to continue doing our best work and create innovative experiences at the frontier of game development.”
[Communications Workers of America]
The chipmaker announced the plan as part of its earnings report on Wednesday, saying the reduction would come from “a combination of voluntary attrition” and layoffs throughout 2023. The company also won’t be doing bonuses next year and says that executive salaries will be cut too.
Micron recently reported it has 48,000 employees, according to CNBC, meaning around 4,800 positions could be affected.
Like Intel, which has planned its own layoffs, Micron is investing billions in building new US fabs.
The Communications Workers of America accused Apple of breaking labor laws at a store in Columbus, Ohio, saying the tech giant held mandatory anti-union meetings and tried to shift organizing activities to a labor group it had control over. You can read the full complaint below.
The union has filed several charges against Apple for its actions at different retail locations — and the National Labor Relations Board has found merit to a few of them.
An email obtained by Platformer’s Zoë Schiffer warns employees that Twitter will “immediately seek damages” if they violate their non-disclosure agreements.
According to Schiffer, Musk says employees will “get the response they deserve” if they send “detailed info to the media.” Musk is asking workers to sign a pledge indicating that they understand the policy, which they’re reportedly expected to return by the end of the day today.
A group of former Meta employees say they’re only receiving eight weeks of base pay and three months of COBRA as severance — half of what CEO Mark Zuckerberg promised when the mass-layoffs were announced, according to CNBC.
The full-time, non-contract workers, who were in a Meta apprenticeship program, say the company hasn’t responded to their questions with an answer on whether the discrepancy is intentional.
Last month, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union announced that it was canceling its union drive at an Apple Store in St. Louis. Now, 66 of the store’s 90 employees have said they wouldn’t want to join the union, and have no interest in doing so in the future, according to Bloomberg.
The employees say their decision wasn’t because of pressure from management, which unions have alleged in the past.
US District Court Judge Diane Gujarati issued the cease and desist order against Amazon on November 18th, which prevents the company from terminating employees over their unionization efforts.
This comes after Amazon made ‘some management changes’ at a Staten Island warehouse in May. These changes reportedly involved firing over half a dozen managers that were tasked with handling the company’s response to unionization.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union has withdrawn its petition to hold a union election at an Apple store in St. Louis. It says the decision is due to Apple’s “anti-union practices and increased hostility towards workers,” according to Bloomberg.
The accusation is similar to one from the Communications Workers of America union, which called off its own Apple store election earlier this year. Both the CWA and IAM have successfully unionized other Apple stores.
HP, one of the world’s largest PC vendors, according to data from Gartner, announced in an earnings report that it’ll lay off 4,000 to 6,000 employees by the end of 2025. According to numbers cited by CNBC, that’s between seven and 11 percent of its workforce.
This is just the latest in a series of large tech layoffs, not to mention that the PC market has also had an especially rough year following a pandemic boom.
Internal documents obtained by Insider indicate that Amazon’s Alexa division made up the “vast majority” of the over $3 billion that the company lost across its “Worldwide Digital” department, which includes Alexa, Echo devices, Prime Video, and other products.
Amazon confirmed layoffs affecting thousands of employees on its hardware and services teams last week, and the company’s CEO says to expect even more job cuts next year.
[Business Insider]
A disabled employee who was allegedly fired for not coming into Twitter offices to work has filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming that its new rules about remote work are discriminatory (via Reuters).
CEO Elon Musk has previously said that workers who “can show up in an office” and don’t are basically resigning, and while he’s said exceptions will be made, managers may be risking their own jobs by nominating employees for remote work.
Workers at an Apple Store in St. Louis could vote on whether to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union soon. The union says it’s filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to represent 82 workers at the location.
That’s the same union that won at an Apple store in Maryland. The NLRB will have to verify the petition before an election is scheduled (unless Apple agrees to let the union happen — unlikely, given its history).
After reports that Amazon plans to lay off 10,000 workers this week, CNBC and The Washington Post are reporting that some workers there are being informed they will need to find another job with the company soon or accept a severance payment. Neither outlet mentioned how many people were affected today, and so far there haven’t been any companywide notifications.
From the Post:
Amazon employees were called into meetings with their managers across the country Tuesday, and many were told they had two months to find another job internally or accept severance payment.
[Washington Post]
