As you know, the Bay Area and Silicon Valley hosts one of the planet’s main conc
As you know, the Bay Area and Silicon Valley hosts one of the planet’s main concentrations of tech workers and the tech industry (along with other tech hubs, such as Seattle, New York City, Austin, Texas, and Washington, DC). Normally, we assume that tech workers are fabulously well paid with wonderful working conditions in organizations that have egalitarian work cultures, etc. We often think of tech workers as part of the “aristocracy of labor” in terms of pay, benefits and working conditions. But this image has been changing in recent year, so is that still true today (or was it ever true)? What about the “shadow workforces” of big tech companies such as Google and Amazon (often called TVCs—temporary, vendors, contractors)? And why have so many tech workers tried to form unions and engaged in other labor protests in recent years? We’ve seen the first union in big tech in the form of the Alphabet Workers Union (Google’s parent company), as well as unionization campaigns at several smaller tech companies and among video game designers, tech workers in the media (including at the New York Times) and many others. So, why are more tech workers now thinking of themselves as workers who collective representation, rather than as a potential future CEO of the next billion-dollar start up? how are tech work and tech workers changing? Why have we seen walkouts by workers at Amazon, open letters from tech/corporate workers at Starbucks and elsewhere, Google workers and video game designers organizing unions and so on? What kinds of issues are they protesting – both “traditional issues,” such as job security and toxic management cultures, and “non-traditional issues,” such as the companies’ environmental commitments and cooperation with homeland security/immigration services, etc.. And how have companies like Google and others reacted to this upsurge in labor activism among workers in the tech industry? In short, how are both tech work and tech workers changing?
Readings:
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/inside-googles-shadow-workforce/
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/my-experiences-working-googles shadowworkforce-karl-le/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-25/inside-google-s-shadow workforce#xj4y7vzkg
https://www.axios.com/2023/04/27/unions-tech-industry-labor-youtube-sega
https://www.axios.com/2022/12/12/tech-labor-movement-unions-2022
https://www.businessinsider.com/tech-layoffs-allow-workers-learn-how-tounionize-2023-3
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