While the world holds its breath to see if the US tech industry can bring about human-level artificial intelligence - and therefore completely rewrite the social contract and economy - experts are warning current iterations of the tech are already remaking the workplace in insidious ways. This week, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), a group representing nearly 45 million workers across 40 European countries, published a comprehensive report about the disturbing impact of algorithms that increasingly control the workplace.
Cooxupé, Brazil's largest coffee cooperative that accounts for approximately 10% of the country's coffee exports, has suspended five farms for labor-rights violations, including conditions analogous to slavery, according to a recent Repórter Brasil investigation. The report follows Brazilian Ministry of Labor inspections earlier this year. There are approximately 19,000 Cooxupé member farms, with coffee supply reaching buyers throughout North America and Europe. Repórter Brasil includes comments from Cooxupé and Starbucks.
South Korea's government has said it will launch an investigation into whether human rights violations were committed when hundreds of its citizens were detained in a US immigration raid. About 475 people, mostly South Korean nationals, were arrested at the construction site of an electric vehicle battery factory in the US state of Georgia on 4 September. The raid was the largest single-site operation conducted since the US president, Donald Trump, launched a sweeping immigration crackdown.
The company saw 18 worker suicide attempts at one plant in 2010 alone. But worker rights at Foxconn have seen some improvements since 2010, largely due to intense international pressure following the suicides and subsequent labor unrest. However, reports from labor watchdogs indicate that these gains have been inconsistent and, in many cases, have failed to create a genuinely safe and equitable work environment. Many fundamental issues particularly excessive hours, low pay and limits on freedom of association persist.
They understand that predatory delivery apps demand routes and times that are impossible without battery power, but also want to be able to cross the street without worrying for their safety. That's why I'm introducing a bill alongside nearly one-third of my fellow City Council members from both sides of the aisle that will defend pedestrians, protect delivery workers, and demand safety on our streets: the Ride Safe, Ride Right Act.
A few days after Donald Trump's reelection, Díaz had convened an International Labor Congress in Madrid. Bringing together labor ministers, union officials, researchers, and activists from around the world, she called for "an international alliance for labor rights." All through the conference, Díaz, dressed in white, listened carefully and took notes from her seat at the front of the room.
In 2011, Joey La Neve DeFrancesco had been working in room service at a luxury hotel in Providence, Rhode Island, for nearly four years, whisking delicacies on demand to guests' rooms, when he reached breaking point. He was paid a measly $5.50 (4) an hour, made to work punishingly long shifts and, to top it off, had managers taking a cut of his hard-earned tips. The poor treatment ratcheted up after DeFrancesco and colleagues tried to unionise workers at the hotel.
In a hospital in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, in mid-May, Tewodros* was at work treating patients when two police officers barged into the emergency room. Earlier that same month, the doctor had participated in a public sector health workers' strike, protesting poor working conditions and low pay. The government had immediately declared the strike illegal, setting the stage for a tense standoff with the country's health professionals.
Donald Trump is no friend of organized labor. Nor is Trump a friend of federal workers-or the unions that represent them. In fact, on March 27, the president issued an executive order demanding that most federal agencies terminate their union contracts. The president claimed he had the power to suspend collective bargaining for national security reasons-sparking ongoing legal and legislative battles.
The ultra-luxurious Santa Monica Proper hotel has been accused of failing to pay its employees minimum wage and, in some cases, paying them less per hour than it charges guests for a bowl of hummus.
"We're striking along with all these other shops and together trying to improve the landscape for legal representation in New York City," Ryan Acquaotta, a campaign coordinator and shop steward at Urban Justice Center, said. "When everybody's doing it together, it's a lot harder to break the strike."
The tentative agreement between the Legal Aid Society and the attorneys' union comes after negotiations to ensure that 1,100 public interest attorneys will remain employed before a strike deadline.
"Whilst partners at EY take home an average of £723,000 a year ($969,000), the already overworked cleaning workforce who make just £13.85 an hour are being told that over a third of their jobs are at risk," said Henry Chango Lopez, IWGB's general secretary.
"For generations, the United Mine Workers of America has fought to protect the health and safety of coal miners and all working people," union president Cecil Roberts said in a statement announcing a lawsuit against the cuts in May.
Gutfeld suggested right-wingers reclaim the word Nazi for themselves, saying conservatives can learn from the Black community's way of neutralizing derogatory terms.
Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien announced that union members plan to flood the streets and shut down garbage collection across multiple states due to demands for better wages and benefits.
"You are standing up for working people across America," Moulton told workers while on the picket line Tuesday, according to WBZ. "Republic is repeatedly failing to put a fair deal on the table. If you just look at what Republic is paying compared to other trash collection companies in the area, they're underpaid."