Crypto Is Making Everything Worse
There’s lots of breathless chatter out there about how cryptocurrency will reshape the world. But the truth about crypto is simple: capitalists are using it to get rich and screw the rest of us.
313 Search Result(s) for: “gig economy”
UPS Teamsters Are Ready to Strike
With UPS making astronomical profits and public support for unions holding strong, a Teamsters strike at UPS this August could be a watershed moment for the American working class. Two UPS drivers explain what’s at stake in the potential strike.
Life Inside China’s Gig Machine
Hu Anyan’s I Deliver Parcels in Beijing describes life working in China’s logistics and service trades. Anyan’s account reveals differences in context between Chinese and US workers that indicate the difficulty of international working-class solidarity.
Keir Starmer’s Labour Party Is Abandoning Workers’ Rights
After years of abandoned pledges under Keir Starmer’s Labour Party leadership, the party is now watering down its promises to strengthen employment rights. Labour is siding with employers over workers.
Organizing Online Customer Service Workers in the Midst of a Pandemic
When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit and workers at the online clothing company Everlane faced layoffs, they decided to organize. One laid-off Everlane worker describes the difficulties of remote service work in the 21st century, building solidarity among coworkers who never meet in person, and why other online service workers should get organized.
Democratize the Internet
We spoke to Ramesh Srinivasan, Bernie Sanders campaign surrogate and author of a new book on big tech companies, community-driven alternatives, and the battle for the future of the internet.
To Stop the Race to the Bottom, Europe Needs to Recognize Platform Workers as Workers
Plans for EU-wide regulation of digital platforms could finally enshrine labor rights for workers for firms like Uber. Neoliberals from Emmanuel Macron to the far right are resisting the move.
Romania’s Far Right Imports Anti-Immigrant Line
Historically, Romania has had more emigration than immigration. Yet nationalist parties are now importing US Republicans’ anti-immigrant talking points, using culture-war rhetoric to distract from bigger economic questions.
Musicians Need to Organize Collectively, as Workers
Like every other industry under capitalism, the music industry is currently organized to make a small handful of people very rich while the vast majority of working musicians benefit little from their recordings and performances. The only way to change that is through collective action.
Barack Obama’s New Netflix Series Shows That He Has Critiques but No Answers
While it’s always refreshing to see the lives of working people centered in our media, the docuseries Working: What We Do All Day is hampered by the limitations of its host and narrator, former president Barack Obama.
In Europe, Platform Workers Are Winning Limited Protections
Across Europe, platform workers have won a series of court cases ruling that they are employees, not self-employed. Moves for new EU-wide legislation have faced serious resistance from lobbyists but now look set to deliver some new protections.
The Bernie Platform
A New York Times op-ed slamming Bernie Sanders's program misses the mark.
Why Is France’s State-Owned Postal Service Exploiting Couriers in England?
La Poste is using the absence of any strong transnational framework guaranteeing workers’ pay and conditions to exploit England’s precarious labor market. The Left needs to fight to empower states to discipline capitalists, domestically and internationally.
The Long Road to Crisis
The dismantling of autoworker gains was a class project, not the inevitable result of globalization.
Artists Can Build Power as Workers
Art workers are organizing in response to miserable pay and working conditions. The history of artist unions in the United States can help them chart a path forward.
The Insanity of Making Sick People Work
Coronavirus is putting extra burdens on workers, from health professionals to low-paid cleaning staff at the front lines of combating infection. Yet many of these same workers don’t even have the right to sick pay — meaning they’ll feel compelled to work even if it risks spreading the virus.
Who Wants to Rent a Human?
As AI technologies spread, the next bold, brave frontier is not replacing labor but directing it. Rent A Human turns people into “meatsack” factotums and lackeys for algorithms, handing familiar elites a more efficient way to wield command.
The Hard Right Is Ascendant in Argentina
Argentina’s recent presidential primaries were a major win for the far right, with the anarcho-capitalist Javier Milei placing first. Between Milei and another hard-right candidate, the extreme right accounted for almost half of the electorate.
When Automation Meets a Draconian Border Regime
As tech companies tighten their grip on power, sci-fi visions of the future are proliferating. In Alex Rivera’s film Sleep Dealer, automation meets the hyper-militarization of borders, only increasing exploitation. It’s a techno-dystopia alarmingly imaginable today.
Digital “Platforms” Are Just a New Way for Corporations to Exploit Workers
Companies like Uber and iFood claim they are “platforms” rather than employers and shouldn’t be subject to labor law. That’s nonsense: platforms are just digital machines. And like many other machines corporations use in the workplace, they’re hurting workers.