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precise's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
medium-paced
2.0
Large print, thick paper, short book. Covered the process of getting a majority union at a US tech company, and some short history - I wished the history had been much more thorough. In particular it really bothered me that the 2018 Google walkout was cited as a successful collective action, for the following reasons:
- The demands made by the organizers after the walkout were not met
- The organizers were fired after it happened
- There was really not much risk OR reward for the people who walked out but were not organizers - for example, I know someone well who worked there at the time, and still does, and told me about how her boss walked out and was like "we'll count it as sick or vacation time" when she asked him about it when she walked out alongside the rest of her team.
The book tried to be upbeat and encouraging but with this hidden context about the risks, that really fell flat for me and it ended up feeling infantilizing.
It's also worth noting that many majority unions (Kickstarter and Bandcamp's unions come to mind) have faced significant retaliation, I would love to hear more about how minority unions work (especially curious about the Alphabet union) and how the risks/rewards change.
However it does make the case that content moderators are tech workers, which I think is a case worth making.
It's also worth noting that many majority unions (Kickstarter and Bandcamp's unions come to mind) have faced significant retaliation, I would love to hear more about how minority unions work (especially curious about the Alphabet union) and how the risks/rewards change.
However it does make the case that content moderators are tech workers, which I think is a case worth making.
wesleymiles's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
5.0
Ethan guides us through a brief history of the labor movement and how it relates to the layoffs we see in headlines. i’m new to the unionizing world so appreciated learning the basics: from how a parent union supports young unionizing efforts to why we should include traditionally non-tech (thus more exploited) workers in the conversation. he’s also provided a full quiver of links to dig deeper. the main takeaway for me was that this is not new. the system we live in requires standing up to the bosses to demand change.
dashtaisen's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
5.0
Concise and inspiring. Lots of helpful resources
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