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labor workers workers-rights workplace

What to do if your boss won’t fix the air conditioning

Lots of folks love the warm summer weather, but it can be less enjoyable — and even dangerous — for workers when temperatures increase in their workplaces. For example, what happens if the air conditioning breaks in your workplace on a hot, summer day?…

Too busy to love?

Met your unreal girlfriend: Hikari Azuma, the digital assistant that is designed to make you like her. Live with her. Maybe even love her. Whilst Amazon and Google are busy persuading us all of the use value of their digital assistants, Alexa and Google Home, Takechi’s company Gatebox has gone one…

Who would you hire?

UNI has warned far and wide about the challenges, dangers even, of using data, algorithms and autonomous systems in human resources. Our article When Algorithms Hire and Fire asks you to consider for a moment whether you would have the job you have today, if an algorithm had hired you?

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employees labor starbucks workers-rights workplace

When ‘Teamworks’ Isn’t Working, Starbucks Baristas Pay a Price

How a new app at the coffee chain is impacting workersSource: Kārlis Dambrāns, https://www.flickr.com/photos/janitors/30925026600Earlier this year, Starbucks rolled out a new scheduling app called Teamworks. Starbucks baristas can access their work sch…

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labor wage-theft workers-compensation workers-rights workplace

Think you may have missing wages? Here’s what you can do

What to do if you suspect you’ve experienced wage theftWhen someone mentions “theft,” a specific crime probably comes to mind, but many people are losing money to theft that comes in the form of a range of wage violations. In fact, far more people are …

TCO article: New app to gather data for unions

At a Unions21 conference in London this week, UNIs Christina Colclough met TCO’s editor of ArbetsVarlden’s, Mikael Feldbaum, for a chat about UNIs Young Workers Lab upcoming app: Project Spotlight. Mikael got to the keyboard quickly and published this great article.

Strong OECD AI Principles

Today, the OECD released its first Recommendation on AI as part of its annual Ministerial Council Meeting, recognising that a “fair transition” is needed for workers affected by AI deployment with social dialogue as means towards achieving it. The OECD AI Principles recognise trade unions as a…

Deep Fakes – and why you should care

At the Global Governance of AI Roundtable event earlier this year, I was in a workshop called “Horizon Scanning”. I was way out of my depth sitting with a group of mainly tech developers and engineers who speak a language other than, and different from, my own.

Should privacy pay?

Over the last year, I have been fortunate to participate in many interesting seminars and discussions on data rights and how data can be governed so the value of it benefits the many, and not just the few. From an event in Canada that gathered experts on data governance, to the World Government…

New Podcast! A discussion about the future of work

In this podcast which is a fun, thought-provoking conversation between Unions21 Simon Sapper and UNIs Young Workers Lab team, we cover a range of interesting topics. From how AI and data are changing how we work, to why unions should work together to devise a data structuring model, to big questions…