# Workers' rights, union organising and the tech industry


## Some motivating questions

- What is a union?
- What workers rights do we have in the UK?
- Do I need to be in a union to have workers' rights?
- But I'm a developer... why would I need a union?
- Who are 'tech workers'?

These are some of the questions we'll be considering. I'll speak for about 20 mins, and then we have time for questions.

This is not intended as anything like a complete overview - more a provocation.

If anyone wants to discuss any of this, [my inbox](mailto:[e-mail]) is always open. Or Slack me!

## What's in a union?

Trade unions were born in the industrial revolution in England in the 18th century, when millions of people previously organised by a feudal economy were thrown off the land by the enclosures (privatisation of the commons) and found themselves a new 'working class' of wage labourers. Terrible working conditions in new factories in the cities demanded a response - so they organised, taking direct action in the form of strikes, work stoppages, walkouts and much else.


At the most basic level, unions are organisations which exist to advance the common interest of their members. The most common understanding is a _trade union_, i.e. a group of people in the same workplace or industry who organise collectively to improve their working conditions (typically by demanding better treatment by bosses, more pay, less work, etc.).


The trade union movement in the UK was much stronger in the earlier 20th century, but was decimated by neoliberalism, implemented by Thatcher from the late 70s onwards. The most visceral memory of this is in the defeat of the miners' strikes in 84-85.

[](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/01/union-membership-has-plunged-to-an-all-time-low-says-ons)

Trade union membership since then has halved, and many of the traditional unions been bureaucratised and effectively ossified. But there is cause for hope - base union activity is on the up. United Voices of the World, for example, a union organising (mostly Latin American) migrant cleaners in London, has been cleaning up with strike after strike in the last few years.


## Your rights

It is this history of struggle which has established certain norms that (increasingly few of us) enjoy today. For example, the fabled 8 hour working day, sick pay and holiday pay, health and safety requirements, legal protections around union organising and representation, and the minimum wage.


These were all won, and will not be maintained (at least under capitalism), except by organisational power on the part of workers. They are already being undermined in the UK, as the platform/gig economy develops (e.g. Uber/Deliveroo) and work grows more precarious for millions of people. This is facilitated by tech workers every step of the way. One of the ways this is done is by deliberately mis-identifying workers as self-employed contractors, for example, and there are legal battles raging around this as we speak.


## GAFAM

Does anyone know what this acronym refers to?

**Google - Amazon - Facebook - Apple - Microsoft**


Silicon Valley plays host to some of the most powerful organisations in the world. And despite Google's (now dropped) slogan of _dont' be evil_, this much power concentrated in any one place is dangerous for all of us.

Public corps by market capitalisation (Q1 2020):


You might think, that for the workers who run the everyday operations of these companies, life is pretty good. But tech workers are not just the software engineers on big salaries.

The daily operation of the tech industry includes reams of grunt work that is usually invisibilised. For example, the labelling of data to train AIs, fact checkers and censorers, who have to wade through some of the worst manifestations of our society (misogyny, racism etc) without counselling or mental health support.

## Recent action

[](https://collectiveactions.tech/)


## What's going on right now?

Introduce the [Tech Workers Coalition](https://techworkerscoalition.org/) (not technically a union, but a useful network with many variously unionised members).


Talk about UTAW.

Discuss leverage.

[](https://utaw.tech/about)


## Disclaimers

You may have noticed a particular political inflection in the above, so I thought I'd be explicit about my agenda.

I'm an [anarchist/communist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-communism) seeking the total abolition of wage labour and private property, and the construction of a society built on principles of genuine democracy (including and especially at work), mutual aid and solidarity.

## Further reading and resources

- the [_Technology and the Worker_](https://notesfrombelow.org/issue/technology-and-the-worker) issue of Notes from Below, 2018
- [_10 years in tech activism_](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/dec/22/tech-worker-activism-2019-what-we-learned#maincontent) article in the Guardian, 2019
- [database of collective actions](https://collectiveactions.tech/) in the tech industry (US-focussed)
- all of Wendy Liu's [writing](https://dellsystem.me/writing) (author of [Abolish Silicon Valley](https://abolishsiliconvalley.com/))
- Angry Workers' [questions for a workers inquiry](https://angryworkersworld.wordpress.com/2017/09/06/questionaire-for-workplace-report-ii/)
- Tech Workers' Coalition [join form](https://techworkerscoalition.org/subscribe/)
- UTAW [join form](https://utaw.tech/join)