“If certain businesses — say, the next generation of meat plants — can’t reopen safely and profitably with humans, they can and should do so with robots,” argued a recent Bloomberg column titled “Let’s make a deal with our robot overlords.” [Alternate source] The column posits that right now some jobs “just aren’t good enough to protect.”
Until now, among the biggest…
Tag: solidarity
Small Protest Outside Tesla Plant Calls For Arrest of Elon Musk
A small group of protesters “rallied outside Tesla’s Fremont manufacturing plant Saturday, calling for CEO Elon Musk to be arrested and jailed,” reports a local Bay Area news site:
Carlos Gabriel is an employee, and has refused to return to work. “I’m worried for my health,” said Gabriel. Gabriel is worried about the spread of COVID-19 and the difficulty of social distancing…
Quebec’s Government Urges Online Shoppers To Local Retailers Instead of Amazon
“The coronavirus crisis is giving Quebec’s nationalist government an excuse to attempt what may be impossible,” reports Bloomberg. “The Canadian province is embarking on an uphill battle to chip away at Amazon’s position.” Reckoning that weeks of confinement will permanently accelerate the growth of online shopping, Premier Francois Legault wants to boost Quebec retailers’ digital sales, and is urging the population…
Will Comic Books Survive Coronavirus?
As Marvel cuts staff and publishers stop selling new titles, artists, shop owners and writers worry for the future of an industry worth billions. From a report: There are no new comic books. Steve Geppi, head of Diamond Comic Distributors, which distributes nearly every comic sold in the anglophone world (or used to), announced this on 23 March, though senior industry…
Bill Gates, Lancet, UN, and Many Others Lambast America’s Withholding of Funds from the WHO
This week U.S. president Donald Trump suspended America’s $900 million annual contribution to the World Health Organization. Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of the prestigious medical journal The Lancet, called Trump’s move a “crime against humanity….” The Hill reports: “Every scientist, every health worker, every citizen must resist and rebel against this appalling betrayal of global solidarity,” he added… The American Medical Association…
Stanford Begins America’s First Large-Scale Test For Coronavirus Antibodies
“Crowds flock to Santa Clara County test sites to learn if they have antibodies to COVID-19,” reports the Bay Area Newsgroup, citing long lines of cars forming at three Stanford research sites for the drive-through tests:
The 2,500 test slots on Friday and Saturday filled up within hours, as news of the project — the first large scale study of its type…
Tinder Offers Free Chatting with Users In Other Countries
“[W]e’re missing out on the everyday exchanges that make us human…” argues a press release from Tinder. “And while we all know we need to stay home, the Tinder community has shown us that this doesn’t mean we have to be alone with our thoughts and a tower of Top Ramen…” “Many of our current subscribers are even reaching out across…
357 Amazon Employees Launch Mass Defiance of the Company’s Communications Policy
357 Amazon employees have now “violated the e-commerce giant’s communications policy Sunday in an unprecedented public display of support for colleagues who were warned that they could be fired for speaking out to criticize the company’s climate practices,” reports the Washington Post: Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, a group of workers concerned about the company’s business with the oil and gas…
Kickstarter Defends Firings As Not Anti-Union, But Strong Criticism Continues
“Kickstarter’s CEO Aziz Hasan sent an email to staff Friday, explaining why the company fired two staff members and laid off another who played an instrumental role in organizing a union at the company…” reports Motherboard:
Hasan insisted that the firings were related specifically to job performance issues, not union organizing. “We understood how these firings could be perceived, but it would…