Strudelkugel shares an op-ed: What was We thinking? That’s the only question worth asking now about the clowncar start-up known as The We Company, the money-burning, co-working behemoth whose best-known brand is WeWork. What’s a WeWork? What WeWork works on is work. The We Company takes out long-term leases on in-demand office buildings in more than 100 cities across the globe…
Tag: workers
Quantum Hall-based superconducting interference device
In a recent report published on Science Advances, Andrew Seredinski and co-workers presented a graphene-based Josephson junction with dedicated side gates fabricated from the same sheet of graphene as the junction itself. The interdisciplinary research team in the departments of physics, astronomy and advanced materials in the U.S. and Japan found the side gates to be highly efficient, allowing them to…
Workers Accuse Kickstarter of Union-Busting In Federal Complaint
On Monday night, unionizing employees at Kickstarter filed a complaint with the National Labor Review Board (NLRB) for allegedly wrongfully terminating two employees. Both of the employees were on the Kickstarter United organizing campaign. Motherboard reports: Kickstarter told Motherboard that the workers, Clarissa Redwine and Taylor Moore, were fired over performance issues within the past two weeks. But employees at Kickstarter…
California Governor Signs Labor Law, Setting Up Bitter Gig Economy Fight
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a sweeping new law that could force gig companies like Uber and Lyft to reclassify their workers as employees. From a report: The hotly contested legislation, Assembly Bill 5, dictates that workers can generally only be considered contractors if they are doing work that is outside the usual course of a company’s business. The law codifies…
Laws are needed when technological change ends up squeezing workers
California’s Assembly Bill 5 will let gig workers have benefits, unions and legal protection. It was needed to prevent a return to Dickensian working conditions, argues Annalee Newitz Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24332444-900-laws-are-needed-when-technological-change-ends-up-squeezing-workers/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Egypt’s Massive 1.8-Gigawatt Benban Solar Park Nears Completion
Wave723 shares a report from IEEE Spectrum: Amid the sand dunes of the western Sahara, workers are putting the finishing touches on one of the world’s largest solar installations. There, as many as 7.2 million photovoltaic panels will make up Benban Solar Park — a renewable energy project so massive, it will be visible from space. The 1.8-gigawatt installation is the…
Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft Workers Have Pledged To Strike on September 20
In a historic first, more than 1,200 Amazon employees announced last week that they will walk out of their offices on September 20 over the company’s carbon footprint. In the following days, tech workers at Microsoft, Facebook, and Google have announced they will also go on strike. From a report: Of the big five tech companies, this leaves Apple employees, who…
Ask Slashdot: Why Isn’t Geothermal Energy Getting As Much Attention As Solar and Wind?
mrwireless writes: YouTube channel Real Engineering has posted a great video on the potential (and downsides) of geothermal power. I think it would be great to discuss this video on Slashdot, since in discussions about climate change, geothermal rarely comes up as a viable alternative. The video mentions things like:- Could power our needs twice over- New technology makes it possible…
Huawei CEO Offers To License 5G Tech To American Companies In Peace Offer To Trump
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Huawei’s chief executive has proposed selling its current 5G know-how to a Western firm as a way to address security concerns voiced by the U.S. and others about its business. Ren Zhengfei said the buyer would be free to “change the software code.” That would allow any flaws or supposed backdoors to…
Whole Foods To Cut Health-Care Benefits For 1,900 Part-Time Employees Starting Next Year
Amazon-owned Whole Foods will be withdrawing medical benefits for hundreds of its part-time workers starting Jan. 1, 2020, the company said Thursday. From a report: In the past, employees needed to work at least 20 hours a week to buy into the health-care plan. Now they will need to work at least 30 hours. Less than 2% of its workforce, or…