In this week's episode of the Techworker podcast, Paul is joined by Sarah Lacy to discuss Amazon's continuing efforts to bust its warehouse workers' union, Deliveroo's failed IPO, Kim Scott's new book about radical equality... and to ask whether there's anything we can do to curb the worst tech billionaire excesses.
In this week’s episode of the Techworker podcast, Paul is joined by Sarah Lacy to discuss Amazon’s continuing efforts to bust its warehouse workers’ union, Deliveroo’s failed IPO, Kim Scott’s new book about radical equality… and to ask whether there’s anything we can do to curb the worst tech billionaire excesses.
Subscribe to the Techworker podcast in your favorite podcast app.
Every effort will be made to keep communication with our newsroom secret and confidential.
techworkertips@protonmail.com
Signal: 415 757 8948
We tried our best!
A new report from Worker Info Exchange examines the issue of drivers who are dismissed from Uber because the company's geolocation data finds that they are fraudulently placing two drivers on the same app. Oftentimes, this is not the case, and drivers are simply logging in from an alternate work phone, allowing a family member to use an alternate phone under their name, or experiencing technical glitches. The report examines the case of one driver, specifically, who was suspended in late 2020 despite having a rating of 4.97 and completing over 15,000 trips. In his case, it appears he was dismissed over a technical glitch. Though the company says it employs human review to protect against these situations, this data suggests that may not be the case.
After hiring approximately 500,000 logistics workers last year to meet the increased demand for online delivery, Amazon announced Thursday that it would be hiring another 75,000 workers in North America. These workers will receive $100 if they're vaccinated, receive a starting pay of $17 an hour, and be eligible for up to $1000 in signing bonuses. The company currently employs 1.3 million people.
The hiring of Antonio Garcia Martinez spurred an online backlash Wednesday after employees discovered disparaging things he says about women in his new book "Chaos Monkeys." In the book, he describes Bay Area women "weak" and "naive," amongst other things. The incident is particularly remarkable because, compared to other tech giants like Facebook and Google, Apple employees rarely organize. Apple confirmed to Axios that Garcia Martinez no longer worked for the company Wednesday afternoon.
