Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #DECLINENOW
Most recents (5)
This week on my podcast, I read my @Medium column, "Revenge Of the Chickenized Reverse Centaurs," proposing a theory of the relationship between algorithms, interoperability and worker power (happy #MayDay!).
onezero.medium.com/revenge-of-the… 1/
onezero.medium.com/revenge-of-the… 1/
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2022/05/02/rev… 2/
pluralistic.net/2022/05/02/rev… 2/
Let's break it down. Start with "#chickenization": this is a labor economics term referring to industries that follow the model of the American poultry industry. 3/
The labor movement has given us many of our current rights, including paid sick leave & protection against job discrimination.
But as work shifts to platforms, what becomes of participants' ability to effect change?
New essay w/ @skominers & @LilaShroff
hbr.org/2021/09/a-labo…
But as work shifts to platforms, what becomes of participants' ability to effect change?
New essay w/ @skominers & @LilaShroff
hbr.org/2021/09/a-labo…
Gig workers and content creators are now reckoning with the fact that their livelihoods depend on the actions of platforms that they have little ability to sway, and to which are locked in given lack of data ownership and portability.
As a result, a new form of labor activism is appearing in the platform economy, which we call decentralized collective action or DCA.
DCA aims to achieve many of the same goals as historical labor movements: better pay and working environments, protection from harassment, etc.
DCA aims to achieve many of the same goals as historical labor movements: better pay and working environments, protection from harassment, etc.
Dashers aren't stupid. They know that the difference between a profitable @Doordash delivery and one where they earn less than they spend on gas is the size of the tip they get at the end of the job.
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Of course, Doordash knows this too. The company - a corporate predator with a history of wage theft and worker misclassification - knows that its only hope of sustainability is to make real, profitable businesses like restaurants dependent on it.
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If Doordash can impose a toll-booth between businesses and customers, it can siphon off the restaurants' profits (and if it kills the restaurants in the process, it can replace them with ghost kitchens - fake restaurants in shipping containers).
pluralistic.net/2020/05/18/cod…
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pluralistic.net/2020/05/18/cod…
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Today's Twitter threads (a Twitter thread).
Inside: Leaked NYPD "goon squad" manual; Door Dashers organize app-defeating solidarity; and more!
Archived at: pluralistic.net/2021/04/07/cru…
#Pluralistic
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Inside: Leaked NYPD "goon squad" manual; Door Dashers organize app-defeating solidarity; and more!
Archived at: pluralistic.net/2021/04/07/cru…
#Pluralistic
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On April 13, I'm giving a workshop in collaboration with Phoenix's Changing Hands bookstore: "All the Teachable Things I Know About Writing":
changinghands.com/event/april202…
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changinghands.com/event/april202…
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Leaked NYPD "goon squad" manual: The NYPD isn't "undertrained" - the cruelty is the point.
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"Gig economy" is a polite term for "worker misclassification" - a way to violate labor law by pretending that your employees are actually independent contractors.
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Unsurprisingly, the companies that cheat their employees also cheat their other suppliers. Doordash spent the entirety of the crisis preying on beloved, endangered local restaurants with a string of outright frauds:
pluralistic.net/2020/09/19/we-…
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pluralistic.net/2020/09/19/we-…
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By colluding with Google, Doordash was able to interopose itself between restaurants and diners, making it nearly impossible for us to transact together without giving Doordash a cut that exceeded the restaurant's margin, making every order a money-loser.
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