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Hello everyone, this is going to be the title of a book that I hope to publish someday: "Organizing Ourselves: Design Patterns That Matter." It might be obvious, but the strength lies in collecting data on various issues. If you're concerned about diversity in tech, salary disparities, the harms caused by the tech industry, or major issues like climate change, we need to work together.
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I will discuss a few different kinds of organizing models, both historic and new. Unions are an obvious example that comes to mind, such as the Game Workers Union in the United Kingdom and the Communication Workers Union. Additionally, the Ver.di union in Germany represents telecom workers. There are also company-specific affinity groups that function similarly to unions, like BlackFolks at GitHub and Gayglers, which consists of LGBTQ+ employees at Google. These groups have been monumental in advocating for legislation in their respective countries.
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This represents a strength of multinational corporations: they can leverage their influence in international contexts. I'd like to talk about a new organization that was formed last year called the Tech Workers Coalition, which is primarily based in the United States, especially in major tech hubs like San Francisco, Portland, and New York. They also have chapters in Montreal and Bangalore, and potentially in Germany. What are they doing? The Tech Workers Coalition is doing two main things: they are bringing protests into the workplace, including online spaces like GitHub, but also in-person demonstrations.
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For example, there was a rally by Google employees, where every participant was a tech worker protesting against forced arbitration agreements related to sexual harassment. In these cases, employees are compelled to sign contracts stipulating they will not sue the company. In response to the protest, Google agreed to make changes. Similarly, there have been protests against the involvement of companies like Amazon with ICE (Immigration Customs Enforcement), protesting issues such as family separation by the U.S. government. As developers, we are all familiar with these companies, and while I’m not against them, I want to emphasize that we possess a lot of privilege and power, and we can influence these corporations to do better.
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In conclusion, let's get organized. This was a condensed version of my longer talk, and I would love to discuss the formation of new chapters with you or any feedback you may have. That concludes my three-minute pitch.