Contrary to popular belief, tech workers in the IT industry are receptive to collective representation and cooperation with trade unions.
The case study from Israel shows that restructuring of the industry and the resulting uncertainty opens the door for smart union approaches to support workers and, eventually, collective bargaining.
At other tech companies, issues of identity, experiences of discrimination, concern for the environment and the impact of company policies have been connected with labour issues.
This is how new unions have emerged, inter alia at Google. When YouTube, the largest video-sharing platform, unilaterally launched new policies (so-called "shadow bans"), it propelled many professional content creators at YouTube into a precarious financial position.
How did they respond? They organised themselves in the YouTubers Union to exchange information, discuss changes to the platform and organise campaigns. This hitherto innovative form of self-organisation at an Internet giant has boosted its effectiveness through the partnership with IG Metall.
The broad-based FairTube campaign successfully negotiated more rights, more transparency and more participation in the company.
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The "Trade Unions in Transformation 4.0" project was initiated by FES with the aim of better understanding the representation of workers' interests in digital capitalism. The project sheds light on how trade unions and new organisations of workers are mobilising their power resources to face and shape the emerging new world of work. FES wants to contribute to the strategy-building among workers and trade unions and is offering its cooperation.
The project highlights how workers and unions are shaping change in the industrial sectors, how tech workers are becoming part of the workers' movement, how transport workers are opposing the restructuring of their sector through platforms, and what digital tools and apps unions are developing to expand their power in the digital economy.