My Tech Workers Have Unionized, 2026.10.05

Across the tech industry, workers are fed up with endless layoff cycles, overwork, and "AI" tools being forced into their jobs. And their bosses hate to hear it! Emily and Alex are joined by JS Tan and Clarissa Redwine, the authors of Against Tech Oligarchy, to discuss the ways workplace organizing is evolving to meet this moment.
JS Tan is getting his PhD at MIT and formerly worked in tech, where he spent years organizing across the industry. Clarissa Redwine helped organize the Kickstarter union, and cofounded and runs the annual tech organizing conference Circuit Breakers. Their book, Against Tech Oligarchy: Worker Resistance in the World’s Most Powerful Industry, is available now!
References:
Amazon finds cases of AI causing runaway spending on tech projects
Mark Zuckerberg had a bold plan to replace Meta staff with AI. Here’s how it imploded.
Fresh AI Hell:
ICE x Boston Dynamics
"OpenAI and Microsoft Admits LLMs Are Destroying the Web and Built on Theft"
Effective Altruists mad about someone "torturing LLMs"
Former Seattle City Council president launches centrist slop website
Palate cleanser: "New AI Literacy Program Awards Students Free Pizza If They Don’t Know How to Read Books Anymore"
Check out future streams on Twitch. Meanwhile, send us any AI Hell you see.
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Emily
Bluesky: emilymbender.bsky.social
Mastodon: dair-community.social/@EmilyMBender
Alex
Bluesky: alexhanna.bsky.social
Mastodon: dair-community.social/@alex
Twitter: @alexhanna
Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park.
Production by Ozzy Llinas Goodman.