Labor | The Verge

The union drive at the Wikimedia Foundation is expanding

2026-07-28T19:32:36-04:00

In June, UK staff at the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia became the first to announce their intention to form a union. Now, US-based employees at the Wikimedia Foundation are joining the union drive, but management at the nonprofit has declined to voluntarily recognize their union.

"While the Wikimedia Foundation touts to the public that they plan to take a neutral stance in our organizing efforts, they have already proven that not to be the case behind the scenes," a press release sent by Communications Workers of America, with which Wiki Workers United is affiliated, reads in part. "When the Foundation rejected our request for voluntary rec …

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Patreon is laying off 20 percent of workers

2026-07-23T15:15:07-04:00

Patreon is laying off 20 percent of its workers, or around 93 employees, as reported earlier by 404 Media. In a memo to employees, Patreon CEO Jack Conte writes that the company isn't making these changes "because we believe AI replaces humans," but says AI has "fundamentally transformed the tech industry, including how we work, how we build products, how we communicate, and more."

That shift has changed "how we operate and organize," Conte writes.

During an interview on Decoder, last month, Conte laid out his stance on AI, saying that the company is "100 percent embracing" AI tools internally to continue serving creators:

If Patreon doe …

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Meta accused of using biased AI targeting for mass layoffs

2026-07-14T13:18:11-04:00

A group of 26 former Meta employees is suing the company over claims that it used AI tools to unfairly target workers on leave with layoffs, as reported earlier by Reuters. In the lawsuit, the employees allege Meta determined which workers to dismiss based on performance data collected by a "constellation" of internal AI tools, but failed to exclude those on parental or medical leave from its ranking system:

The result was that employees who took protected leaves were disproportionately selected for layoff, based on scoring that not only failed to account for their protected leaves, but in effect penalized the employees for exercising thei …

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Rockstar workers push to unionize ahead of GTA VI’s launch

2026-06-30T15:10:24-04:00

Workers at Grand Theft Auto VI developer Rockstar Games have submitted a request for their union, the IWGB Game Workers Union, to be voluntarily recognized, according to a press release. The request follows Rockstar firing more than 30 staffers last year in a move accused of being "union busting."

According to the release, IWGB members have been "actively" organizing since 2019 and "claim they now represent a significant proportion of the workforce across each of the studio's sites in Edinburgh, Dundee, Lincoln, Leeds and London." As the union has grown, "Rockstar has already made improvements to workers' conditions including unprecedented …

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UK staff at the foundation that runs Wikipedia seeks union recognition

2026-06-24T12:51:10-04:00

UK-based staff at the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), the nonprofit that supports Wikipedia, are pushing forward with their unionization drive. On Wednesday, the staff sent a letter to WMF management requesting the organization voluntarily recognize the union.

"The WMF has undergone a period of significant change in recent months, escalating workers' concerns over transparency, trust, and the organisation's future direction," a press release from the Communication Workers Union reads. "The workers are longtime contributors and organisers, and are deeply committed to the Wikimedia movement."

WMF staff are based around the world, and the UK cont …

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Hundreds of prolific Wikipedia editors are threatening to go on strike

2026-05-28T23:19:10-04:00

Wikipedia is one of the last bastions of trust on the internet. But last week, volunteer editors and contributors were alarmed to hear that a small but important team of engineers at the nonprofit that supports it had been laid off. The layoffs didn't just threaten to sever an important link between the Wikimedia Foundation and its community - they also raised concerns that the WMF was engaging in union-busting. After days of heated discussion, some Wikipedians are ready to support a strike. What that even looks like on a platform where creators mostly aren't being paid is a different question.

On May 20th, the WMF said it was disbanding t …

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The AI fight brewing inside The New York Times

2026-05-27T08:06:35-04:00

Yellow taxis pass in front of The New York Times newspaper building. | Alexandra Schuler/dpa (Photo by Alexandra Schuler/picture alliance via Getty Images)

How newsrooms should use AI - or if they should at all - has been a recurrent debate within the media industry over the last several years. Increasingly, these rules are being hammered out at the bargaining table between unions and publishers. Right now, employees at The New York Times are gearing up for a fight.

Unionized staff with the Tech Guild say Times management has refused to provide the union with information related to how the company has used AI, its plans for AI use in the future, and how it will affect employees' jobs and workflow. (The union filed an unfair labor practice charge earlier this month.) The Tech Guild, a NewsGuild …

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Samsung’s memory chip employees negotiated $340,000 bonuses this year

2026-05-22T07:17:51-04:00

48,000 Samsung workers had threatened to strike unless bonus caps were lifted. | Photo: Jung Yeon-je / AFP via Getty Images

Details have emerged about a tentative deal struck between Samsung and semiconductor employees who had threatened to strike. The deal reportedly makes some workers eligible for average annual bonuses of $340,000.

The proposed 18-day strike had hinged on Samsung's bonus cap for employees in the semiconductor division and followed a substantial rise in the possible bonuses available to employees of SK Hynix, another South Korean chipmaker enjoying a boom thanks to demand for AI components.

Under the terms of the new deal, Reuters reports that all chip workers will receive 50 percent of their annual salary as a regular bonus in cash. Further …

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Google DeepMind workers are unionizing over AI military contracts

2026-05-06T11:47:58-04:00

Staffers at Google DeepMind's headquarters are forming a union in an effort to prevent the AI firm's technology from being used by Israel and the US military. In a letter to Google management on Tuesday, employees requested that the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Unite the Union be recognized as joint representatives, with 98 percent of CWU members at DeepMind backing the move.

"We don't want our AI models complicit in violations of international law, but they already are aiding Israel's genocide of Palestinians," an unnamed DeepMind employee said in a statement shared by the CWU. "Even if our work is only used for administrative pur …

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The RAM shortage could get even worse if Samsung labor protests cut production

2026-04-24T13:17:02-04:00

Samsung employees in South Korea are protesting for more competitive wages. | Photo: Seong Joon Cho / Bloomberg via Getty Images

The RAM shortage caused by demand from AI datacenters is already driving up prices on phones, PS5s, and Raspberry Pis, but it could be about to get even worse. Samsung is facing employee protests over demands for wages that are more competitive with rival chip manufacturer SK Hynix, including removing Samsung's cap on bonus pay, allocating more money for bonuses, and raising base salaries. According to AP News, an estimated 40,000 union members attended a rally on Thursday outside Samsung's Pyeongtaek, South Korea chip manufacturing facility.

If the union and management can't come to an agreement, the union is planning an 18-day strike begi …

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