Berlin Tech Worker News

This past weekend we had the first Labor Wikipedia Edit-a-thon and made a number of improvements. Read our Wiki summary here. 🚨 We have a number of events coming up, including our next Works Council training for beginners. Registration for that one is mandatory, so what are you waiting for? https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMrdOCorzMpHtERVAqux7eukx1TsXuQOHxy 📰 In the news 1. Last week was the eulogy of Christian Krähling, a legendary organizer and internationalist. Read his obituaries here http://christiankraehling.org/ 2. Verdi and IG Metall Berlin endorsed Deutsche Wohnen enteignen campaign, which went out in full force this week! 3. Thousands of people took to the streets to protest the racist terrorist attacks in Hanau one year ago https://www.dw.com/en/mass-shooting-in-hanau-grief-and-rage-persist-one-year-on/a-56612160 What are you inspired by this week?

English: https://netzpolitik.org/2021/digital-unionism-generally-is-quite-new/ Deutsch: https://netzpolitik.org/2021/interview-zu-tech-gewerkschaften-und-wikipedia-digitale-gewerkschaftsarbeit-ist-noch-ziemlich-neu/

Find Upcoming events on https://techworkersberlin.com/events Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, 19.2. - 21.2., 18:00 CET From Friday, 19.2. to Sunday 21.2. we will collaboratively improve the coverage of tech labor organizing and unionization in the tech industry on Wikipedia. The event is open to all interested, no matter what your previous experience with either Wikipedia or tech labor activism is. The kick-off meeting for the whole weekend will be on Friday, 19.2., 18:00 CET over Zoom: https://techworkersberlin.com/events/online-wikipedia-edit-a-thon 🏘 Join @DWEBerlin group, for Feb 22nd online meeting to fight back the real estate sharks Works Council Training, 24.2. 19:30 CET We started a series of bi-monthly Works Council Trainings, where participants can discuss all questions around unions, forming a Works Council, how to run campaigns etc. and share experiences in a safe and trustworthy environment. If you'd like to take part, check out the events page for more info and sign up here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMrdOCorzMpHtERVAqux7eukx1TsXuQOHxy General Meeting, 1.3. 19:30 CET A regular check-in on the first day of the month, at 19:30 CET https://techworkersberlin.com/events/online-general-meeting-20 Reading Group, 3.3. 19:30 CET We'll discuss two recent articles on organizing.work about criticisms of recent forms of tech organizing in general and the particular example of the newly formed Alphabet Workers Union: https://organizing.work/2020/12/there-is-something-missing-from-tech-worker-organizing/ https://organizing.work/2021/01/the-alphabet-workers-union-is-the-latest-example-of-top-first-organizing/ 📰 News Berlin riders protest working conditions Last week Berlin saw rough winter weather with snow storms and temperatures reaching below -16 °C. Riders of several Berlin based platform companies, such as Lieferando, Wolt, and Gorillas, protested against their employer's refusal to cease operations, forcing riders on the street without proper protective gear and winter-proof clothes despite unsafe and harmful conditions. An initiative of Wolt and Lieferando riders called customers to boycott the delivery services, while Gorillas employees went on strike to shut down the service for several days. Follow and support them here: https://twitter.com/GorillasRiders https://twitter.com/support_rider https://taz.de/Berliner-Radkuriere-protestieren/!5746305/

1. We meet tonight at 19:30, monthly general meeting https://zoom.us/j/82138847989 2. Works Council training Feb 10th 19:30 (registration required: https://techworkersberlin.com/events/works-council-training-for-beginners) 3. German anti racist reading group Feb 17th (link coming) 4. Wikipedia edit-a-thon, Feb 19-21 https://techworkersberlin.com/events/online-wikipedia-edit-a-thon

January's been a busy month if you were following news in the US, including 1. Failed coup of Congress 2. Alphabet/Google employees unionizing 3. Trump getting banned on dozens of social media platforms 4. Amazon is looking to hire ex-military officials in their Stuttgart location etc... We have our first monthly meeting on January 15th at 19:30 CET, over Zoom. https://techworkersberlin.com/events/51 For upcoming events, check out https://techworkersberlin.com/events We'll soon add Works Council beginner/advanced training and also a Wikipedia-Edit-a-thon! For inspiration, see this recent Wikipedia article I created on Tech unionization: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unionization_in_the_tech_sector As mentioned in a post, we're kick-starting a new project with Deutsch Wohnen Einteignen, and have a meeting on Monday, January 18th. If you're interested please contact dwe@techworkersberlin.com Info: https://techworkersberlin.com/events/prop-tech-working-group

2020 has been a rough year for everyone. To be blunt, Tech giants got wealthier, while we got poorer. We have a lot of work to do and an ambitious agenda: 🎓 We're launching bi-weekly Works Council trainings 🦈 Launch Deutsch Wohnen Enteignen tech committee (let's expropriate the real estate sharks with your help) 📦 @BerlinVsAmazon continues into 2021, we'll be present at Rosa Lux Stiftung conference 🎉 Launching a new tech workers branch in Leipzig There are many things to discuss, but we need your skills and involvement! Tech Won't Save Us, Organize! https://techworkersberlin.com/join

We know this year has been a dumpster fire year. Happy holidays to everyone, and let's regain our energy for 2021! We have work to do! If you want to join TWC and organize your workplace or on a specific theme (more on that soon) we need you! https://techworkersberlin.com/join

Good morning fellow workers, Tonight is our monthly genera meeting, always the first day of the month at 19:30 (except January). We’ll have report backs and new upcoming elections for our steering committee. https://techworkersberlin.com/events/50 This past week has been incredible day of actions against Amazon, including the launch of a new coalition called #MakeAmazonPay, and local video released by BerlinVsAmazon about the 140 meter “Amazon” tower  https://vimeo.com/483585925 https://makeamazonpay.com/de/

🧨 Dear fellow Tech and Non-Tech Workers, we hope all of you are safe and stay healthy during this month of increased Corona measures. As this turbulent year slowly reaches its end, we still have some more events and activities coming up that we’d like to share with you. Union Hackathon http://unionhack.de/ Labour Digital, a digital software agency working for the German trade unions, organizes a two-day hackathon on November 20-21, in which teams can collaborate on real-life tech problems unions such as Verdi and IG Metall are facing. Some members of TWC Berlin are discussing to participate and will organize in a Slack channel. If you're interested, join there and get involved. http://unionhack.de/ Works Council article series https://techworkersberlin.com/works-councils Our TWC Berlin website has been updated with a series of articles on the German Works Council system, what it is all about, the benefits, how to form one, etc. We aim to expand this series very soon with an overview of successful recent Works Council campaigns in Berlin tech companies and interviews with elected representatives. Berlin Steering Committee Election The steering committee is responsible for logistics and organizational matters of the group, prepares general meetings and interfaces with external contacts. As defined by our statutes, the steering committee is elected every six months, which makes the next election due in December. Therefore we encourage all members who would like to engage more and run for the steering committee to self-nominate until November 29th. Please write to group-steering@techworkersberlin.com and provide a short introduction of yourself and what you would like TWC to focus on in the upcoming months. After the nomination phase is over, voting takes place in the December 1st general meeting and in writing to group-steering@techworkersberlin.com Tech Workers News In late October workers at Cobot, a small company providing management software for co-working spaces, elected their Works Council with one representative. https://twitter.com/CobotWorkers At online bank N26, after a tough but successful campaign and several attempts of union busting and election interference by management, the three branches N26 Operations, N26 GmbH and N26 Bank GmbH will hold Works Council elections on Nov. 9-10 and Nov 30 - Dec 1st. https://twitter.com/worker291 The workers of online fashion retailer Zalando succeeded in establishing a works council for Zalando SE, 12 years after the company's founding. Preparations for the general Works Council, which will exist next to existing Works Councils in its logistics branches and customer support, started already in September 2019. With Works Councils at N26 and Zalando, two of the largest startups in Berlin will now have staff representation. Cheers and Solidarity! Berlin TWC Steering Committee

October was a slow month, but we're ready to kick off November with a series of events including tonight in one hour! Beyond the Startup model: Building a coop - With Magdalena Ziomek Tonight at 19:00 CET 🔗 https://techworkersberlin.com/events/47 Our Monthly Berlin General Meeting Always on first day of the month at 19:30, this time on 1st November 2020 🔗 https://techworkersberlin.com/events/48 Are Tech Workers the New Face of the Global Labour Movement? Trade Unions in Transformation 4.0 - Session 3 4 November 2020, 16:00 - 17:30 PM Berlin time, Online 🔗 https://www.fes.de/veranstaltungen/?Veranummer=250448#c2971 Union Hackathon: 🔗 https://www.unionhack.de/en/ We are invited to participate remotely, with other technologists, unionists in addressing some of the most challenging problems in trade union organising. November 20/21st Conferences Berlin Tech Workers Coalition will participate in Workshops at SilentWorks, please check website for details. There is conference, art exhibition and complex hygiene concept. https://projekte.berlinergazette.de/silent-works/ We will also participate in the Logistics Theme of Digital Work conference, November 13-14th in person https://digital-bewegt.org/themen/logistik NEWS N26 Works Council elections: Both election dates have been announced. N26 Operations Works Council Election will be on 9-10 November, and N26 GmbH votes on the 30th of November and the 1st of December. https://twitter.com/worker291/status/1318232397759000578 Cobot Workers elect Works Council Cobot, the company behind the community managed Co.Up working space, has elected a Works Council, and will soon write up on the process for small firms. Give their twitter account a follow! https://twitter.com/CobotWorkers

Demo in front of Uber office, by FAU/Deliverunion

Welcome to all the new people who learned about Berlin Tech Workers Coalition this month! Tonight (in 45 minutes!) we have our first german learning group about anti-racism: ✊🏿📚 Heute Abend (19:00) hosten wir unsere erste deutschsprachige Learning Group. Wir diskutieren über die Geschichte und Gegenwart von Rassismus in Deutschland. Als Diskussionsgrundlage dienen die Kapitel 5–7 des Buchs Exit Racism von Tupoka Ogette. Auch Kurzentschlossen, die das Buch nicht gelesen haben, können gerne teilnehmen. Die Kapitel stehen als PDF zur Verfügung. https://techworkersberlin.com/events/45 (In English again) We have our monthly general meeting on the first day of the month, the next one is October 1st at 19:30 https://techworkersberlin.com/events/46 📣 7th October (auf Deutsch) LABOR.A® 2020 - Arbeit der Zukunft in Corona-Zeiten: Am 7. Oktober digital und mit Livestreams aus dem Café Moskau in Berlin. https://www.boeckler.de/de/aktuelle-veranstaltungen-2718-labor-a-2020-24040.htm 🗞 Many educational and protests related to gig economy happened this week Yesterday, a demo in front of the Uber office in Berlin to protest Uber's opposition to #AB5 California legislation that would categorize platform workers as employees The Berlin Senate hosted an online conference #FairClickGig which featured various workers and organisers from Lieferando, Helpling, Content.de and policy/labour experts https://form.gsub.de/platformeconomy2020 📣 UTAW launched last week, the first UK trade union for anyone who works in tech. If you think that might include you, it probably does. https://twitter.com/UTAW_uk

Since the whole N26 debacle, many tech workers contacted us to organise; Welcome! ☕️ In addition to group meetings below, we're offering coffee meetups (virtually and in person) to get to know each other better, and discuss sensitive topics like organizing Works Councils (Betriebsrat) at our own workplaces 🎤 The next Berlin general meeting is on September 1st at 19:30, over Zoom with more details included below. Our general meetings are always on the first day of the month. https://techworkersberlin.com/events/42 ⛺️ We'll be presenting at a Berlin Left Summer Camp retreat on September 12 https://techworkersberlin.com/events/43 🌃 Data Cities September 25-26th, a conference dedicated to critiques of smart cities https://techworkersberlin.com/events/44 🗞💸 Wirecard subsidaries vote to form Works Councils as they file for bankruptsy with Ver.di service union https://www.time24.news/2020/08/employees-in-three-wirecard-companies-vote-for-works-council-elections.html 🗞🚴🏾‍ Lieferando riders voted for new Works Council in Stuttgart, with NGG food union If you're curious, you can apply to our organization's private Slack/Listserv here: https://techworkersberlin.com/join

After the police were called, legal injunctions raised against workers and two unions stepped in, N26 GmbH and N26 Operation GmbH both have Electoral Boards that can proceed with organizing elections of Works Councils! https://twitter.com/TechWorkersBER/status/1294258759221628930

Normally, we have positive news when it comes to election staff representation called Works Councils (Betriebsräte), but this week is an exception. Read what happened, forward this email (this is for public release) and find out how you can help! N26 retaliates against Works Council initiators Workers of the online bank N26 announced their intent to elect a Works Council, with electoral committee elections scheduled for Thursday and Friday this week. In a public letter, N26 workers outline why they're forming one: https://www.worker26.com/ Since then, management has resorted to filing a lawsuit against the initiators, barring them from continuing their duties. They are actively working with Ver.di union to fight these obvious union busting tactics, to intimidate and scare workers. Please share your support online by messaging N26 customer service, and tweeting your support for Works Council at N26. For a sample tweet, see here #N26UnionStrong https://twitter.com/TechWorkersBER/status/1293543007778742272 Webhelp tries to shut down Works Council Webhelp Holding Germany GmbH, which is already notorious for outsourcing already has a Works Council, so management decided to make life a living hell for the elected Works Councillors, by verbally shouting at employees, withholding pay, and trying to dissolve the Works Council. This situation is so extreme, IG Metall Berlin took the rare step and filed a criminal complaint against Webhelp. Mozilla fires 25% of staff, including in Berlin Mozilla is known for their open source Firefox browser and Thunderbird mail client. This is the second round of layoffs at Mozilla this year, this time over 250 people lost their jobs including the entire Taipei office. To support people looking for jobs, check out #MozillaLifeBoat. This has deep ramifications for the future of the open web. What's clear is, we are winning and management is terrified of that, so they're playing dirty. The support and expertise of IG Metal and Ver.di unions in these cases are crucial, for fighting back when needed. If you have questions about which union is right for you, you're in the right space and am happy to discuss it with you! If you are a journalist, or know someone who's a journalist. Workers and Union representatives are available from both campaigns, please privately message back. To get involved with the Berlin Tech Workers Coalition, subscribe at https://techworkersberlin.com/join We also have twitter, facebook, telegram, and slack. Solidarity, Steering Committee — Berlin Tech Workers Coalition https://techworkersberlin.com/news/2020-08-12-rough-week-for-berlin-tech/

Labour Unions and TWC Today 28.07 19:30 - 21:30 CEST (join our newsletter for link) Tech Workers Coalition is not a union, but we share commonality in our goals to build worker power. We’ll discuss how TWC could cooperate with different labour unions in Berlin.

Hi TWC, I hope everyone’s been enjoying the occasionally summery weather and the ease out of lockdown in Berlin. The steering committee has been meeting weekly** since forming last month, and we are excited to share what we’ve been working on. In the spirit of getting organized and building momentum, we have a few ~ forward-looking ~ events coming up. More folks joining will help make these discussions as representative as possible — we’d love to see you there! Future Vision for TWC Berlin Tuesday 21.07 19:30 - 21:30 CEST (join our newsletter for link) Have ideas about what you want from Berlin TWC? Things you think we shouldn’t do? Learnings you can share from past organizing experience? This time will be used to discuss mid- and long-term goals for Berlin TWC. Everyone is encouraged to join and bring up what they would like the group to focus on. Labour Unions and TWC Tuesday 28.07 19:30 - 21:30 CEST (join our newsletter for link) Tech Workers Coalition is not a union, but we share commonality in our goals to build worker power. We’ll discuss how TWC could cooperate with different labour unions in Berlin. General Meeting #13 Saturday 01.08 19:30 - 21:30 CEST https://zoom.us/j/82138847989 You know the drill. Or maybe you don’t! Come by and find out what TWC Berlin is up to outside of sending these newsletters. Palantir Early August, To Be Announced Palantir is notorious for providing tech that actively enables violent, migrant-targeting policing practices at scale, especially through government contracts in the United States. A handful of German police departments have recently signed contracts with Palantir (described in the last section of https://digit.site36.net/2020/06/11/europol-uses-palantir/). We will discuss possible actions we could take. Subscribe to our newsletter/slack for internal documents/meetings! techworkersberlin.com/join And some good news next door, Google Zurich elected a works council! https://twitter.com/TechWorkersBER/status/1285195284641873922

In 5 hours from now, 19:30 CET we'll have a joint general meeting with London chapter. We'll be discussing Labor Unions and Black Lives Matter in EU context. Detailed agenda here https://techworkersberlin.com/events/40

🎂 One year ago we first met and are looking forward to another year of organizing! We formed a new steering committee made up of 5 members who will build capacity and make our organization more resilient. Now for upcoming events: 📚 Tomorrow we have Reading Group (July 25th) about California Ideology https://techworkersberlin.com/events/39 📝 Next General Meeting on July 1st at 19:30 CET https://techworkersberlin.com/events/40