Hillicon Valley — Historic Amazon union vote
Today is Friday. Welcome to Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Subscribe here and view the full edition here.
Two union elections at Amazon facilities are converging this week, making it a pivotal period for efforts to organize the nation’s second largest private employer.
Send tips and feedback to The Hill’s tech team, Rebecca Klar (rklar@digital-staging.thehill.com) and Chris Mills Rodrigo (cmillsrodrigo@digital-staging.thehill.com), and cyber reporter Ines Kagubare
(ikagubare@digital-staging.thehill.com).
Let’s get to it.
Amazon vs unionization
Workers at a Staten Island, N.Y., Amazon facility were set to begin voting in person Friday on whether they want to unionize.
At the same time, a thousand miles south, workers at the e-commerce giant’s Bessemer, Ala., warehouse are in the final stretch of a mail in vote that will be counted Monday.
The two elections are labor’s best chance yet to get a foothold at Amazon and a bellwether for the future of organizing at the nation’s second-largest private employer.
“Amazon has a model of paying little to no taxes, feasting on public subsidies and mistreating and dehumanizing its employees,” Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), which would represent workers at the Bessemer facility in the event of a unionization victory, told The Hill.
“What we are concerned about is that the way that Amazon treats its employees does not become the model for the future of work,” he continued. “So for us the importance of this election transcends this one warehouse.”
Workers at both facilities are organizing for similar reasons — supporters of unionization have been critical of Amazon’s demanding work schedules, pay and protection from diseases such as COVID-19.
The approaches they have taken are very different.
Read more about the campaigns.
EU-US leaders reach data transfer deal
Leaders in the United States and Europe announced Friday that they have reached an ”agreement in principle” over rules for the transfer of personal data across the Atlantic.
The previous agreement had been struck down in 2020 by a European court that determined it did not protect Europeans from American surveillance operations.
“The new Framework marks an unprecedented commitment on the U.S. side to implement reforms that will strengthen the privacy and civil liberties protections applicable to U.S. signals intelligence activities,” the White House said in a statement Friday.
“This is another step in strengthening our partnership,” tweeted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Businesses from both sides of the Atlantic have been pushing hard for a new agreement to be reached and praised the preliminary deal.
EU REACHES AGREEMENT ON COMPETITION RULES
European Union officials reached an agreement Thursday on new legislation that will regulate the world’s largest technology platforms in an effort to allow for greater competition.
The Digital Markets Act outlines legal responsibilities and restrictions for technology giants such as Google, Meta, Apple and Amazon, in addition to multiple smaller platforms, according to Politico.
The agreement, which was brokered by representatives from the European Parliament and the European Council, will apply to entities with market capitalization of 75 billion euros, the equivalent of roughly $83 billion, or more and entities with turnover in the European Economic Area of at least the same amount, Politico reported.
“The Digital Markets Act puts an end to the ever-increasing dominance of Big Tech companies,” said German European Parliament member Andreas Schwab. “From now on, Big Tech companies must show that they also allow for fair competition on the internet.”
YOUTUBE TAKES ON CPAC
YouTube removed some video content posted on the account of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) from its platform because it was in violation of its “election integrity policy,” a spokesperson told The Hill on Thursday.
“We removed content from the CPAC channel for violating our election integrity policy,” said YouTube Policy Communications Manager Ivy Choi.
She continued: “Our policies apply to everyone, regardless of the uploader’s political views, and while we do allow content that provides additional context such as countervailing views, the content we removed from this channel was footage that did not provide sufficient context.”
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) said in a Twitter post on Thursday that YouTube had removed all the video footage from two days of the four-day conference, which occurred from Feb. 24-27. He said that the removed content included speeches made by former President Donald Trump and multiple GOP senators and House members, among others.
BITS & PIECES
An op-ed to chew on: The US can’t sit back and wait for Russia to wreak cyber havoc
Lighter click: Tool appreciation post
Notable links from around the web:
- Will Apecoin And Yuga Labs Make The Regulators Go Ape? (The Verge / Elizabeth Lopatto)
- Microsoft whistleblower claims he was fired for exposing corruption (Protocol / Anna Kramer)
- Social media wasn’t ready for this war. It needs a plan for the next one. (The Washington Post / Will Oremus)
One more thing: The music stops
Spotify announced on Friday that it would fully suspend services in Russia because of the country’s new, restrictive law limiting journalism coverage.
The company, which hosts political and social commentary podcasts on its streaming platform, told The Hill it expects services to be fully suspended by early April.
In a statement, a Spotify spokesperson cited Russia’s new law passed earlier this month, which prohibits news agencies and people from publishing “fake” news about the invasion of Ukraine.
“Spotify has continued to believe that it’s critically important to try and keep our service operational in Russia to provide trusted, independent news and information in the region,” the spokesperson said. “Unfortunately, recently enacted legislation further restricting access to information, eliminating free expression, and criminalizing certain types of news puts the safety of Spotify’s employees and possibly even our listeners at risk.”
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s technology and cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you Monday.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed..
