{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Computer Says Maybe","title":"The Battle for Power Inside Big Tech: Against Tech Oligarchy w/ JS Tan & Clarissa Redwine","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3387,"description":"Over the last decade, tech workers have staged walkouts, signed open letters by the tens of thousands, and built more than a dozen new unions across the industry. And yet, over that same decade, tech companies have ramped up carbon emissions, raced to militarize AI, signed contracts with the Trump administration, rolled back protections for marginalized users, and, in some ways, engineered their platforms to be protest-proof.\n\nIn Against Tech Oligarchy, authors JS Tan and Clarissa Redwine ask the question: did tech workers ever actually learn how to fight?\nMore like this: Meet the Mom Winning Against AI in Schools w/ Ifeoma Ozoma\n\nJS Tan and Clarissa Redwine are both former tech workers who spent years organizing from the inside. This week, they join Alix to map the last decade of tech labor organizing: the walkout era of 2018, when public pressure and shame campaigns actually worked; the pivot toward formal unionization after Kickstarter's breakthrough; and the sharp turn after 2022, when rising interest rates gave bosses cover to stop pretending they cared what workers thought.\nThey get into why revenue-based leverage barely applies to an industry that runs on perceived valuation, why AI researchers and rank-and-file engineers may need very different organizing strategies, and the line that anchors the whole conversation: you can spend years organizing for power, and the moment you actually have it, realize you have no idea how to use it.\nFurther reading & resources:\nBuy the book: Against Tech Oligarchy — JS Tan & Clarissa Redwine \nHow a Tech Worker Fought Back from Being Fired as a Union Organiser — Clarissa Redwine, Branch \nWhy the Balance of Power in Tech is Shifting Towards Workers — Jane Lytvynenko, MIT Technology Review\nJoin The Maybe Collective to explore the politics of technology through fresh ideas that you won't hear anywhere else. Sign up for monthly insights, access to exclusive digital events, and real ways to get more involved on issues you care...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/PAOdL_M5QWOyjzFOZU9ULYY2O6u4IqytQJB3zKAY9fo/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mMmQ1/MmQ3YzNiMDQ0MjA1/ZjYyZGM0YTRlMWZi/N2MxZS5qcGVn.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}