Tech Worker Organizing: Understanding the shift from occupational to labor activism

07/28/2023

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by   JS Tan, et al.

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Popular accounts have characterized tech worker organizing as occupational activism, a type of employee activism motivated by a social-mission oriented professional identity. However, tech workers are increasingly participating in traditional labor organizing relying on worker identity. Our article shows the transformation from the former to the latter between 2017-2022. We find that this shift was not the result of the recent economic downturn in the technology industry which allowed employers to reset labor relations. Rather we suggest it was the active and creative performance of labor organizing by workers, namely the increase in organizing networks and expertise among tech workers.