Thank you—I am a big believer in the power of collective action & have organised successful union drives & pay disputes in the past. I don’t have a lot to add to your breakdown; I think this is a very promising area for EA to consider for almost every cause area (ex. would love to see a similar breakdown for current/future efforts in frontier AI labs).
Just strategically, I think the most promising insider activism campaign would be to partner with an existing union in a country with strong union protections; this way, you can leverage those protections to prevent retaliation against employee activists, as they can credibly claim they were organising for the union. I think, frankly, this rules out the U.S. as a starting point—you would want to build groundswell in places where the host companies can’t cut out off at the knees (the recent dismissals at Google are a strong reminder that if employees protest something the company has a stake in, they’ll be fired at-will with no consequences).
Furthermore, unions have a lot of existing connections & skills in developing these campaigns, and, as you’ve noted, regularly participate in employee activism directly or otherwise have presences in other social movements. This comes with the trade-off of potentially alienating some employees (unions are almost exclusively left-wing and have established reputations), but I don’t think there are many people (outside of the U.S.) who would be put off by a union and would’ve otherwise joined an employee activist drive.
Awesome, sure that would be great experience for using similar collective action in other causes! Had similar thoughts when writing this, although we focus on animal advocacy in principle all our approach reports could be used for other asks in other cause areas. I’d be interested in takes from those working in these domains
Great idea, for the more risky actions that could be a good approach if there are aligned unions. Do you think this is something you could have got the unions you helped on board with? Either animal advocacy or other potentially impactful causes?
My union is pretty conservative w/r/t social justice, because it’s the one that covers tech & science (our members tend to hold left-wing opinions, but don’t like stirring the pot). I don’t know how we’d feel about animal welfare, but not many of us work directly in those industries.
To get closer to your point, live animal export is a big issue in Australia, and our dedicated Meat Industry Employees Union have called for a ban on it. So I think the kind of campaign you’re talking about would fit right in here. Their animal welfare policy is so important to them that it’s on the front page of their website. Equally, they’ve worked with the Greens and the Animal Justice Party (both legislatively represented) in the past, and the unions here have close ties to the Labor party (1 of 2 major parties), so political change might be uniquely achievable here—although I doubt the situation is much different in most EU countries.
Thank you—I am a big believer in the power of collective action & have organised successful union drives & pay disputes in the past. I don’t have a lot to add to your breakdown; I think this is a very promising area for EA to consider for almost every cause area (ex. would love to see a similar breakdown for current/future efforts in frontier AI labs).
Just strategically, I think the most promising insider activism campaign would be to partner with an existing union in a country with strong union protections; this way, you can leverage those protections to prevent retaliation against employee activists, as they can credibly claim they were organising for the union. I think, frankly, this rules out the U.S. as a starting point—you would want to build groundswell in places where the host companies can’t cut out off at the knees (the recent dismissals at Google are a strong reminder that if employees protest something the company has a stake in, they’ll be fired at-will with no consequences).
Furthermore, unions have a lot of existing connections & skills in developing these campaigns, and, as you’ve noted, regularly participate in employee activism directly or otherwise have presences in other social movements. This comes with the trade-off of potentially alienating some employees (unions are almost exclusively left-wing and have established reputations), but I don’t think there are many people (outside of the U.S.) who would be put off by a union and would’ve otherwise joined an employee activist drive.
Awesome, sure that would be great experience for using similar collective action in other causes! Had similar thoughts when writing this, although we focus on animal advocacy in principle all our approach reports could be used for other asks in other cause areas. I’d be interested in takes from those working in these domains
Great idea, for the more risky actions that could be a good approach if there are aligned unions. Do you think this is something you could have got the unions you helped on board with? Either animal advocacy or other potentially impactful causes?
My union is pretty conservative w/r/t social justice, because it’s the one that covers tech & science (our members tend to hold left-wing opinions, but don’t like stirring the pot). I don’t know how we’d feel about animal welfare, but not many of us work directly in those industries.
To get closer to your point, live animal export is a big issue in Australia, and our dedicated Meat Industry Employees Union have called for a ban on it. So I think the kind of campaign you’re talking about would fit right in here. Their animal welfare policy is so important to them that it’s on the front page of their website. Equally, they’ve worked with the Greens and the Animal Justice Party (both legislatively represented) in the past, and the unions here have close ties to the Labor party (1 of 2 major parties), so political change might be uniquely achievable here—although I doubt the situation is much different in most EU countries.