Employment & Labor Rights Learning Group

Since the 2016 election, employees of tech companies have wondered what they can do inside their jobs to have their voices heard on issues like pay equity, product decisions, and work/life balance.

The labor experts at Coworker.org, a digital platform for people to connect with their coworkers to create positive change in their workplaces, have been supporting tech workers as they impact the culture and direction of their workplaces.

This learning group will teach you about your employment and labor rights as tech workers, and we'll discuss industry trends, what your contract actually says, and engage in problem-solving about the issues you care about.

Coworker.org is also happy to take confidential workplace questions ahead of time at info@coworker.org so we can make sure to address the things you care about. Chances are, if there's something you're wondering, others are too.

What problem are we trying to solve?

Often times, we don't think of ourselves as the most oppressed workers. However, we've seen our industry in the spotlight and have felt the effects of workplace decisions and policies that affect us and our communities. As tech workers, we don't always have say over how the products we build are used, or have transparency about diversity, discrimination, and pay gaps in our companies - or know what kinds of workplace policies and protocol exist - or if there's even any HR infrastructure .

Who will benefit (directly and indirectly) from this project?

Employees of the tech industry - and those who use the products we build

Where can we find any research/data available/articles?

https://nplusonemag.com/issue-31/politics/code-red/

What help is needed at this time?

Employees of tech companies from IBM, Oracle, Google, Etsy, and more have turned to Coworker.org to learn about what kinds of change we can make at our jobs, receive strategic support, legal research, and employment law education.

What are the next steps (validation, research, coding, design)?

Labor & Employment rights trainings for tech company employees who want to make sure employees voices are heard and valued at their jobs.

How can we contact you outside of Github(list social media or places you're present)?

Yana Calou yana@coworker.org

Project management

Checklist for NEW ideas :baby:

Hey, you're official! You're now part of the growing Progressive HackNight community. Here's a few things to get started (a couple you've probably already done).

[x] Create this idea issue
[x] Flesh out the who, where, and what questions above
[ ] Start the conversation about this new idea on Slack (this project uses #general )
[ ] Respond with at least one update on this issue within the next month

Checklist for ACTIVE projects :fire:

Let's get this project started! When this idea starts taking off, the Progressive HackNight Team will start helping this project's lead(s) out with project management and connecting you to resources you may need. To get there, please complete and check off the following:

[ ] Post an update at least once a month to this issue. Use BASEDEF for ideas, but it's ok even if your update is just "nothing new happened this month" or "we saw a small increase in traffic to our app this month". If there's no activity for two months, that's no problem, life happens. We'll just label this as backlog so others know you'll get back to it when you have the time. If nobody hears from you at all in more than two months, we may mark it as abandoned so that others can pick up this idea and run with it.
[ ] Create a GitHub repository and Slack channel for work.
[ ] Create issues to describe each task that you plan to do or need help with and how a contributor can get started on that task. You might start and stop a lot, so consider issues as your to-do list.
[ ] Create a team for your core contributors
- This will make it easier for you to manage your github repo access. People on a team have the same level of access. Admin access will allow your trusted contributors to make changes as needed.
- You can remove and add people to your team as needed.
- Note: You can also allow collaborators outside of your team and give them more limited access.
[ ] Create a Google Drive, Dropbox, or other cloud storage to share larger files
- Github and Data.World are good for code and data, respectively, especially when you need version control. But they're not good for very large files, documentation, articles, etc. A cloud storage option will allow you to easily share, create, and collaborate on documents with your team and help organize ideas and thoughts.
- Doing this early on can help your team stay organized and to onboard new contributors who wouldn't have access to files you all have shared over email.

If you get stuck at any point, feel free to reach out to the leadership team with an email to steering@progressivehacknight.org or come find an organizer at a HackNight. We're here to help bring great ideas to life!

ProgressiveHackNight / project-ideas