California's Public Employment Relations Board has officially certified the California Gig Workers Union as the bargaining representative for Uber and Lyft drivers, after at least 30% of active drivers showed support. The certification was enabled by Assembly Bill 1340, which grants independent contractor drivers the right to collectively bargain, making California the third state after Washington and Massachusetts to allow such unionization.
Since the Strait of Hormuz closure sent Brent crude up 58% year-on-year, the European Commission has only trimmed its 2026 growth forecast from 1.5% to 1.1%, with unemployment steady near 6%. That resilience stems from a structural shift: Russian gas has dropped from 45% to 12% of EU imports while US LNG now supplies two-thirds of Europe's gas, backed by $750 billion in commitments through 2028, and EU output uses 44% less energy per euro than in 1995.
A new Gallup survey finds 47% of Americans now want unions to hold more influence, up from 43% in 2023 and just 25% in 2009. Meanwhile, those wanting less union influence fell to 23%, and overall approval of unions climbed to 71%, matching levels last seen in 1965.
Blizzard Entertainment employees represented by the Communications Workers of America have voted to approve their first union contract, ending roughly two years of negotiations. The agreement covers about 1,900 workers and includes wage increases, hybrid work terms, disability and remote-work accommodations, expanded severance, and a requirement that Blizzard bargain over AI use in the workplace.
Microsoft and the American Federation of Teachers signed a legally enforceable agreement barring the company from using student or teacher data to train its AI models, except in narrow safety and security cases. The deal also prohibits tracking students, requires human oversight for any AI decisions affecting schools, and mandates transparency with parents and educators about how the tools function. Protections take effect for school districts starting November 1.
The United Nations passed a resolution, backed by the African Union, urging adoption of map projections that preserve the true relative size of continents instead of the 500-year-old Mercator projection. The vote passed 164 to 1, with the United States the lone dissenting country. Togo's foreign minister argued that maps shape how people understand the world's balance of power.
Workers' rights group LaborLab has released new tools letting employees see which consultants and law firms their employers hire to resist unionization efforts, and how much money is being spent. The launch highlights a roughly $1.7 billion industry of union avoidance specialists that, per Labor Department data, about 75% of employers rely on when facing organizing drives.
Google confirmed it is rolling out major changes to how Search functions across the European Union, following a $1 billion fine tied to alleged Digital Markets Act violations. The update forces Google to display results from competing vertical search services, such as Expedia or Booking.com, ahead of its own Flights and Hotels products in categories like travel and dining. New carousels will rank listings using Google's algorithm, but with details like real-time pricing removed.
Using Bluetooth or other signal jammers is banned in nearly all countries except for limited military use, under laws like the US Communications Act of 1934 and FCC regulations, alongside international rules from the ITU. These devices can disrupt Wi-Fi, medical equipment, security systems, and even emergency responder communications within a wide radius.
U.S.-based employees of the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit behind Wikipedia, voted decisively to unionize under Communications Workers of America Local 9415. The election, overseen by the National Labor Relations Board, followed a July push for recognition after a supermajority of workers signed union cards, a request management initially declined to honor voluntarily. The vote is part of the broader Wiki Workers United campaign spanning multiple countries where Wikimedia staff work.
The piece traces how Western Electric, the manufacturing backbone that later became central to AT&T's Bell System, was founded in 1872 by Enos Barton and Elisha Gray—the same Gray who disputed Alexander Graham Bell's claim to inventing the telephone. Gray bought out co-founder George Shawk and became half-owner of the firm, partly intending to manufacture his own competing telephone design.
More than 200 employees at the Wikimedia Foundation voted 158-14 to join the Communications Workers of America, with results tallied by the National Labor Relations Board. The unionizing group spans software engineering, finance and communications roles across the roughly 700-person, largely remote nonprofit behind Wikipedia.
GoKawiil