Doing Our Part to Fuel Organizing Right Now

As many of you know, last year we acquired a tech team to build and equip leaders in the labor movement with the tools they need to organize workers in bigger, better, and more efficient ways—a critical task if our labor movement is to be a formidable fighter against growing authoritarianism in America.

As we approach the end of the year, I want to share how our tech team (many of whom have deep organizing experience) is expanding what’s possible in the labor movement—helping leaders see technology not just as a tool, but as a catalyst for imagining new futures and building the world all workers deserve.

Pro-Worker AI-Powered Chatbot

First-of-its-kind, this chatbot is serving workers in and outside of labor unions by answering questions about work like "Am I eligible for overtime pay?"

Our bot generates accurate answers, tailored to a worker's specific type of work, geographic location and, if applicable, their collective bargaining contract.

Unlike any other commercial product out there, our AI-bot gives organizers insight and assessment into what members are asking and experiencing at work.

Unlike ChatGPT, our chatbot also comes equipped with an administrative dashboard that allows the leaders of labor unions and other worker organizations to create, curate, and modify the answers that are provided to workers so that they are uniform, relevant, and most importantly - pro-worker.

The dashboard also becomes a powerful organizing tool: it surfaces emerging issues in real time and shows who is being affected.

This allows leaders to respond more quickly, coordinate action more efficiently, and stay closely connected to what workers are experiencing on the ground.

SeeSomethingShareSomething

Our Yelp-like tool encourages workers and the general public to submit their stories and experiences at various workplaces and businesses to tell a more accurate story of work.

Any good organizer knows that story-sharing is key to getting someone to connect to an issue or effort.

A great organizer knows that doing this en masse, all the time, is the key to moving people into action.

SeeSomethingShareSomething gives workers and the general public the opportunity to story-share, but it also offers the leaders of labor unions and other organizations of workers a tool that captures, aggregates, and brings those stories to life in an interactive heat map.

With both the nature and volume of issues, insights, and industry-trends on full display, the map becomes a powerful advocacy tool to make conditions better for workers and a targeted tool for organizing and action when spots on the map get really hot.

Digital Labor Law Enforcement Tool Suite

Our labor law enforcement tools help workers digitize the process of reporting violations, streamline the collection of evidence, auto-populate complaint forms, and track complaint outcomes more efficiently.

We currently offer two products:

1. SPOT Safety is a digital health and safety hazard reporting tool developed in partnership with UC Merced Community and Labor Center that community-based organizations in California's Central Valley are using to help farmworkers easily and digitally report health and safety hazards they encounter. The tool also coordinates labor law enforcement efforts across multiple community-based organizations and stakeholders to enhance workplace safety and health in agriculture.
2. Wage Theft Reporting Tool is a digital wage theft reporting tool that community-based organizations in California are using to help domestic workers easily report wage theft violations.

UnTemp

Our solution to make gig work good work. A one-stop digital platform to match and fulfill gig work under a traditional W-2 framework. Developed to support scaled job demand for the FIFA World Cup in 2026.

As the gigification of the U.S. economy continues to spread from sector to sector and industry to industry, it is imperative not only that we figure out ways to make gig work better for those who want or need it, but also begin to build the technical infrastructure needed to organize these workers nationally.

UnTemp is doing this.

Three Quick Things Before I Let You Go

1. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to all of our board members, stakeholders, supporters, and partners who are making this incredible body of work possible: THANK YOU!
2. If you want to learn more about what our tech team is up to or if you are interested in partnering with us, please email me directly at adrian@theworkerslab.com.
3. What do you think we should or need to build right now? All of this work is direct-result of input from workers and leaders of labor unions and other organizations of workers. If you've got an idea, shoot it to me directly at adrian@theworkerslab.com. Let's talk!

Thanks for reading, and Happy Holidays to you all.