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  "path": "/essays/2025/tech-contractors-class",
  "publishedAt": "2025-03-01T23:30:00.000Z",
  "site": "at://did:plc:e2ctbutx6kya6si4if5ngjmm/site.standard.publication/3mniussyp2d2g",
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  "textContent": "I technically work \"multiple\" roles right now. I have a soon-to-be declared\norganization I'm working with that's driving my creative passions largely\naround art and gaming. In the process of such work, I've been _extremely_ clear\nwith both my collaborators and vendors of baseline rules of engagement and the\nlike when it comes to labor. This is a different navigation from working for an\nemployer: negotiating working contracts that have statements around ethics tend\nto make lawyers very upset due to ambiguity, enforcability and whichever courts\nonce wants to make said contract enforceable within. This cost me four\ndifferent collaborations. I'm fortunate enough to not be tied to a particular\ndeadline, which would put me at the mercy of these folks, but I'm noticing a\nparallel between these experiences and others when it comes to understanding\nthe bylines for organizing power.\n\nTech and Labor\n\nI'm not going to defend or explain the importance of labor organizing:\nespecially within tech. [Ethan Marcotte][1] wrote a book about that. What I do\nimplore is for those who don't \"seem\" themselves as the applicable party to\nstart doing so. In other words, _if you work in tech, you are a tech worker_.\nYou are both entitled to a sane and reasonable working condition _and_ we have\nan obligation to one another to work to maintain that. We can't point at\nSilicon Valley culture for hyperindividualism: that existed prior to it. We can\nonly point fingers at ourselves when we find an opportunity to push things\nforward and choose not to; doubly so if you're in positions of authority to\nprovide them.\n\nTech contractors - either independently working or part of a collective - will\nbe where capitalists turn to as salaried tech workers continue to rail against\nthe anti-labor movement of the corporate class; a bipartisian affair. And with\nthe rise of generative AI as a tool of devaluing \"lower-rung\" human labor like\n[customer support][2], we will see more and more avenues of executives looking\nto cannibalize its workforce to feed its own moat. This is a confusingly\ncontentious line, as those who are more disconnected from the backend of\noperations see this as \"innovation\" and those who are more connected can\nclearly see the disruption it invokes in folks' lives. For all of the talk of\nwanting to build the world for people, technology has increasingly degraded the\nlives of those whose labors made it go.\n\nPower Where You Stand\n\nI am looking for contractors and independent workers who are aware of the\nimpact that technology has on class. Examples of contracts, conversations\nor case studies that show how two groups can work together to prevent creating\nmore precedents that replicate the conflict of class we see today is what would\nbring _legitimiate_ innovation to our industry. Workers are making strides in\norganizing but it can't be those inside alone: it rarely is.\n\nI don't write this to ignore the inherent power dynamics at play: contractors\nare at the whims of capital just as staff to the same company they'd enter a\ncontract with. The need isn't to pit these two designations of workers against\none another: it's to highlight commonalities and work on strengths that can\nhelp us all.\n\n[1]: https://ethanmarcotte.com/books/you-deserve-a-tech-union/\n[2]: https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/klarna-says-its-ai-assistant-does-the-work-of-700-people/470405",
  "title": "Tech Contractors Need to Recognize Class"
}