App to Help Organize Workplace

O.K. Millennials and Boomers it is about time you got together. Millennials, known for speaking up for their rights in the workplace, and Boomers, known for correcting workplace imperfections —  such as equal pay for equal work, will soon be able to join forces using an App on their smartphones to help organize their workplaces.

"With digital journalists planning to gather in Louisville, Ky. to discuss unionizing (and attend bluegrass concerts) in October, the Century Foundation is seizing what seems to be a heated moment of virtual labor activism. The liberal think tank released a report today on new opportunities for online union-building — and called on app developers to get in on the action."

"Gathering support among colleagues has long been the basic building block of labor organizers, and seems ideally suited to be done over social networks and mobile devices. One organizing platform, Coworker.org, has already seen success in mobilizing workers via mobile, and is raising funds to build a dedicated app for the task."

“'If you can plan a party with an app, you should be able to organize a union,' wrote Moshe Marvit, a fellow at The Century Foundation and one of the report’s authors, in an email to BuzzFeed News."

"Given the methods some employers have used to delay union drives — harassment, threats, increased scrutiny, delaying tactics and retaliatory firings — the study’s authors argue an app could make the process considerably smoother. Union organizers wouldn’t have to come directly to a workplace, and an app would help counter what the report calls “the standard anti-union message that unions are ‘interlopers’ or ‘outsiders.’”

"Online communication gives workers privacy, so that they can get started quickly, Mark Zuckerman, president of The Century Foundation, told BuzzFeed News. That would be of particular advantage in signing up the critical mass of workers needed for the formal unionization process to begin."

“'With an app, workers could get 30% of the cards signed before the employers know what’s happening,' he said."

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