Tootfinder

Internal memo: Shein tells staff that the company is stepping up efforts to keep products made with forced labor off its platform, citing tougher US enforcement (Jing Yang/The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/sh

Shein to Prioritize Compliance Amid U.S. Forced Labor Crackdown
China-founded fashion giant Shein told employees it is stepping up its efforts to keep products made with forced labor off its site, citing tougher U.S. enforcement to screen low-value parcels that previously received little customs scrutiny. In a memo to senior managers, Shein’s executive ...

Kampf der Latenz: Nokias L4S reduziert Datenverzögerung in Vodafone-Labor​
Nokia und Vodafone drücken in einem Glasfasernetz die Latenz mit dem Buffer-Manager L4S deutlich. Das soll bald Echtzeit-Anwendungen beflügeln.​

US workers’ share of the pie dwindles
Bureau of Labor Statistics releases latest estimate of how much labor receives of national income, showing bleak decline
“We have an incredibly corrupt corporate governance structure,” said Dean Baker, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy research.
“CEOs in the US get paid way more than their counterparts in other wealthy countries.”
He cited other contributing factors,
such as the fallen corporate tax …

"It’s time to stop hiding low-wage jobs behind manager titles."
New federal overtime rule adds common sense to pay, scheduling for mid-level managers
https://slate.com/business/2024/05/overtime-federal-labor-law-…

The Shady Scheme Hiding in Your Favorite Burrito Place Could Finally Be Illegal
It's time to stop hiding low-wage jobs behind manager titles.

Harrison Phillips: Vikings will use 'division of labor' to carry leadership torch vacated by Kirk Cousins https://www.nfl.com/news/harrison-phillips-vikings-will-use-division-of-labor-to-carry-leader…

Kampf der Latenz: Nokias L4S reduziert Datenverzögerung in Vodafone-Labor​
Nokia und Vodafone drücken in einem Glasfasernetz die Latenz mit dem Buffer-Manager L4S deutlich. Das soll bald Echtzeit-Anwendungen beflügeln.​

🪧 Labor and Climate Must Unite. That’s Easier Said Than Done.
#politics…

Labor and Climate Must Unite. That’s Easier Said Than Done.
The idea that the labor and climate movements must unite for a Green New Deal is more popular than ever. To get it done, we'll need to take the threat of job loss seriously, finding and uplifting commonalities between climate goals and worker self-interest.

A labor of love (kinda hard analysis folks), my
#AtmosphericRivers research is in preprint
https://essopenarchive.org/doi/full/10.22541/essoar.170740747.70…

https://sanjosespotlight.com/will-san-jose-city-council-lose-its-labor-majority-election-2024/

Will San Jose council lose its labor majority? - San José Spotlight
Progressive and labor friendly politicians have enjoyed a majority on the San Jose City Council for the past two years, but the November elections may flip the balance.

Desperate for Workers but Dead Set Against Migrant Labor: The West Virginia Dilemma (Paul Kiernan/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/west-virginia-workers-migrants-jobs-0be74c9f
http://www.memeorandum.com/240508/p52#a240508p52

400 years too late but thanks… https://newsie.social/@TheConversationUS/112057134806039118

The Conversation U.S. (@TheConversationUS@newsie.social)
Attached: 1 image Researchers at Mississippi State have created a robot to pick cotton – something still done manually in several major cotton-producing countries. The great potential is that the robot could help reduce exploitative labor in places like China, India, Pakistan and Uzbekistan, where cotton is currently picked by hand, often by women and children and sometimes under abusive conditions. https://theconversation.com/our-robot-harvests-cotton-by-reaching-out-and-plucking-it-lik…

"Wird Deutschland unversicherbar?
Es stehen 336.000 Gebäude in Überschwemmungsgebieten
#Naturkatastrophen brechen wegen des Klimawandels immer häufiger über die Welt herein, werden intensiver und somit teurer. Auch in Deutschland: "#Jahrhundertfluten treten …

GDV: "336.000 Gebäude stehen in Überschwemmungsgebieten"
Naturkatastrophen brechen wegen des Klimawandels immer häufiger über die Welt herein, werden intensiver und somit teurer. Auch in Deutschland, sagt die stellvertretende GDV-Chefin im "Klima-Labor" von ntv. Das große Problem? Viele Häuser werden dort gebaut, wo sie zerstört wurden.

ACORN: Aspect-wise Commonsense Reasoning Explanation Evaluation
Ana Brassard, Benjamin Heinzerling, Keito Kudo, Keisuke Sakaguchi, Kentaro Inui
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.04818

ACORN: Aspect-wise Commonsense Reasoning Explanation Evaluation
Evaluating free-text explanations is a multifaceted, subjective, and labor-intensive task. Large language models (LLMs) present an appealing alternative due to their potential for consistency, scalability, and cost-efficiency. In this work, we present ACORN, a new dataset of 3,500 free-text explanations and aspect-wise quality ratings, and use it to gain insights into how LLMs evaluate explanations. We observed that replacing one of the human ratings sometimes maintained, but more often lowered…

President Biden says ‘union labor and American steel’ will be used to rebuild Baltimore bridge https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/apr/05/biden-israel-weapons-baltimore-visit-updates?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Othe…

All this highlights the increasing divergence between the UK and the US when it comes to labor rights. Under the Biden Administration, @NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo has promulgated a rule that grants a union *automatic* recognition if the boss does anything to interfere with a union election:
…

Amazing to see the #ILO finally taking #Uyghur forced #labor seriously. Knowing what I do about the organization, this is a huge shift and one that, I imagine, only happened due to the dedicated work of academics and acti…

Updated ILO Forced Labor Guidelines Directly Target Uyghur Forced Labor
Executive Summary: For first time since establishing its forced labor taskforce in 2001, the International Labour Organization (ILO) has issued authoritative and comprehensive guidance on operationalizing the research and measurement of forced labor, updating its more provisional guidelines from 2012. The new ILO Handbook adds a substantial new section on state-imposed forced labor, squarely targeting Beijing’s forced labor in Xinjiang …

Desperate for Workers but Dead Set Against Migrant Labor: The West Virginia Dilemma (Paul Kiernan/Wall Street Journal)
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/west-virginia-workers-migrants-jobs-0be74c9f
http://www.memeorandum.com/240508/p52#a240508p52

Gen Z: I don’t dream of labor.
Gen AI: My dreams are labor*.
*not labor at all, mostly stolen from actual labor, to replace actual labor with shit

Uncovering implementable dormant pruning decisions from three different stakeholder perspectives
Deanna Flynn, Abhinav Jain, Heather Knight, Cristina G. Wilson, Cindy Grimm
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.04030

Uncovering implementable dormant pruning decisions from three different stakeholder perspectives
Dormant pruning, or the removal of unproductive portions of a tree while a tree is not actively growing, is an important orchard task to help maintain yield, requiring years to build expertise. Because of long training periods and an increasing labor shortage in agricultural jobs, pruning could benefit from robotic automation. However, to program robots to prune branches, we first need to understand how pruning decisions are made, and what variables in the environment (e.g., branch size and thi…

Effect of State and Local Sexual Orientation Anti-Discrimination Laws on Labor Market Differentials
Scott Delhommer, Domonkos F. Vamossy
https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.03794

Effect of State and Local Sexual Orientation Anti-Discrimination Laws on Labor Market Differentials
This paper presents the first quasi-experimental research examining the effect of both local and state anti-discrimination laws on sexual orientation on the labor supply and wages of lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) workers. To do so, we use the American Community Survey data on household composition to infer sexual orientation and combine this with a unique panel dataset on local anti-discrimination laws. Using variation in law implementation across localities over time and between same-sex an…

Same story.
Left: WaPo headline
Right: NYT headline
The Times is correct on this one, as the Post admits grudgingly in the second paragraph of its story, which goes on to read like an editorial for cutting social security.

Europäische KI-Spezialisten: Von Google zu Apple
Apple baute laut einem Bericht der Financial Times ein "geheimes europäisches KI-Labor" in Zürich auf. Dort sollen Sprachmodelle und andere Produkte entstehen.

The Future of Office and Administrative Support Occupations in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: A Bibliometric Analysis
Priyadarshini R. Pennathur, Valerie Boksa, Arunkumar Pennathur, Andrew Kusiak, Beth Livingston
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.03808

The Future of Office and Administrative Support Occupations in the Era of Artificial Intelligence: A Bibliometric Analysis
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that by the year 2029, the United States will lose a million jobs in the office and administrative support occupations because technology, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to substitute or replace the office and administrative functions performed by office workers. Despite the potential impact AI will have on office work and the important role office workers play in the American economy, we have limited knowledge of the…

"It's a very silly book about a giant robot hotel, but it's also essentially a power fantasy about low-level service workers getting to punch out their boss with a robot and redefining their relationship to labor by flying off into space. Basically, it's high literature." https://mastodon.cl…

Can't believe that today 105 years ago they invented labor. Happy birthday labor!!

Not everyone is impressed with the announcement that the Australian government is funding quantum computing development. #auspol https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/04/30/labor

Labor reduces transparency to the quantum level in deal with US firm
The deal to invest $940 million in a Californian quantum computer company is marked by plenty of secrecy and no clarity on the case for the spending.

✊🏾 Seven Lessons from Starbucks Workers’ Historic Victory
#labor

Seven Lessons from Starbucks Workers’ Historic Victory
The entire labor movement should wake up and pay attention to the lessons from Starbucks workers’ victory this week.

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.04190 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_ees…

SegmentAnything helps microscopy images based automatic and quantitative organoid detection and analysis
Organoids are self-organized 3D cell clusters that closely mimic the architecture and function of in vivo tissues and organs. Quantification of organoid morphology helps in studying organ development, drug discovery, and toxicity assessment. Recent microscopy techniques provide a potent tool to acquire organoid morphology features, but manual image analysis remains a labor and time-intensive process. Thus, this paper proposes a comprehensive pipeline for microscopy analysis that leverages the S…

#Windkraftausbau in MV: Ein bürokratischer Alptraum? In Mecklenburg-Vorpommern verhindern lange #Genehmigungsverfahren den Bau von #Windkraftanlagen, während ein

"Klima-Labor": Wie ein Amt den Windkraft-Ausbau in MV verhindert
Deutschlandweit sind gut 30 sogenannte Untätigkeitsklagen wegen verschleppter Genehmigungen für den Bau von Windkraftanlagen bekannt. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern sticht mit 19 Klagen hervor. Im Gespräch mit ntv.de schildert ein Betroffener die systematische Blockade der Behörden.

Dynamic Workforce Scheduling and Relocation in Hyperconnected Parcel Logistic Hubs
Yujia Xu, Yiguo Liu, Benoit Montreuil
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.04785 h…

Dynamic Workforce Scheduling and Relocation in Hyperconnected Parcel Logistic Hubs
With the development of e-commerce during the Covid-19 pandemic, one of the major challenges for many parcel logistics companies is to design reliable and flexible scheduling algorithms to meet uncertainties of parcel arrivals as well as manpower supplies in logistic hubs, especially for those depending on workforce greatly. Currently, most labor scheduling is periodic and limited to single facility, thus the number of required workers in each hub is constrained to meet the peak demand with hig…

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.14364 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_ees…

GreenScan: Towards large-scale terrestrial monitoring the health of urban trees using mobile sensing
Healthy urban greenery is a fundamental asset to mitigate climate change phenomena such as extreme heat and air pollution. However, urban trees are often affected by abiotic and biotic stressors that hamper their functionality, and whenever not timely managed, even their survival. While the current greenery inspection techniques can help in taking effective measures, they often require a high amount of human labor, making frequent assessments infeasible at city-wide scales. In this paper, we pr…

Worth saying again that Benjamin Netanyahu came to power in 1996 after encouraging the assassination of liberal Yitzhak Rabin.
That was, in effect, a rightwing coup.
Netanyahu is a modern fascist and working with him isn’t in American interests.
https://www.

Labor chief Michaeli: Rabin was assassinated with Netanyahu’s cooperation
Speaking ahead of anniversary of ex-PM's killing, minister singles out Likud leader and Ben Gvir for roles in incitement; Likud sources: She’s desperate to cross Knesset threshold

Trump has made no secret of his intentions.
Over the course of his campaign, he has outlined a radical program of protectionism, calling for a phaseout of all “essential goods” from China, as well as a ban on investments in China and on federal contracts for any company that outsources labor to China.
All of this would be concerning enough for American business. But Trump has also proposed a 10 percent tariff on all imported goods, which would amount to the declaration of a globa…

Why a Second Trump Term Could Be Bad for Corporate America
Despite his populist promises, many bigwigs are keeping the faith that it couldn’t really happen here.

It's amazing how often a series about "new ideas" lands on putting eighteen-year-olds into forced labor.

This https://arxiv.org/abs/1910.02170 has been replaced.
link: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=a

Donor's Deferral and Return Behavior: Partial Identification from a Regression Discontinuity Design with Manipulation
Volunteer labor can temporarily yield lower benefits to charities than its costs. In such instances, organizations may wish to defer volunteer donations to a later date. Exploiting a discontinuity in blood donations' eligibility criteria, we show that deferring donors reduces their future volunteerism. In our setting, medical staff manipulates donors' reported hemoglobin levels over a threshold to facilitate donation. Such manipulation invalidates standard regression discontinuity design. To ci…

Members of the iHeart Podcast Union file an unfair labor practice claim against iHeartMedia; the union represents around 100 producers, hosts, and others (Katie Kilkenny/The Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/b…

Podcast Workers File Unfair Labor Practice Charge Against iHeartMedia
Staffers who are unionized with the Writers Guild of America East are alleging that management has engaged in intimidating behavior and encroached on their rights to discuss their working conditions and their union during break periods.

Tens of Thousands of Workers in Florida Have Just Lost Their Labor Unions. More Is Coming | Portside
https://portside.org/2024-02-16/tens-thousands-workers-florida-have-just-lost-their-labor-unions-more-coming…

Tens of Thousands of Workers in Florida Have Just Lost Their Labor Unions. More Is Coming
In St. Johns County, on the Atlantic shore of Northeast Florida, more than 55% of public school teachers paid their union dues this last year. Despite that, nearly 3,500 teachers are facing the threat of having their union representation revoked. At the same time, in Southwest Florida, only 16% of law enforcement officers of the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office paid union dues last year. Their union is under absolutely no threat of being decertified.

ACORN: Aspect-wise Commonsense Reasoning Explanation Evaluation
Ana Brassard, Benjamin Heinzerling, Keito Kudo, Keisuke Sakaguchi, Kentaro Inui
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.04818

ACORN: Aspect-wise Commonsense Reasoning Explanation Evaluation
Evaluating free-text explanations is a multifaceted, subjective, and labor-intensive task. Large language models (LLMs) present an appealing alternative due to their potential for consistency, scalability, and cost-efficiency. In this work, we present ACORN, a new dataset of 3,500 free-text explanations and aspect-wise quality ratings, and use it to gain insights into how LLMs evaluate explanations. We observed that replacing one of the human ratings sometimes maintained, but more often lowered…

Six homeless people die every day on the streets of Los Angeles. Without cops enforcing private property rights we could solve this problem practically tomorrow. These people are killed by police just as surely as the people they gun down. This is in addition to the millions whose lives are shortened and immiserated by being forced to sell their labor to survive. These people are also killed by police.

All this highlights the increasing divergence between the UK and the US when it comes to labor rights. Under the Biden Administration, @NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo has promulgated a rule that grants a union *automatic* recognition if the boss does anything to interfere with a union election:
…

Technically also possible by swindling other billionaires.
Or even by broad shallow swindling of the upper middle class (Buffett’s trick.)
One can argue that those are just secondary abuse of labor. https://mindly.social/@ahumanbeinz/112390780633684289

RickNobodyBeinz (@ahumanbeinz@mindly.social)
Attached: 1 image

Sources: some US lawmakers are pushing for an import ban on goods sold on Temu, saying the company hasn't done enough to stop suppliers from using forced labor (The Information)
https://www.theinformation.com/articles/u-

U.S. Lawmakers Demand Temu Shipment Ban Over Forced Labor Concerns
A number of U.S. lawmakers are pushing for a ban on imports of goods sold on Temu, the fast-growing shopping site known for selling bargain products shipped from China, saying it hasn’t done enough to prevent its suppliers from using forced labor, two people with knowledge of the conversations ...

GigSense: An LLM-Infused Tool forWorkers' Collective Intelligence
Kashif Imteyaz, Claudia Flores-Saviaga, Saiph Savage
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.02528

GigSense: An LLM-Infused Tool forWorkers' Collective Intelligence
Collective intelligence among gig workers yields considerable advantages, including improved information exchange, deeper social bonds, and stronger advocacy for better labor conditions. Especially as it enables workers to collaboratively pinpoint shared challenges and devise optimal strategies for addressing these issues. However, enabling collective intelligence remains challenging, as existing tools often overestimate gig workers' available time and uniformity in analytical reasoning. To ove…

Europäische KI-Spezialisten: Von Google zu Apple
Apple baute laut einem Bericht der Financial Times ein "geheimes europäisches KI-Labor" in Zürich auf. Dort sollen Sprachmodelle und andere Produkte entstehen.

Around the country, #Republicans are pushing to make this legal so that companies can exploit more kids without risking fines or penalties.
https://www.

Kids as young as 14 were found working at a Tennessee factory that makes lawn mower parts for John Deere and others
Immigrant children as young as 14 were found working amid heavy equipment at a Tennessee firm that makes parts for lawn mowers sold by John Deere and others.

I recognize my hatred (yes, at this point it's hatred) towards "Generative AI" is making me biased and giving me tunnel vision, and I don't want that.
So, here's a question that perhaps might help me reduce my bias:
Is there *any use* of Generative AI that is:
a) respectful of labor (that is, not meant to ever replace workers)
AND
b) actually beneficial to humanity as a whole (as opposed to company bottom lines)
?
Boosts appreciated,…

US #labor #productivity has enjoyed a period of renewed growth over the past year,
interrupting a nearly twenty-year decline:
⭐️the 2.7 percent productivity growth in 2023 outpaces the 1.5 percent annual average since 2004,
🔥and it nearly matches the 2.9 percent pace seen during the country’s last pr…

In Brief: The Recent Rise in US Labor Productivity • The Aspen Institute Economic Strategy Group
BRIEFLY US labor productivity has enjoyed a period of renewed growth over the past year, interrupting a nearly twenty-year decline: the 2.7 percent productivity growth in 2023 outpaces the 1.5 percent annual average since 2004, and it nearly matches the 2.9 percent pace seen during the country’s last productivity surge in the 1990s. While the ...

Amazon pays $1.9 million to workers in Saudi Arabia harmed by labor abuses - ICIJ
https://www.icij.org/investigations/trafficking-inc/amazon-pays-1-9-million-to-workers-in-saudi-arabia-harmed-by-labor-a…

Amazon pays $1.9 million to workers in Saudi Arabia harmed by labor abuses - ICIJ
Payments come after the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and its media partners exposed exploitation of Asian migrant workers who labored at Amazon’s Saudi operations.

Honestly, I’d actually find it more honest if companies were up-front about the labor pool they use for their “automation”.
It’s not a robotaxi; it’s a chauffeur service staffed by low-wage laborers. https://hachyderm.io/@thomasfuchs/112205278707780086

Thomas 🔭✨ (@thomasfuchs@hachyderm.io)
Attached: 1 image

The #NYTimesStrike asks:
Can a Tech Giant Be Woke?
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/25/busines…

Can a Tech Giant Be Woke?
Microsoft, once again a juggernaut thanks to artificial intelligence, wants to be seen as an ethical employer. Is there a catch?

🦋 A Great Labor Explosion: Will Auto Workers Unionize in Trump Country?
#labor…

A Great Labor Explosion: Will Auto Workers Unionize in Trump Country?
Workers at a Volkwagon factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, are now voting on whether to join the United Auto Workers (UAW). Is this the restart of a unionized nation?

U.S. fines manufacturer for employing kids to operate heavy machinery - The Washington Post
https://www.

Tennessee company fined $300,000 for hiring kids to run heavy machinery
Tuff Torq also must set aside $1.5 million in profits for the 10 underage workers, the Labor Department announced.

Oft sind es viele kleine Schritte an vielen kleinen Orten, die die Welt verbessern. In dieser Öko-Trenn-#Toilette von #Finizio an der #RummelsburgerBucht in

Evaluating Large Language Models for Structured Science Summarization in the Open Research Knowledge Graph
Vladyslav Nechakhin, Jennifer D'Souza, Steffen Eger
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.02105

Evaluating Large Language Models for Structured Science Summarization in the Open Research Knowledge Graph
Structured science summaries or research contributions using properties or dimensions beyond traditional keywords enhances science findability. Current methods, such as those used by the Open Research Knowledge Graph (ORKG), involve manually curating properties to describe research papers' contributions in a structured manner, but this is labor-intensive and inconsistent between the domain expert human curators. We propose using Large Language Models (LLMs) to automatically suggest these proper…

Nice overview about LLMs for data annotation including paper references of papers with open source code & data.
Zhen Tan et al, Large Language Models for Data Annotation: A Survey, https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.13446

Biden wants union labor to rebuild the Baltimore bridge. That could touch off a fight (Franco Ordoñez/NPR)
https://npr.org/2024/04/05/1243143015/biden-baltimore-bridge-funding
http://www.memeorandum.com/240406/p19#a240406p19

So I posted a direct link to an article (I just searched for a site that had a copy of the CNN article that wasn’t VIA Apple News which not everyone has access to.
I think he thinks that’s “stealing it”!?! LOL
It’s a CNN article, my dude. Here’s the actual CNN link for good measure rather than stealing via Apple (I know, Apple pays to distribute these articles, so I’m just mocking him at this point.)

Zero-shot LLM-guided Counterfactual Generation for Text
Amrita Bhattacharjee, Raha Moraffah, Joshua Garland, Huan Liu
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.04793 http…

Zero-shot LLM-guided Counterfactual Generation for Text
Counterfactual examples are frequently used for model development and evaluation in many natural language processing (NLP) tasks. Although methods for automated counterfactual generation have been explored, such methods depend on models such as pre-trained language models that are then fine-tuned on auxiliary, often task-specific datasets. Collecting and annotating such datasets for counterfactual generation is labor intensive and therefore, infeasible in practice. Therefore, in this work, we f…

Unter Druck gesetzt - Corona-Forscher darf nicht mehr in sein Labor #News #Nachrichten

"Australia could reach an ‘ambitious’ emissions cut of up to 75% by 2035, advisers tell Labor"
#Australia #Emissions

> Taken together, PACER and PRESS would save Pennsylvania ratepayers $252 million over the next five years, create 14,500 jobs, and once again position Pennsylvania as a leader in the energy industry.
Go Governor Shapiro!!
https://triblive.com…

Gov. Josh Shapiro: My commonsense plan for a new era of energy leadership in Pa.
Pennsylvania’s energy industry has long created good-paying jobs and ensured consumers have reliable, affordable power. The coal mines and oil fields of Northeastern and Western Pennsylvania fueled the Industrial Revolution, which powered the middle class and led to the creation of the American labor movement. When fascism threatened freedom overseas,

Belgium-based Robovision, which offers AI-based no-code computer vision tools to businesses, raised a $42M Series A co-led by Astanor Ventures and Target Global (Anna Heim/TechCrunch)
https://techcrunch.com/2024/04/05/robovision-computer-vision-belgium/

Belgian computer vision startup Robovision eyes U.S. expansion to address labor shortages | TechCrunch
Robovision has raised $42M to industrialize deep learning tools and make them more accessible to businesses that are not tech companies at their core.

Union members strike at Gannett's Desert Sun, calling for a fair labor contract and saying they've been denied regular cost-of-living raises for three years (@tdsnewsguild)
https://twitter.com/tdsnewsguild/status/1763581208070607034

Desert Sun NewsGuild is on strike! (@TDSNewsGuild) on X
It's official: As of 7 a.m. today, @TDSNewsGuild is now on strike!!! Taking this step is not easy. But after being denied any sort of regular cost of living raises for the last three years, we decided it's time to deny @Gannett our labor until a fair contract is reached!

Erste genomeditierte Babys: Forscher setzt umstrittene Arbeit fort
Vom Gefängnis zurück ins Labor: He Jiankui, der Forscher, der weltweit für Schlagzeilen sorgte, will Genom-Editing bei menschlichen Embryonen fortsetzen.

Zero-shot LLM-guided Counterfactual Generation for Text
Amrita Bhattacharjee, Raha Moraffah, Joshua Garland, Huan Liu
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.04793 http…

Zero-shot LLM-guided Counterfactual Generation for Text
Counterfactual examples are frequently used for model development and evaluation in many natural language processing (NLP) tasks. Although methods for automated counterfactual generation have been explored, such methods depend on models such as pre-trained language models that are then fine-tuned on auxiliary, often task-specific datasets. Collecting and annotating such datasets for counterfactual generation is labor intensive and therefore, infeasible in practice. Therefore, in this work, we f…

Members of Conference of Presidents (umbrella group of Jewish organizations), including Reform movement & Jewish Labor Committee, slam COP's statement criticizing Sen Schumer's speech on Gaza. http://www.jewishlabor.org/

Senator takes aim at Amazon's labor practices with federal quota bill
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/02/senator-takes-aim-at-amazons-labor-practices-with-federal-quota-bill.html

GigSense: An LLM-Infused Tool forWorkers' Collective Intelligence
Kashif Imteyaz, Claudia Flores-Saviaga, Saiph Savage
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.02528

GigSense: An LLM-Infused Tool forWorkers' Collective Intelligence
Collective intelligence among gig workers yields considerable advantages, including improved information exchange, deeper social bonds, and stronger advocacy for better labor conditions. Especially as it enables workers to collaboratively pinpoint shared challenges and devise optimal strategies for addressing these issues. However, enabling collective intelligence remains challenging, as existing tools often overestimate gig workers' available time and uniformity in analytical reasoning. To ove…

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.18759 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_csRO_…

Learning with Language-Guided State Abstractions
We describe a framework for using natural language to design state abstractions for imitation learning. Generalizable policy learning in high-dimensional observation spaces is facilitated by well-designed state representations, which can surface important features of an environment and hide irrelevant ones. These state representations are typically manually specified, or derived from other labor-intensive labeling procedures. Our method, LGA (language-guided abstraction), uses a combination of …

Traitor Joe’s sure has been doing a lot of recalls lately. Maybe if they valued labor, they wouldn’t have so much contaminated food?
They should spend less money trying to sue the NLRB out of existence and more money making their products safe.
https://…

A profile of MIT labor economist David Autor, an unlikely AI optimist who says AI may help restore "the middle-skill, middle-class heart of the US labor market" (Steve Lohr/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.…

How One Tech Skeptic Decided AI Might Benefit the Middle Class
David Autor, an M.I.T. economist and tech contrarian, argues that A.I. is fundamentally different from past waves of computerization.

I recognize my hatred (yes, at this point it's hatred) towards "Generative AI" is making me biased and giving me tunnel vision, and I don't want that.
So, here's a question that perhaps might help me reduce my bias:
Is there *any use* of Generative AI that is:
a) respectful of labor (that is, not meant to ever replace workers)
AND
b) actually beneficial to humanity as a whole (as opposed to company bottom lines)
?
Boosts appreciated,…

This https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.02124 has been replaced.
initial toot: https://mastoxiv.page/@arXiv_csCL_…

Exploring Automated Distractor Generation for Math Multiple-choice Questions via Large Language Models
Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) are ubiquitous in almost all levels of education since they are easy to administer, grade, and are a reliable format in assessments and practices. One of the most important aspects of MCQs is the distractors, i.e., incorrect options that are designed to target common errors or misconceptions among real students. To date, the task of crafting high-quality distractors largely remains a labor and time-intensive process for teachers and learning content designers, w…

Today offered yet more evidence that🔸 Biden’s rejection of the Republicans’ supply-side economics🔸
-- in favor of investing in ordinary Americans
-- is paying off with #high #growth, #low

April 5, 2024
Today offered yet more evidence that Biden’s rejection of the Republicans’ supply-side economics in favor of investing in ordinary Americans is paying off with high growth, low unemployment, and strong wages. Today’s jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor for the month of March showed higher job growth than analysts anticipated. Instead of the 214,000 jobs expected, the U.S. added 303,000. The government also revised its estimate of job growth in January and February upward by a co…

U.S. fines manufacturer for employing kids to operate heavy machinery - The Washington Post
https://www.

Tennessee company fined $300,000 for hiring kids to run heavy machinery
Tuff Torq also must set aside $1.5 million in profits for the 10 underage workers, the Labor Department announced.

Demographic Dynamics and Artificial Intelligence: Challenges and Opportunities in Europe and Africa for 2050
Mohamed El Louadi
https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.03935

Demographic Dynamics and Artificial Intelligence: Challenges and Opportunities in Europe and Africa for 2050
This paper explores the complex relationship between demographics and artificial intelligence (AI) advances in Europe and Africa, projecting into the year 2050. The advancement of AI technologies has occurred at diverse rates, with Africa lagging behind Europe. Moreover, the imminent economic consequences of demographic shifts require a more careful examination of immigration patterns, with Africa emerging as a viable labor pool for European countries. However, within these dynamics, questions …

Interest in policy interventions to protect journalism is exploding, but industry gatherings keep failing to include journalism labor advocates as strikes grow (Matt Pearce)
https://mattdpearce.substack.com/p/journalisms-visionary-leaders-and
<…

Journalism's visionary leaders and the voices missing from the room
Somebody is missing from the upcoming International Symposium on Online Journalism in Austin, Texas.

"Australia could reach an ‘ambitious’ emissions cut of up to 75% by 2035, advisers tell Labor"
#Australia #Emissions

An NLRB judge finds Amazon CEO Andy Jassy violated US labor law with his comments in 2022 suggesting workers would be "less empowered" if they voted in a union (Annie Palmer/CNBC)
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/05/01/amazon-ceo

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's union comments violated labor laws, NLRB says
https://qz.com/amazon-ceos-anti-union-comments-threatened-employees-an-1851451854

Amazon CEO's anti-union comments 'threatened' employees and violated labor laws, judge rules
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in 2022 that a union would make the company less efficient

Interest in policy interventions to protect journalism is exploding, but industry gatherings keep failing to include journalism labor advocates as strikes grow (Matt Pearce)
https://mattdpearce.substack.com/p/journalisms-visionary-leaders-and
<…

Journalism's visionary leaders and the voices missing from the room
Somebody is missing from the upcoming International Symposium on Online Journalism in Austin, Texas.

#Amazon spent more than $3 million on #anti-#union consultants last year in its continuing effort to keep organized labor out of its delivery network, according to disclosures filed Saturday with the Labor Department.
The Seattle-based…

Amazon Spent $3.1 Million On Anti-Union Consultants In 2023
The company’s labor battles have been a bonanza for a handful of “persuaders” who undermine union organizing efforts.

In a letter to the US Labor Department, Google says the US could lose out on valuable AI and tech talent if some of its immigration policies are not modernized (Emilia David/The Verge)
https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/1/24146053/google-ai-talent-i…

Google urges US to update immigration rules to attract more AI talent
Google says the Department of Labor should consider updating Schedule A, a list of jobs considered scarce that expedites immigration, to include AI.

Jiankui hat angeblich drei Labore in China eingerichtet, unter anderem in Peking und Wuhan, und will sowohl nationale als auch internationale Regeln einhalten.
Zum Artikel: https://heise.de/-9672027?wt_mc=sm.red.ho.mas…

Starbucks Stops Opposing Its Baristas' Union (Harold Meyerson/American Prospect)
https://prospect.org/labor/2024-02-27-starbucks-stops-opposing-baristas-union-master-contract/
http://www.memeorandum.com/240227/p101#a240227p101

A Great Labor Explosion: Will Auto Workers Unionize in Trump Country?
https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/a-great-labor-explosion-will-auto

A Great Labor Explosion: Will Auto Workers Unionize in Trump Country?
Workers at a Volkwagon factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, are now voting on whether to join the United Auto Workers (UAW). Is this the restart of a unionized nation?

‘No way’: US labor watchdog refuses to bow to SpaceX, Amazon and Starbucks
Jennifer Abruzzo, the NLRB general counsel, accused some of the US’s largest corporations of “jumping on the bandwagon” in mounting legal challenges to the labor watchdog, which has found itself at the center of the ongoing battle between the companies and a wave of unionizing efforts by workers.
Attorneys representing Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Amazon, Trader Joe’s and Starbucks have all argued in recent months …

Journalists at Hearst's San Antonio Express-News and MySA.com say they intend to unionize, becoming the fourth Texas newsroom to announce a union effort in 2024 (Josh Peck/TPR)
https://www.tpr.org/economy-and-labor/2…

San Antonio Express-News, MySA.com journalists announce union; fourth Texas newsroom in 2024
The newsroom joins the San Antonio Report, the Texas Tribune, and Houston Landing in unionization efforts.

Sources: TSMC and Intel suppliers have delayed construction of facilities in Arizona, citing surging construction costs, a labor shortage, and weak local demand (Nikkei Asia)
https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Technolo…

TSMC, Intel suppliers delay U.S. plants on surging costs, labor crunch
At least 5 chemical makers slow expansion as industry awaits CHIPS Act funds

Amazon, SpaceX, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s have all responded to allegations that they have violated labor laws with the same bold argument. The National Labor Relations Board, they assert in several ongoing legal proceedings, is unconstitutional.
SpaceX, for example, says that the NLRB is engaging in “an unlawful attempt … to subject Space X to an administrative proceeding whose structure violates Article II, the Fifth Amendment, and the Seventh Amendment of the Constitution of the Uni…

Amazon, SpaceX And Others Are Arguing That The NLRB Is Actually Unconstitutional
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation. Amazon, SpaceX, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s have all responded to…

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) spending $200M to help Biden win reelection | The Hill
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4531832-labor-union-spending-200m-to-help-biden-win-reelection/

Labor union spending $200M to help Biden win reelection
A top labor union announced Wednesday that it will be spending $200 million to help President Biden win reelection. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) announced a “massive drive” to mobilize working class voters of color in battleground states to back pro-labor candidates, including Biden. The SEIU represents about 2 million members across service industries, including…

Journalists at Hearst's San Antonio Express-News and MySA.com say they intend to unionize, becoming the fourth Texas newsroom to announce a union effort in 2024 (Josh Peck/TPR)
https://www.tpr.org/economy-and-labor/2…

San Antonio Express-News, MySA.com journalists announce union; fourth Texas newsroom in 2024
The newsroom joins the San Antonio Report, the Texas Tribune, and Houston Landing in unionization efforts.

Court filing: Amazon claims the NLRB is unconstitutional, after the agency said Amazon illegally retaliated against workers; SpaceX has made a similar claim (Noam Scheiber/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/15/business/economy/amazon-labor-n…

Amazon Argues National Labor Relations Board Is Unconstitutional
The company made the novel claim, echoing arguments by SpaceX and Trader Joe’s, in a legal filing while fighting a case.

Court filing: Amazon claims the NLRB is unconstitutional, after the agency said Amazon illegally retaliated against workers; SpaceX has made a similar claim (Noam Scheiber/New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/15/business/economy/amazon-labor-n…

Amazon Argues National Labor Relations Board Is Unconstitutional
The company made the novel claim, echoing arguments by SpaceX and Trader Joe’s, in a legal filing while fighting a case.

Financial professionals should be required to handle our retirement money with the utmost care, putting investors’ interests first.
But that type of care comes in degrees, and deciding exactly how far advisers should go has been the center of heated debate for nearly 15 years,
pitting financial industry stakeholders, who argue their existing regulatory framework is enough,
against the U.S. Labor Department, the retirement plan regulator, which says there are gaping holes.

Labor Department Proposes New Fiduciary Rule to Protect Investors
The Labor Department’s latest push for a new fiduciary rule would protect investors’ retirement savings and require financial services providers to change.

Major US corporations threaten to return labor to ‘law of the jungle’
Upset by the surge in union drives, several of the best-known corporations in the US are seeking to cripple the country’s top labor watchdog, the National Labor Relations Board ( #NLRB ), by having it declared #unconstitutional.
Som…

Tennessee Company Accused of Using Child Labor to Clean Slaughterhouses
https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2024-02-21/tennessee-company-accused-of-using-child-labor-to-clean-slaughterhouses…

Reddit's S-1 shows how dependent the site is on the unpaid labor of 60K active daily moderators and the whims of its users and subreddits like r/WallStreetBets (Dave Lee/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles

Reddit IPO: Company's Biggest Risk Is Its Reliance on Unpredictable Users
The company’s IPO prospectus makes clear how dependent it is on unpaid labor and the whims of its community.

Reddit's S-1 shows how dependent the site is on the unpaid labor of 60K active daily moderators and the whims of its users and subreddits like r/WallStreetBets (Dave Lee/Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles

Reddit IPO: Company's Biggest Risk Is Its Reliance on Unpredictable Users
The company’s IPO prospectus makes clear how dependent it is on unpaid labor and the whims of its community.

AI has the potential to ease the US meat industry's labor vulnerability by letting robots perform some of the high precision tasks required to butcher meat (Bloomberg)
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-…

AI Is Helping Automate One of the World’s Most Gruesome Jobs
Advances in computer vision and machine learning allow robots to perform some of the high precision tasks required to butcher beef and chicken.