Austin, TX
YouTube Music workers laid off while speaking before Austin, Texas city council
On February 29, Google laid off its entire YouTube Music team of workers while they were speaking before a televised city council meeting in Austin, Texas. The workers were responsible for curating themed playlists and reviewing song metadata in support of the YouTube Music group. They worked for Google contractor Cognizant, although a court recently ruled that they were co-employed by Google.
The workers were active in the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU-CWA), informally known as the Google Union, which includes 1,400 workers across the US. They voted to join the AWU-CWA in April of last year and were particularly active against Google’s decision to end remote work. While Cognizant claims the layoffs were simply due to the end of their contract with Google, it is highly likely they were targeted for organizing against the tech giant.
However, the firings also come in the context of a massive jobs bloodbath across the global economy but concentrated particularly in the technology sector, which has laid off more than 310,000 people since the start of 2023, according to layoffs.fyi. Google alone has announced more than 13,000 layoffs, including 3,500 contractors from YouTube from Cognizant and Accenture in May of last year.
In January of this year Google announced it was laying off hundreds of workers in its Augmented Reality division, which produces hardware such as Google Pixel phones and Fitbit smart watches, as well as its personal assistant division.
No doubt, Google is hoping to automate the work done by human curators through new artificial intelligence technologies. Music analytics has been increasingly automated with artificial intelligence being used extensively at big name music streamers, such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube and Sound Cloud.
Google has committed to investing $2 billion into the OpenAI competitor Anthropic, according to CNBC news. In January Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced that the company would “remove layers [of its workforce]” in order to free up funds for “investing in … [the company’s] big priorities.” This follows its December 2023 launch of its AI chatbot Gemini, which was intended to be the “biggest upgrade yet” to its AI chatbot Bard.
Cognizant is a multinational information technology company based in India and was first founded in 1994. It had a net income of $2.29 billion in 2022 and employs over 300,000 employees globally, 200,000 of which are in India. It has units throughout Europe, China, the Philippines, Latin America and elsewhere. It ranked 194 on the Fortune 500 list for 2022.
Cognizant has contracts with large corporations, such as Nike, the Volkswagen Group, Microsoft, with whom it is working to “infuse generative AI into healthcare administration,” according to the company.
It has also established its own “Advanced Artificial Intelligence Lab” in San Francisco, which, according to its website, “will focus on advancing the science and practice of AI through innovation and development of intellectual property and AI-enablement technologies.” The lab is part of Cognizant’s announcement last year to invest $1 billion in “generative AI.”
According to the AWU-CWA, workers at YouTube Music make as little as $19 an hour with minimal benefits. Many are forced to work multiple jobs to make ends meet.
Jack Benedict, a YouTube data analyst and member of the Alphabet Workers Union, noted that YouTube Music workers had struck last year in opposition to YouTube’s “return-to-office” policy, which threatened the jobs of remote workers who did not live near the office. Benedict added that in September they launched an Unfair Labor Practices strike over YouTube’s refusal to bargain with the union. Google still refuses to negotiate a contract despite an NLRB ruling that this violates US labor law.
The city council passed a non-binding resolution calling for Google and Cognizant to negotiate with the YouTube Music Content Operations Team. The workers, who planned to stay and celebrate the passage of the resolution, instead had to go to their offices to retrieve their belongings.
As of this writing, the CWA has made no reference to the highly provocative firings on its website. Their Facebook page merely re-posted a release from the Alphabet Workers Facebook page without comment.
Cognizant has claimed that this was a routine contract expiration, that workers are still Cognizant employees, and that workers would receive seven weeks of paid time to “explore other roles within the organization.” It claimed the timing of the contract expiry was “purely coincidental.”
A Google spokesperson made similar claims. The far more likely explanation is that the company was making an example of the workers for their participation in last year’s strikes.
But in spite of the courage shown by Google workers, the CWA is concerned only with developing the same incestuous ties with management as it has long held at traditionally unionized workplaces. The bureaucracy has routinely sold out major strikes by telecommunications workers, including in 2016 at Verizon and last year at AT&T.
In recent years, the CWA has expanded its presence among tech workers and software developers. One major beachhead in the video game industry was established with the founding of the Game Workers Alliance, which has a significant presence at game publisher Activision Blizzard.
The CWA shut down a strike at one of the company’s subsidiaries in January of 2022. It then endorsed Microsoft’s takeover bid for Activision Blizzard in return for a neutrality agreement that it would not deter the union’s organizing efforts. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced it would cut 1,900 jobs at Activision Blizzard.
The World Socialist Web Site opposes the firings at YouTube Music and demands the workers be immediately reinstated. But in order to wage a serious fight against job cuts, workers must enforce democratic control over their struggle and fight any attempts at a sellout by the union bureaucracy through rank-and-file committees.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — As flood threats continue across parts of South Central Texas, Austin Pets Alive! has activated emergency response efforts to support animal shelters affected by the inclement weather.
In a social media post, APA! wrote, “We began offering aid last night, working to secure fosters for 10 dogs in the Castroville shelter, an open-air shelter that sits at the bottom of a valley.”
APA! said the situation escalated overnight with additional shelters reporting flooding. One shelter confirmed that floodwaters reached its facility, APA! added.
Communities overwhelmed due to weather include Uvalde, Castroville and Sabinal.
The nonprofit is asking the Austin community to foster, adopt or donate to free up capacity for animals displaced by the disaster. APA! needs to clear out its facilities to assist the animals in need of shelter.
Here are ways you can help:
- Adopt: APA! is offering a “Name Your Own Adoption Fee” on all animals.
- Foster: The shelter is seeking foster homes for a minimum of three weeks.
- Donate: Proceeds will fund vans and response teams setting up a staging and triage center at the heart of the disaster zone, along with an expanded stockpile of preventatives, PPE and additional supplies.
If you would like to donate, click here.
AUSTIN, Texas — With heavy rain expected across parts of Central Texas this week and flooding top of mind, the city of Austin is proposing to put more money toward flood mitigation improvements in next year’s budget.
The proposal would invest in new flood infrastructure, add staff, and help move flood mitigation projects forward, according to city leaders. Austin City Councilmember Ryan Alter said the investments are aimed at keeping the city prepared for future flooding.
Residents who live near waterways say they have seen how quickly conditions can change. David Haderspeck, who lives near Shoal Creek, said the creek “fills up pretty fast” and “gets a lot higher than you’d expect.” He said he has watched the water rise dramatically after rain.
“I’ve seen it come up probably 10 to 15 feet to the ordinary high-water mark,” he said.
This week, parts of Central Texas, including the Hill Country, are expected to get heavy downpours. While Austin is not expecting the same impacts as parts of the Hill Country, leaders said the city is using this year’s budget planning to continue investing in flood safety.
Alter said the city has the expertise to address flooding risks but needs to follow through on projects.
ALSO| Central Texas urged to prepare as heavy rainfall sits in forecast over next two days
“We have the experts. We just have to put the plans into practice, and that’s what we’re doing in this budget,” he said.
Under the budget proposal, the city would provide about $134.5 million for the Drainage Utility Fund, which helps pay for flood mitigation, drainage infrastructure and watershed protection efforts.
Alter said the proposal would shift more of the funding balance toward building new infrastructure.
“What we’re going to do is shift that balance a little bit more to building new infrastructure so that when we do have large flooding events, we’ve got that infrastructure in place to keep people safe,” he said.
The proposal also adds staff and invests in both new and existing flood mitigation projects across the city.
Asked whether the proposed investments would be enough moving forward, Alter said, “I do…I think we’re doing the right thing and just making sure that our residents have the infrastructure to stay safe.”
Alter said heavy rain cannot be prevented, but the city’s goal is to have infrastructure in place to help keep people safe when it happens.
FILE – LinkedIn logos are displayed on an iPhone and computer screen. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Attorney General’s office has opened an investigation into LinkedIn over allegations that the professional networking platform misleads consumers with advertising and profiting from misleading or fake job listings, otherwise known as “ghost jobs.”
LinkedIn investigation
In this photo illustration a Linkedin logo seen displayed on a mobile phone. (Photo Illustration by Stanislav Kogiku/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
What we know:
Texas announced on Tuesday it has issued a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) seeking documents, data and internal communications related to LinkedIn’s advertising, marketing, job listing verification practices and its Premium subscription services.
The investigation centers on whether LinkedIn violated Texas’ consumer protection laws by promoting paid subscription services while allegedly failing to disclose that some job listings on the platform may not actually be representative of hiring opportunities.
What is a ‘ghost job’?
An image of a woman holding a cell phone in front of a LinkedIn logo displayed on a computer screen. On Tuesday, January 12, 2021, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Dig deeper:
LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft and the world’s largest professional networking platform, with more than 1 billion registered users worldwide.
A “ghost job” generally refers to a position advertised online that either is no longer available or that an employer has no immediate intention of filling. The attorney general’s office cited independent studies estimating that ghost jobs account for between one-fifth and one-third of online job postings.
Texas AG targets Premium Subscription Fees
Photographer: Mark Felix/Bloomberg via Getty Images
What they’re saying:
According to the office of the attorney general, LinkedIn does not independently verify the hiring status of most job listings on its platform. Ken Paxton’s office alleges that the company’s marketing for its Premium subscription services does not disclose that a significant number of postings could be inactive, unfilled or not reflect genuine employment opportunity.
“I will use every resource available to my office to help job-seeking Texans find and secure real employment opportunities,” Paxton said in a statement. “LinkedIn has a duty to provide the services it advertises and ensure that consumers paying for Premium subscriptions are receiving access to legitimate job postings.”
Texas officials said LinkedIn’s Premium Career and Premium Business subscriptions cost about $39.99 and $69.99 per month, respectively, and are marketed to jobseekers looking to improve their employment prospects.
What’s next:
The investigation does not include any formal allegations of wrongdoing, and no lawsuit has been filed.
The Source: Information in this article was provided by the Texas Attorney General’s Office.
-
Utah57 seconds agoMuslim man stabbed at Utah mall over his religion, authorities say
-
Vermont7 minutes agoBen & Jerry’s Foundation says it will shut down amid legal dispute with parent company – VTDigger
-
Virginia13 minutes agoDrought emergency declared for parts of Virginia; governor warns of water restrictions
-
Washington19 minutes agoTrump fires WA US Attorney within an hour
-
Wisconsin25 minutes agoWisconsin Lottery Powerball, Pick 3 results for July 15, 2026
-
West Virginia31 minutes agoConcerned West Virginians speak out against proposed Monongalia County power plant – WV MetroNews
-
Wyoming37 minutes agoJuly 15 recap: Wyoming news you may have missed today
-
Crypto43 minutes agoLuno Pushes South Africa to Rewrite Crypto Rules Through Parliament, Not Proclamation
