New Apps Empower Workers, but Some Employers Are Wary

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Pay per view. I'll get it.

That's the print edition title. Online:

Apps Empower Workers, Ease Scheduling

Technology enables sharing of job-related information; employers watch warily

By Lauren Weber

[email protected]
@laurenweberwsj

Jan. 3, 2017 10:00 a.m. ET

Around 10 times a day, Sharon Padilla opens the Shyft app on her smartphone, usually to find extra hours at the Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. restaurant in Southern California where she works as a server. ... With the app, Ms. Padilla and her co-workers can view their schedules and swap shifts when they've got a scheduling conflict or need extra work.

Shyft is one of a new breed of smartphone apps that are putting technology directly into the hands of workers and allowing them to share information, make schedule changes, report labor violations and potentially organize for change. Employers are watching such apps warily, in some cases allowing workers to download them but not expressly endorsing them, and in other cases, as with a new app for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. associates, actively discouraging their use.
....

Manuel Castro's New York-based organization, New Immigrant Community Empowerment, is testing Jornaler@, an app that allows day laborers to record their hours and wages. "People understand what sharing means now. They share their status, interests, wants, needs," he said. "What else can they share? And what else can we share with them, like information about labor rights?"

Users of Jornaler@, which means laborer in Spanish, can upload photos of license plates and work permits posted at construction sites to capture details about employers. The data can be used to file claims for wage theft, a widespread problem for day laborers, and alert others about unsafe working conditions, or determine whether an employer's wages are in line with the local market. ... Developers and worker advocates say the apps substitute the kind of intermediary role unions once played.

[Sherman A1]

1. Anything that helps employees is a good thing, but

I don't accept the argument that "Developers and worker advocates say the apps substitute the kind of intermediary role unions once played." as stated in the article.

[Warpy]

2. " the apps substitute the kind of intermediary role unions once played. " Exactly

which is why bossmen hate them, they can't be petty tyrants and screw over workers they don't like or know they'll never be able to fuck, or just screw them all over because that's the only way they can feel powerful.