Work Reform

The U.K. is considering joining a host of other European countries in making it more costly for restless employers to contact their employees after the working day ends.

The country’s fresh-faced Labour government is drafting legislation that would outlaw late-night WhatsApps, emails, and Slacks and potentially fine dissenting bosses heftily.

While commonplace across Europe, legislation giving workers a “right to disconnect” has lagged behind in the U.K., but now might become more European if reported changes to work culture are implemented.

It is soo good. A tech company i just got offer from. In their onboarding app, they let me join the union on the first day.

This is what you see in the company with strong union.

Paywall removed: https://archive.is/dHH7a

Tax The Rich

European Citizens' Initiative We want a European wealth tax to finance the social and climate transition and help countries hit by climate change.

Paywall removed: https://archive.is/Gsm0k

Earlier this year I got fired and replaced by a robot. And the managers who made the decision didn't tell me – or anyone else affected by the change – that it was happening.

The gig I lost started as a happy and profitable relationship with Cosmos Magazine – Australia's rough analog of New Scientist. I wrote occasional features and a column that appeared every three weeks in the online edition.

It didn't. In February – just days after I'd submitted a column – I and all other freelancers for Cosmos received an email informing us that no more submissions would be accepted.

It's a rare business that can profitably serve both science and the public, and Cosmos was no exception: I understand it was kept afloat with financial assistance. When that funding ended, Cosmos ran into trouble.

Accepting the economic realities of our time, I mourned the loss of a great outlet for my more scientific investigations, and moved on.

It turns out that wasn't quite the entire story, though. Six months later, on August 8, a friend texted with news from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In summary (courtesy of the ABC):

Cosmos Magazine used a grant to build a 'custom AI service' to generate articles for its website.

The AI service relied on content from contributors who were not consulted about the project and, as freelancers, retained copyright over their work.

Contributors, former editors and a former CEO, including two co-founders, have criticized the publishing decision.

Cosmos had been caught out using generative AI to compose articles for its website – and using a grant from a nonprofit that runs Australia's most prestigious journalism awards to do it. That's why my work – writing articles for that website – had so suddenly vanished.

Starbucks plans to pay incoming CEO Brian Niccol $10 million in cash and $75 million in equity awards when he joins the company from Chipotle. Niccol will be paid a base salary of $1.6 million annually, with the opportunity to earn up to $7.2 million more in cash.