Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

John Chadfield

@joxn.bsky.social

It's really hard to frame improvements to workers rights as a scary thing, but bless them The Economist will give it a shot. www.economist.com/britain/2026...

Britain’s trade-union laws are returning to the 1970s

Union bosses intend to use their new freedoms

www.economist.com

February 8, 2026 at 11:38 AM

Reposted by John Chadfield

ASLEF

@aslefunion.bsky.social

📢 The Tories are trying to amend the Railways Bill to remove workers' right to strike.

They want to IMPOSE minimum service levels on the railway and REPEAL provisions in the Employment Rights Act 2025.

We're lobbying to ensure their ridiculous, anti-worker amendments don't become law.

Grainy VHS image of Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch with text reading: "...did someone hit rewind? The Tories are trying to curtail your right to strike. Again."

February 6, 2026 at 2:00 PM

John Chadfield

@joxn.bsky.social

Yer da uses AI on LinkedIn

February 5, 2026 at 11:28 AM

Reposted by John Chadfield

Alex Hanna

@alexhanna.bsky.social

Meta now forcing all employees to use AI tools and tying it to employee performance, according to @theinformation.com.

HR said "this is not an activity tracker—it’s an impact-evidence starter"

That's a fun way to rebrand workplace surveillance.

Businesses such as Microsoft are increasingly nudging their employees to utilize AI to get more done. Others are forcing the issue.

One of the biggest firms to take the more aggressive path is Meta Platforms, which at the end of December had 78,865 employees.

At a companywide meeting last month, Meta leaders briefed employees on a new performance review and bonus system closely tied to their AI usage, according to a recording of the meeting.

For instance, the company’s AI-powered performance tracker, Checkpoint, looks at how many lines of code are generated by software engineers using AI tools, along with over 200 other data points. They include the number of errors or bugs associated with engineers’ code; the amount of code an engineer wrote themselves without AI.

Checkpoint is supposed to reduce the time it takes to prepare performance reviews, according to the meeting recording. It uses data from tools employees already use, such as Google Workspace to provide a summary of an employee’s work.

“To be clear, this is not an activity tracker—it’s an impact-evidence starter,” said one HR leader during the meeting. Managers then evaluate employees’ impact based on these checkpoint summaries and assign a rating.

To help employees accomplish such goals, Meta has expanded their access to AI models made by other firms, such as Google’s Gemini 3 Pro and OpenAI’s GPT-5, alongside Meta’s own Llama models. Employees use such models for coding and other tasks.

February 4, 2026 at 12:49 PM

Reposted by John Chadfield

Alex Hanna

@alexhanna.bsky.social

Ah, from a company that is ignoring an upswing of organizing baristas, we have: chatbots

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 13d

“The company is trialling an AI-powered chatbot, which can help match drinks with customer moods, and is introducing the ability to schedule orders in a bid to reduce customer waits.”

Starbucks bets on robots to brew a turnaround and win customers

Chief executive Brian Niccol explains why he thinks AI will help the coffee giant regain its buzz.

www.bbc.com

February 2, 2026 at 4:10 PM

Reposted by John Chadfield

Phil McDuff

@mcduff.bsky.social

These are just some kids trying to live their lives. They ought not to be hungry like this. Their parents ought to not have to spend all day begging for money for food.

Ghaith, outside in the sun, in his cute yellow onesie.

January 31, 2026 at 10:35 AM

Reposted by John Chadfield

United Tech & Allied Workers

@utaw.tech

Breaking: Apple required to proceed with recognition ballot after months of attempting to block and union-busting activities.

CAC Decision: www.gov.uk/government/p...

After months of stalling from Apple, the CAC have imposed access arrangements to allow UTAW-CWU officials to meet with staff at the Cambridge Apple Retail Store ahead of their upcoming ballot for union recognition.

Inititally Apple had refused reasonable access to the building for union reps, while continuing to use regular staff meetings and one-on-ones with staff to try and discourage them from supporting their union.

Apple are now required to give UTAW-CWU officials access to the store for two staff meetings, two days of drop-in surgeries, use of a noticeboard, space for leaflets, use of internal email to share ballot information, and the ability to post materials to staff ahead of the ballot.

The ballot will now proceed during a 20-day period starting February.

utaw.tech/apple

UTAW and CWU logos.

January 29, 2026 at 2:27 PM

Reposted by John Chadfield

Anna Orridge

@anna-orridge.bsky.social

If they really want to force us to use AI whether we like it or not, they'd better work on ensuring it doesn't cause every app it's injected into to crash or otherwise malfunction lol.

January 29, 2026 at 1:42 PM

John Chadfield

@joxn.bsky.social

We've some of the smartest technologists in the world who focus on public services, and they definitely don't work at Meta.

Reuters @reuters.com · 19d

UK announces Meta-backed AI team to upgrade public services reut.rs/4rkPVhl

UK announces Meta-backed AI team to upgrade public services

The British government said on Tuesday it had recruited a team of artificial intelligence specialists to build AI tools to improve transport, public safety and defence, using funding from Meta .

reut.rs

January 27, 2026 at 8:30 PM

John Chadfield

@joxn.bsky.social

Hahaha haven't seen the 'two pizza test' referenced by anyone for quite some time. Makes sense an MP is now spouting it as tried-and-tested doctrine.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Starmer’s chief secretary reveals plans to bust ‘the sludge’ in Whitehall

Under-performing civil servants will be sacked and taskforces brought in to solve problems, says Darren Jones

www.theguardian.com

January 21, 2026 at 1:59 PM

Reposted by John Chadfield

Winnie the Pooh (Official)

@indianawalsh.bsky.social

Gary Larson: In my cartoon I invented Cow Tools as a cautionary tale

Cows: At long last, we have created the Cow Tools from classic newspaper comic Cow Tools

Daniel Benneworth-Gray @danielgray.com · 27d

COW TOOLS COW TOOLS COW TOOLS

Back-scratching bovine leads scientists to reassess intelligence of cows

Brown Swiss in Austria has been discovered using tools in multiple ways – something only ever seen in humans and chimpanzees

www.theguardian.com

January 19, 2026 at 5:04 PM

John Chadfield

@joxn.bsky.social

Content moderators deserve more respect from platforms. That's what they ask for first, not pay, not more holidays but respect. Instead, moderators at TikTok were given the axe for unionising.
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Sacked TikTok workers in UK launch legal action over ‘union busting’

Moderators accuse social media firm of unfair dismissal after it fired hundreds in UK just before vote to form union

www.theguardian.com

January 16, 2026 at 5:39 PM

Reposted by John Chadfield

Joseph Cox

@josephcox.bsky.social

New: meet ELITE, the Palantir app ICE is using to find neighborhoods to raid. Map interface; officers search for immigrants; click person to bring up individual dossier. This is clearest link between what Palantir is building and ICE's activities on the ground yet www.404media.co/elite-the-pa...

‘ELITE’: The Palantir App ICE Uses to Find Neighborhoods to Raid

Internal ICE material and testimony from an official obtained by 404 Media provides the clearest link yet between the technological infrastructure Palantir is building for ICE and the agency’s activit...

www.404media.co

January 15, 2026 at 2:06 PM

John Chadfield

@joxn.bsky.social

Brazen union-busting as entire Ubisoft studio in Canada is shuttered two weeks after voting to unionise. aftermath.site/ubisoft-hali...

Ubisoft Halifax Union To 'Pursue Every Legal Recourse' After Studio Closes Weeks After Union Vote

"We will be looking for Ubisoft to show us that this had nothing to do with the employees joining a union," a Ubisoft Halifax worker said.

aftermath.site

January 12, 2026 at 9:16 AM

John Chadfield

@joxn.bsky.social

We all said not only this would happen, but it would be the thing that eventually lands GenAI in the tabloid press for non client journalism reasons.

Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · Jan 8

Elon Musk's Grok is posting 84 times more sexually suggestive AI images per hour than the top five deepfake sites combined, according to a third-party analysis: bloom.bg/49K4btP

📷️: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

January 8, 2026 at 4:00 PM

John Chadfield

@joxn.bsky.social

Would anyone read an account of all the dumb/illegal/unethical/bullying that a major fruit-themed company inflicts upon its workers?

January 8, 2026 at 3:58 PM

Reposted by John Chadfield

derek guy

@dieworkwear.bsky.social

I am pleased to announce that I have commandeered my neighbor's home. This home will be sold at its Market Price, and that money will be controlled by me, to ensure it is used to benefit my neighbor and me! Thank you for your attention to this matter!

January 7, 2026 at 2:44 AM

Reposted by John Chadfield

United Tech & Allied Workers

@utaw.tech

Strategic layoffs have been obviously cynically motivated to us in the union movement (especially those that cite 'AI') for some time. Seems like Goldman Sachs is catching up.

fortune.com/2025/12/25/g...

Layoff announcements used to boost stock prices. Not anymore says Goldman Sachs | Fortune

Analysts ran the numbers and found a surprising change in how investors are reacting to layoff announcements.

fortune.com

December 25, 2025 at 10:41 PM

Reposted by John Chadfield

The CWU

@cwunews.bsky.social

CWU members from our @utaw.tech branch take legal action against TikTok for union busting

news.sky.com/story/tiktok...

TikTok faces legal action over moderator cuts

TikTok is being accused of threatening safety workers with redundancy days before they were due to vote on forming a union.

news.sky.com

December 19, 2025 at 2:44 PM

Reposted by John Chadfield

Martha Dark

@marthadark.bsky.social

🗞️ News: @foxglovelegal.bsky.social has launched a new case against TikTok in the UK for union busting. Read more in Sky's coverage here:

news.sky.com/story/tiktok...

We proud to support TikTok workers, Julio & others, alongside @leigh-day.bsky.social and @utaw.tech union. Details below!