What is Tech Workers Coalition?

Tech Workers Coalition (TWC) NL are a grassroots collective that builds collective power in our workplaces. We support all workers in the tech industry broadly speaking, including engineers, delivery riders, content moderators, customer service, warehouse pickers, video game artists and more!

We support each other in forming Works Councils (Ondernemingsraden), unionising for higher wages, struggling against discrimination, gentrification to name a few.

We often brainstorm together, provide trainings and networking events. Join our meetings to share your knowledge and requests for support! Tech Won’t Save Us: Organise! 🤗

The below sections are about the broader Tech Workers Coalition.

Community and care #

TWC is a political home for tech workers. We welcome all those who seek companions for their political journey. We strive to build a community that affirms the importance of emotional and psychological wellbeing and growth for our members. We practice thoughtful care. We meet each other where we’re at, engaging each other in good faith.

When conflict arises, we must navigate and resolve it intentionally to maintain the wellbeing of all involved.

Leadership #

TWC trains a new generation of activists. We supplement the educational offerings of unions and activist organizations with material specific to tech. We want individual tech workers to become better organizing leaders, turning them into important contributors in their unions and communities.

Tech Labour Hub #

TWC serves as a hub for those who believe the tech industry must be changed by its own workers. Individuals and organizations active in labor organizing, digital rights, anti-militarism, environmentalism, and other fights for liberation can find each other in TWC and work together to build stronger, more connected movements. 

We provide logistical and infrastructural support to create connections, with both in person events like conferences, and digital spaces like communities. We build intentional relationships between workers, unions, and other labor organizations.

Solidarity & class consciousness #

TWC is a worker-led organization. We know that the tech industry causes harm and exploitation. As a result, building bridges between the affected people, and understanding ourselves as workers who are also exploited, is important for TWC, because we know all workers are linked in our struggles. 

We strive to develop class consciousness among workers in the tech industry. We believe acknowledging our roles as workers is essential to build collective worker power among all industries.

Each chapter builds alliances with other organizations based on their shared context and common goals.

Cross-job-function #

TWC aspires to hold membership and events that firmly support unionizing across all job functions for a tech company – whether data labeler, janitor, programmer, or lawyer – in order to build structural, collective worker power in the tech industry as a whole.

We believe that in order to truly be a coalitional space, all workers of a tech company need to organize across class barriers and fight against the tech industry’s exploitation of people and resources.*

*At present, this is aspirational in our current state and execution of de-verticalizing the industry must be done intentionally to prevent paternalistic relationships between corporate and non-corporate workers and to emphasize strategies to successfully wield power against tech.

Transnationality #

TWC is now limited to the USA and Europe, but aims at expanding in the rest of the world.

We understand that local action is not enough to achieve worker’s power globally. We do not replace unions in their efforts to build international alliances between tech workers of different countries.

Shaping the discourse #

Tech and Tech Labor discourse rarely represents the perspectives of actual tech workers.

TWC wants to facilitate the production and circulation of analysis specific to tech workers through newsletters, blogs, digital and in-person events, zines, and social media.

We hope to provide a more meaningful understanding of:

• What tech workplace organizing looks like.
• How tech workers can build solidarity across industries, job-functions, and transnationally.
• How to better shape technology through worker power.