Link Roundup March 2018

What a Labor Union Is and How It Works

Sometimes employers will insist on adding a “strike clause” added to a union contract, which forbids them from going out on strike during the duration of the contract. When a union shop with a strike clause decides to defy the clause and go out on strike anyway, this is known as a “wildcat strike.” A wildcat strike is not authorized by union leadership. Both strikes and picketing are protected activities under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), and workers cannot be fired for engaging in either — unless they engage in a wildcat strike. While the West Virginia teachers’ strike was a wildcat strike, they knew they were taking an extra risk, but they decided to do it anyway — and won.

Timed toilet breaks, impossible targets and workers falling asleep on feet: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

Once a day, a supervisor would approach me to remind me how I was performing. Often it was not well. But with workers pitted against each other, one told me: “As long as you’re not bottom you’ve no need to worry… for the time being.”

PALANTIR HAS SECRETLY BEEN USING NEW ORLEANS TO TEST ITS PREDICTIVE POLICING TECHNOLOGY

Interest and investment in predictive policing technology accelerated after 2009 when the National Institute of Justice began issuing grants for pilot projects in crime forecasting. Those grants underpin some of the best-known — and most scrutinized — predictive policing efforts in Chicago and Los Angeles. Programs vary, and the algorithms are often proprietary, but they all aim to ingest vast stores of data — geography, criminal records, the weather, social media histories — and make predictions about individuals or places likely to be involved in a crime. In the following years, many startup firms have struggled to monetize the crime-fighting method — most notably PredPol, a California startup whose contract awards have foundered after an initial blitz of publicity in the early 2010s.

How Trump favored Texas over Puerto Rico

During the first nine days after Harvey, FEMA provided 5.1 million meals, 4.5 million liters of water and over 20,000 tarps to Houston; but in the same period, it delivered just 1.6 million meals, 2.8 million liters of water and roughly 5,000 tarps to Puerto Rico.

A University of Wisconsin campus pushes plan to drop 13 majors — including English, history and philosophy

The plan to cut the liberal arts and humanities majors (see full list below) is in line with a failed attempt by Republican Gov. Scott Walker in 2015 to secretly change the mission of the respected university system — known as the Wisconsin Idea and embedded in the state code — by removing words that commanded the university to “search for truth” and “improve the human condition” and replacing them with “meet the state’s workforce needs.”

Fed Up With Drug Companies, Hospitals Decide to Start Their Own

Intermountain executives would not discuss many details of the project, citing fears that competitors could shut them out of the market by quickly dropping the price of the drugs in question, then raising them again later. They said they would focus on drugs whose prices have risen sharply or that have been in short supply.

THE PUBLIC INTERNET OPTION

Municipal systems should be built to serve all residents equally, regardless of a neighborhood’s income or racial make-up. Public Wi-Fi services, which can help increase internet accessibility, should be as open as possible, without requiring accounts, logins, or complex sign-up procedures. Wired customers should also be allowed to run open-access points that anyone can use.