Largest union federation in the US demands apology from Mark Zuckerberg over new software feature that would allow employers blacklist words like 'unionize' in chats

Authored by businessinsider.com and submitted by DaFunkJunkie

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka demanded a personal apology from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg after it was revealed the company was working on a feature that could limit union drives.

"The AFL-CIO demands that Mark Zuckerberg personally apologize to working people, pull this tool immediately, and conduct a board-level investigation into how this product came into existence in the first place," Trumka said in a statement on Friday.

Earlier, a spokesperson for Facebook told Business Insider that the company has frozen production on its potentially union-busting feature.

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The largest union federation in the United States on Friday blasted Facebook after it was revealed the company was offering to let employers limit unionization efforts on its platform.

Facebook's Workplace functions as an internal message board for corporate clients, an answer to Slack or Microsoft Teams. This week, The Intercept reported that Facebook was promising those clients the ability to exert "content control" over their respective news feeds. Specifically, it said companies could suppress the word "unionize."

That didn't sit well with the AFL-CIO, which represents more than 12.5 million union members.

"Employers censoring their employees' speech about unionizing is illegal," President Richard Trumka said in a June 12 statement. "The AFL-CIO demands that Mark Zuckerberg personally apologize to working people, pull this tool immediately, and conduct a board-level investigation into how this product came into existence in the first place."

"While these kinds of content moderation tools are useful for companies, this example was poorly chosen and should never have been used," the spokesperson said. "The feature was only in early development and we've pulled any plans to roll it out while we think through next steps."

Trumka also called on Facebook to "embrace global labor rights standards for all its 48,000 workers and for its contractors who employ tens of thousands more," remain neutral to efforts to unionize and recognize employee unions.

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Aekorus on June 13rd, 2020 at 02:44 UTC »

Oh dang! The word for the action I want to take is censored in this chat! Therefore I see no option but to immediately desist from my efforts and forget this whole issue, instead of getting pissed at my employer, doubling down on my beliefs, and switching to means of communication they can't control.

Dollar_Bills on June 13rd, 2020 at 01:25 UTC »

Some place shitty enough to use Facebook workplace as a messenger service is too shitty to fix with a union.

SlowLoudEasy on June 13rd, 2020 at 01:11 UTC »

Fwd: hey coworkers! Just checking in to confirm we will be meeting to discuss bloomin’ Onions this evening after work. There will be two representatives from the local plumbers who have enjoyed their bloomin’ onions for 35 years. They will give a short synopsis of how their bloomin onions work and will be answering any questions we may have about bloomin’ onions.