Worker

De zaak trekt wijdverspreide aandacht als voorbeeld van hoe China de enthousiaste adoptie van AI probeert in balans te brengen met werkzekerheid.

• Negen van de tien werknemers spreken hun steun uit voor beleid rondom kunstmatige intelligentie waar vakbonden voor kunnen strijden. • Amerikaanse werknemers steunen overweldigend werknemersvriendelijk beleid op het gebied van kunstmatige intelligentie (AI) en beschouwen vakbonden als de meest betrouwbare beschermers van werknemers tegen de effecten van AI, volgens een nieuwe peiling van de AFL-CIO, de grootste federatie van vakbonden in de VS. • Meer dan negen van de tien ondervraagde werknemers steunden AI-richtlijnen waar vakbonden voor kunnen strijden, waaronder 95% die steun betuigt aan de eis dat een mens de uiteindelijke beslisser moet zijn bij alle kwesties die individuele werknemers en hun dienstverband beïnvloeden.

• Vicevoorzitter Alan Colman van de Fair Work Commission wijst de zaak van een man uit Victoria af en waarschuwt dat er geen ontmoediging mag zijn voor speculatieve claims. • Volg onze live blog voor het laatste nieuws uit Australië. Ontvang onze breaking news-e-mail, gratis app of dagelijkse nieuwspodcast. • Een voormalig Woolworths-medewerker is ervan beschuldigd de tijd van de Fair Work Commission te verspillen door een zaak wegens onterecht ontslag aan te spannen omdat hij zich "gekwetst" voelde nadat hem werd gevraagd zijn billenspleet te bedekken.

• Voormalig hoofd van de Parramatta-raad Gail Connolly en een 'dichtbijstaand netwerk' zouden vrienden hebben gepromoveerd terwijl anderen doelwit waren van vergeldingen. • Volg onze liveblog voor het laatste Australische nieuws. • Ontvang onze breaking news e-mail, gratis app of dagelijkse nieuwspodcast.

Fulton county is trying to fend off subpoena from federal prosecutor looking to get contacts of 2020 election workersFulton county, Georgia, is trying to fend off a subpoena from a federal prosecutor in North Carolina seeking contact information for thousands of poll workers from the 2020 election.The subpoena, issued in April by Dan Bishop, the interim US attorney of North Carolina’s middle district, demands the county provide rosters of election staff members who served in the November 2020 election, including their identification by name, position, residential and email address and personal telephone number. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Worker pointed to Iran war and Pentagon’s Anthropic feud as indications the department is ‘not a responsible partner’Workers developing Google’s artificial intelligence products in the UK have voted to unionize, in part out of concerns about a deal between the company and the US military that was announced last week.In a letter slated to go to management on Tuesday and shared exclusively with the Guardian, workers at Google DeepMind, the company’s AI research laboratory, requested recognition of the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union as joint representatives of the lab’s UK-based staff. Continue reading...

More than 7,000 join employment tribunal that will include claims for minimum wage and holiday pay More than 7,000 Just Eat couriers are taking legal action against the food delivery company in an attempt to gain better employment rights including the minimum wage and holiday pay.The employment tribunal, which begins on Tuesday and is set to run until 2 June, will determine if the couriers are classed as workers, a status that comes with improved rights, or self-employed independent contractors. Continue reading...

Analysis finds real wages fell 12% since 2019, with inequality widening in the US beyond global levelsCEO pay increased 20 times faster than worker pay around the world in 2025, according to a new analysis from Oxfam and the International Trade Union Confederation, the world’s largest trade union federation.When adjusted for inflation, global worker pay declined 12% between 2019 and 2025, the equivalent of 108 days of free work during that time period. In comparison, CEO compensation increased by 54% between 2019 and 2025. Continue reading...

• Shakira expressed deep sadness after Gabriel de Jesus Firmino died Sunday during stage assembly for her upcoming Rio de Janeiro concert. • The worker was crushed by two stage elevators activated accidentally, as confirmed by police and event organizers Todo Mundo no Rio. • The four-time Grammy winner offered condolences to Firmino's family, friends, and colleagues in a public statement.

Message on private Facebook group for staff said: ‘I dumped them all in a bin. They can sack me!’Royal Mail is investigating allegations that a postal worker claimed to have “dumped” Reform UK campaign leaflets in a bin ahead of Thursday’s local elections.A post on a Facebook group for Royal Mail staff said: “My DO had reform party’s D2D today. I dumped them all in a bin. They can sack me! Idgaf!” Continue reading...

Officials hope more casual attire for public servants will save electricity during Iran war as summer approachesPublic servants working for the Tokyo metropolitan government are being encouraged to swap their suits for shorts this summer to combat sweltering heat and rising energy costs caused by the US-Israel war on Iran.Inspired by the country’s Cool Biz energy-saving initiative, Tokyo officials hope the measure will cut dependence on air conditioning. Continue reading...

Campaign is said to be first time Labour-affiliated Unison is lobbying en masse against a key party policyMigrant workers and the UK’s largest union will carry out a mass leafleting campaign in Shabana Mahmood’s Birmingham constituency to protest against a planned change in immigration policy.The Labour-affiliated Unison union says the changes will adversely affect migrant care workers. About one-third of all care workers and one-fifth of all NHS workers are migrants. Continue reading...

Survey by global economic forum shows ‘tax wedge’ in Britain increased to 32.4% of income in 2025Business live – latest updatesTaxes on workers in Britain rose at the fastest rate among the world’s richest economies last year, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.With Labour under pressure on the economy amid the Iran war, the OECD said a key measure of the total tax paid by workers and their employers rose by the most in the 38-member club of rich nations in 2025. Continue reading...

Day of action to support workers set for 1 May – who is organizing May Day Strong, and how can people join?Anyone who attended one of the 3,000 No Kings protests in March might have learned of the latest effort to protest against Trump administration policies: May Day Strong.The single-day protest on 1 May is taking its cue from the massive day of action that shut down Minneapolis in January by asking Americans not to shop, work or go to school. Rallies, marches and teach-ins will also take place across the country. Continue reading...

Robert Butler leaped into action to save child who was running into busy intersection in downtown PhoenixSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxAn Arizona electric utility worker is said to have issued “a powerful reminder of what it means to look out for one another” when, while on duty, he stopped a toddler from running into heavy car traffic after bolting away from a parent.Robert Butler’s timely intervention was captured recently in a hair-raising video recorded by a surveillance camera in downtown Phoenix and released recently by his employer, Arizona Public Service (APS). Continue reading...

After Guardian reports about danger to V2X employees, sources say state department raised concerns with defense contractorSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThe US government has called on the defense contractor V2X to evacuate its employees from Kuwait and Iraq, warning the company that they could be targeted by Iran-backed militias, four sources said.The intervention follows reporting by the Guardian that V2X employees were stationed at US military bases in Kuwait, and at Martyr Brigadier General Ali Flaih airbase and Erbil in Iraq. Employees claimed having inadequate protections, receiving limited communications from the company about evacuation plans and being pressured to remain in the Middle East. In Iraq, workers say they are targets of Iran-allied attacks, and one employee was killed in a night-time drone attack in March. Continue reading...

Social media corporation terminated Sama contract after allegations its staff viewed private scenes filmed by Meta’s smartglassesMore than 1,000 low-paid workers in Kenya have been abruptly sacked by an outsourcing company for the US social media corporation Meta, in what activists said was a “shocking” move exposing the precariousness of global south tech workers.Sama, a company based in Nairobi to which Meta outsourced content moderation and AI training work, announced on Thursday that the workers were being laid off after Meta terminated a contract. That came in the after reports some of the Kenyan workers involved in data annotation were asked to view content filmed by the company’s AI smart glasses showing wearers using the toilet or having sex. Continue reading...

Noah Sibanda died after he was physically restrained while being put to sleep at Fairytales Day Nursery in DudleyA nursery worker has been sentenced to more than three years in prison and the nursery fined £240,000 after a 14-month-old boy was restrained and died in their care.Noah Sibanda died after he was physically restrained face-down with a blanket over his head while being put to sleep at the Fairytales Day Nursery in Dudley in December 2022. He was left unchecked for two hours before he was found unresponsive. He was pronounced dead an hour later in hospital. Continue reading...

Man initially charged in July but Australian federal police uncovered dozens more alleged offences after reviewing files on his devicesFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA former childcare employee accused of abusing children in his care has been hit with another 129 charges after investigators say they identified more victims.The man, aged in his 30s, was initially charged with eight counts of online child abuse material offences in July 2025 after years of alleged offending. Continue reading...

Killing of Lauren Bullis and woman not yet identified in ‘random’ Monday attacks draws attention of Trump officialsAn Atlanta man has been charged in a string of attacks over a matter of hours that left two women dead and a man in critical condition, drawing the Trump administration’s attention after one of the victims was identified as a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employee who was walking her dog.The killing of the DHS worker, Lauren Bullis, and shootings of the two other victims on Monday led homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin to issue a statement raising concerns that the 26-year-old suspect, British native Olaolukitan Adon Abel, was granted US citizenship in 2022. Continue reading...

Cuts by Snapchat’s parent company come in response to a declining stock price and pressure from an activist investorSnapchat’s parent company plans to lay off 16% of its employees, around 1,000 people, citing “rapid advancements in artificial intelligence”, the social media company told staff on Wednesday in an internal memo. The staff reduction is part of a wave of tech industry layoffs in the past year, with many firms blaming AI for the cuts.Snap Inc’s layoffs follow demands last month from Irenic Capital Management, an activist investor whose portfolio manager wrote a letter to Snap Inc CEO, Evan Spiegel, calling on him to reduce costs and headcount while criticizing the company’s current strategy. In Spiegel’s memo to staff, he claimed that the layoffs would move Snap towards profitability and suggested that artificial intelligence could fill the lack of human labor. Continue reading...

Unite Here co-president demands improvement in working conditions and urges Fifa to keep ICE away from matchesA hospitality union that represents about 2,000 workers at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles has threatened to strike during the World Cup if Fifa leaders do not heed their concerns about working conditions and the presence of Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).This summer, SoFi Stadium will be thrust into the national spotlight as it hosts eight World Cup matches. Between June and July, Los Angeles is estimated to see 150,000 more out-of-town visitors than typical for the time period. Continue reading...

Chamel Abdulkarim was charged with felony and state arson counts after destroying property worth nearly $600mSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxAn employee who burned down a California warehouse compared himself with Luigi Mangione in a message to coworkers after setting the fire, according to authorities in a Friday press conference, the Los Angeles Times reported.Chamel Abdulkarim, 29, has been charged with several counts of felony and state arson after a massive fire destroyed the Kimberly-Clark paper products warehouse in Ontario, California, about an hour outside of Los Angeles. Continue reading...

Seafarer tells of ‘impossible’ situation, with strait still so unsafe that crew would not cross even if told to sailMaritime and port workers: how is the Middle East conflict affecting you?‘You can try to minimise the impact that this situation has on your mental health but it’s becoming impossible.” After six weeks stranded in the Gulf, one of the 20,000 seafarers trapped by Iran’s chokehold on the strait of Hormuz is reaching their limit.Yet with the fragile Middle East ceasefire already fraying, the oil tanker worker – who first spoke to the Guardian a month ago – said any hope they may soon be free to leave had already evaporated, if it ever felt real at all. Continue reading...

Shop workers’ union Usdaw says 59% of its members in its annual survey said they would welcome more security guards in stores Retail workers have called for more security guards in stores after a Waitrose worker was sacked for taking matters into his own hands and confronting a shoplifter.Waitrose has been criticised over its treatment of Walker Smith after the Guardian reported he was fired two days after he stopped a shoplifter taking items from an Easter egg display, including Lindt chocolate bunnies. Continue reading...

Colleagues left anti-Islam leaflet in locker belonging to Parmjit Bassi, who is not a Muslim, and accused him of knife attackA Network Rail worker has won a race harassment case after his colleagues left an anti-Islam English Defence League [EDL] leaflet in his locker.Parmjit Bassi, who is not a Muslim, was found to have been the victim of a racist attack when his co-worker stuffed an EDL leaflet in his locker that asked “what individuals were doing to protect their children from Islam”. Continue reading...

In today’s newsletter: A Waitrose worker’s dismissal ​after confronting a shoplifter has become a flashpoint in a wider debate over rising retail crimeGood morning. Overnight, the US and Iran agreed to a two-week conditional ceasefire, which included a temporary reopening of the strait of Hormuz. It followed a last-minute diplomatic intervention led by Pakistan, but the Israeli government have said the deal does not include Lebanon.You can read our main report here and our live blog will be tracking news throughout the day. My colleague Martin Belam will have more details on what the pause in the fighting means in tomorrow’s First Edition. Today, we are covering the scourge of shoplifting in the UK.Middle East | Donald Trump said he had agreed to a Pakistani-brokered two-week ceasefire, shortly before a deadline at which he had threatened to end the “whole civilisation” of Iran. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, issued a statement saying: “For a period of two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be possible via coordinating with Iran’s armed forces.”UK news | Millions of graduates will have the interest on their student loans capped at 6% from September as a temporary measure to protect them from the risk of rising inflation driven by war in the Middle East.Entertainment | The Wireless music festival has been cancelled after the artist formerly known as Kanye West was banned from entering the UK amid a deepening political row over his previous antisemitic statements.Politics | Reform UK would stop issuing visas to people from any country that continues to demand compensation from the UK for its role in the transatlantic trade in enslaved people, the party has said.World news | Australia’s most decorated soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, has not applied for bail and will remain in custody after being charged with war crimes. The former SAS soldier and Victoria Cross-recipient is charged with five counts of “war crime – murder” in relation to alleged offences in Afghanistan between April 2009 and October 2012. Continue reading...

They have degrees, expertise and years of experience – but can’t find work. For many Americans, AI training has become a last refuge in a brutal job marketWhen Patrick Ciriello lost his job and couldn’t find work for nearly a year, his family’s foundation crumbled.“You hear about people who hit rock bottom,” Ciriello told the Guardian. “Well, I was there.” Continue reading...