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(The Verge) The Amazon Labor Union (ALU) scored a historic victory on April 1st when it became the first-ever union to successfully organize Amazon employees. Christian Smalls, a fired worker motivated by what he viewed as poor treatment, rallied his co-workers through the process and, in January 2022, got just enough votes to qualify for…

(VentureBeat) Climate concerns have put sustainability at the forefront of business strategy. Organizations have had to consider not just how to conduct business, but how to do it in a way that makes the least impact on our climate. And while sustainable business models are nothing new, they are evolving to meet the pace of…

(The Guardian) Scientists fear that their last-ditch climate warnings are going unheeded amid international turmoil caused by the war in Ukraine, and soaring energy prices. The third segment of the landmark scientific report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – which could be the last comprehensive assessment of climate science to be published while…

(Protocol) Chief sustainability officers are all the rage. Tech companies are hiring them left and right and holding them up as the human talismans of their commitment to fighting climate change, one (sometimes dubious) net zero goal at a time. In some cases, CSOs have real power to bring companies in line with their climate…

(Reuters) EU antitrust regulators are quizzing Microsoft’s rivals and customers about its cloud business and licensing deals, a questionnaire seen by Reuters showed, in a move that could lead to a formal investigation and renewed scrutiny of the U.S. software company. The European Commission has fined Microsoft a total 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in…

(Politico) TECH ANTITRUST LAWS BY AUGUST? — Speaking virtually to a conference in Brussels, Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.), the top GOP member of House Judiciary’s antitrust panel said he expects three antitrust reforms — legislation to increase merger filing fees, bar tech giants from preferencing their own products and force Apple and Google to open…

(Huff Post) Faced with a wave of worker activism in its warehouses last year, Amazon paid anti-union consultants roughly $4.3 million in an effort to beat back union organizing campaigns, according to new filings with the U.S. Department of Labor. The disclosures from Amazon offer a glimpse into how far the online retailer is willing…

(Sifted) There’s more and more ESG talk in tech and VC land. Environmental, social and governance factors have gone from being a concern of specialist investors to a key part of mainstream investment strategy. But, for all the talk, how are VC firms’ portfolio companies actually doing? Well — much better on the S and…

(Protocol) The law, which will apply to Washington employers including Microsoft and Amazon, will take effect on June 9 of this year. The Washington version of the bill had been pushed forward by former Apple engineer Cher Scarlett and former Google employee Chelsey Glasson. Both Scarlett and Glasson testified in support of the bill, discussing…

(CIO Dive) In recent years, top-flight tech companies devoted resources and laid out plans to address diversity and cultural challenges within their organizations. Despite efforts, the data show improvement has been minimal in terms of the racial composition of the IT workforce. “We haven’t seen the increase because there hasn’t been a real commitment to addressing…