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Recent Editions
Human Times
North America
Meta employees have launched a protest against the recent installation of mouse-tracking technology at U.S. offices. Flyers which have been seen in meeting rooms and elsewhere at the Facebook owner's offices encourage staffers to sign an online petition against the move. "Don't want to work at the Employee Data Extraction Factory?" the flyers ask, according to photographs seen by Reuters, which says it's the most visible sign to date of a nascent labor movement inside the company. A statement previously issued by Meta on the technology said: "If we're building agents to help people complete everyday tasks using computers, our models need real examples of how people actually use them - things like mouse movements, clicking buttons, and navigating dropdown menus." Reuters notes that, in the U.K., a group of Meta employees has started organizing a unionization push with United Tech and Allied Workers (UTAW).
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Human Times
UK
Complaints of misconduct against Philip Lancaster, an employment tribunal judge in Leeds, are to be examined after a U-turn by the the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office (JCIO), which had previously dismissed most of the allegations against him without examining them. The JCIO has now agreed to "reconsider" the 10 complaints, which spanned a seven-year period, after three of the complainants - who alleged they suffered bullying, intimidation, banging of the table and/or excessive interruption during employment tribunal hearings presided over by Lancaster - took legal action. Nine of the 10 complainants are female. Emily Soothill from Deighton Pierce Glynn solicitors, the lawyer for the three women, said it was "crucial that the JCIO now undertakes a proper and lawful investigation into the numerous complaints which have been raised against Judge Lancaster . . . so that public confidence in how complaints against the judiciary are investigated can start to be restored."
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Human Times
Europe
The FNV, CNV, and VCP unions have threatened potential nationwide strikes if the cabinet does not withdraw proposed cuts to unemployment benefits (WW), disability benefits (WIA), and state pensions (AOW) by May 30. FNV Chairman Hans Spekman said: "This issue affects people's very existence. We cannot enter a dialogue on these dismantling proposals." The cabinet's proposal aims to increase the AOW retirement age in line with life expectancy, which the unions argue unfairly burdens workers and pensioners. CNV Chairman Hans van den Heuvel described the cabinet's approach as a "blunt axe," while VCP Chairman Nic van Holstein condemned it as a violation of previous agreements.
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Human Times
Middle East
Remote and flexible work arrangements persist throughout the UAE and other Gulf countries, and the majority of companies are not requiring employees to return to the office, according to research from Mercer. Ted Raffoul, partner and career and workforce products business leader for Mena at Mercer, told Khaleej Times: “Average work-from-home levels remain substantial, including 62% in the UAE, 64% in Kuwait and 86% in Lebanon. Most organisations are also still not requiring employees to return to the office. In the UAE, for example, 82% said they were not requiring a return, with similarly high figures across the region. This suggests remote working is still playing an important role in business continuity, but it also means arrangements introduced at speed are now lasting long enough to raise practical questions about consistency, communication and future expectations.”
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