Page 8 - FCW, November/December 2021

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Code for America chooses voluntary recognition of employee union
Civic technology firm Code for America has recognized a newly formed union of its employees and will participate in upcoming contract negotiations.
This is the first time a firm in the civic technology space has recognized an employee union, according to a press statement from the Office and Profes- sional Employees International Union (OPEIU), which represents Code for America workers.
Voluntary recognition by an employ- er allows the organizing union and the employer to proceed directly to con- tract talks. Code for America essentially accepted the results of a “card check” process by which a majority of employ- ees affirmed their desire to be repre- sented by a union.
“This important milestone in Code for America’s history will increase our abil-
ity to create a government that works for the people, by the people in the Dig- ital Age,” CEO Amanda Renteria said in a statement. “This has been a learn- ing journey for our organization, and we arrived where we are today, with voluntary recognition, because of our strong commitment to delivering on our mission and staying true to our values.”
Brandon Nessen, OPEIU’s direc- tor of organizing, said in a statement: “Nonprofit and tech workers alike are becoming increasingly aware of the power a union brings them at work. Unionizing gives working people agency to advance not only their own interests, but the mutual interests shared by both staff and management.”
OPEIU represents 103,000 workers across a variety of industries. Code for America’s new union, called CfA Workers
United, will be represented by OPEIU’s Tech Workers Union Local 1010.
Relatively few digital technology workers are unionized. The Commu- nications Workers of America (CWA) — a 700,000-member organization that represents employees at AT&T, Verizon and elsewhere — wants to change that and is conducting a campaign to orga- nize digital employees.
So far, that effort has met with few successes. A small union organized by CWA at Google’s parent company, Alphabet, consists of about 800 work- ers but is not empowered to negotiate employment contracts. The minority union lobbies the company on issues of importance to its members, includ- ing working conditions and the right to refuse projects on ethical grounds.
— Adam Mazmanian
a number of steps to counter potential security threats, including grounding fleets of DJI drones. But Carr urged more sweeping action. “Add to this informa- tion the widespread use of DJI drones by various state and local public safety
and law enforcement agen- cies as well as news reports that the U.S. Secret Service and FBI recently bought DJI drones, and the need for quick action on the poten- tial national security threat is clear,” he said.
While evidence of secu- rity concerns related to DJI drones has been building for years, a “consistent and comprehensive approach to addressing DJI’s potential threats is not in place,” Carr said. “That is why the FCC should take the neces- sary steps to consider adding DJI to our
Covered List.”
FCC commissioner calls for tighter restrictions on DJI drones
A Federal Communications Commis- sion official has proposed limiting the sale of drones manufactured by DJI, a company based in China. At an event on strengthening national security, FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr called for adding DJI to the FCC’s Covered List of communications equipment and services deemed to pose an unacceptable security risk. Such a move would prohibit Uni- versal Service Fund money from being used to purchase DJI equipment.
DJI’s products account for more than 50% of the U.S. market, including state and local governments that have been using drones for public safety, disaster response and critical infrastructure inspections.
The drones collect vast amounts of sensitive data — from law enforcement
activities to personal information from users’ smartphones. Additionally, DJI customers must download proprietary software that
8 November/December 2021 FCW.COM
may have privacy issues. In an FCC news release issued after the event, Carr is quoted as saying: “We do not need an airborne ver- sion of Huawei,” referenc- ing the Chinese telecom- munications company that
Brendan Carr
is already on the FCC’s Covered List. Carr also said that as recently as July, the Defense Department announced that it will continue to ban the use of DJI products because officials remain convinced that the systems “pose poten-
tial threats to national security.”
The federal government has taken
— Shourjya Mookerjee