Mathew Carr

How giant companies use tech to terrorise their workers and steal from them … and AI is making it worse (1)

Opinion by Mathew Carr

The Financial Times underplayed this chart by placing a complicated headline on it. Though the newspaper deserves credit for running the chart, at all.

That’s because it clearly shows how the tech revolution has been exploited by companies to hurt human workers, especially since the 1990s.

One FTSE 100 company, probably not part of the FT’s data, was considering forcing human workers out of their jobs to make up funds lost because its IT project ran 10s of millions of dollars over budget, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Yet the FT’s chart is already astonishing because the scale of the exploitation is so clear … and relatedly the “lack of sharing of productivity gains” is so stark.

The FT’s words also add value, yet the newspaper offers no solution to what is clearly unfair.

I would suggest higher taxes for companies where C-suite wages rise at a faster % rate than the firm’s average workers.

It’s time for guardrails that prevent CEO greed and for new rules that push for sustainable development goals…especially goal 10 reduced inequalities…and goal 5 gender equality.

Or perhaps lawmakers just don’t care about their promises on SDGs for 2030?

Gemini chart:

 Notes

Gemini:

 There are two primary United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that directly focus on equality:

1. Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities

  • Focus: Broad social, economic, and political equality.
  • Objective: “Reduce inequality within and among countries.”
  • Key Targets:Progressive income growth for the bottom 40% of the population.
    • Promoting social, economic, and political inclusion for all regardless of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or economic status.
    • Eliminating discriminatory laws, policies, and practices while ensuring equal opportunity.
    • Enhancing the representation of developing nations in global decision-making.

2. Goal 5: Gender Equality

  • Focus: Equality specifically between genders.
  • Objective: “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.”
  • Key Targets:Ending all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls.
    • Ensuring full participation and equal opportunities for leadership in political, economic, and public life.
    • Ensuring universal access to sexual and reproductive health rights.

Other SDGs with Equality Embedded

While Goals 5 and 10 are the core targets, equality principles are integrated across several other goals:

  • SDG 1 (No Poverty): Focuses on equal rights to economic resources and access to basic services.
  • SDG 4 (Quality Education): Target 4.5 aims to eliminate gender disparities and ensure equal access to education for vulnerable populations, including people with disabilities and indigenous peoples.
  • SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth): Promotes equal pay for work of equal value.

 

 

 

 

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