https://znetwork.org/author/ben-wray/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Sun, 23 Nov 2025 16:37:43 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/author/ben-wray/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-dutch-confronted-china-it-didnt-go-well/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-dutch-confronted-china-it-didnt-go-well/#respond Sun, 23 Nov 2025 16:37:35 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1291576 Seizing control of a Chinese-owned tech firm was a bold move for the Dutch government — straining the European Union’s relations with Beijing. Economy Minister Vincent Karremans shocked the business world in September by invoking never-before-used powers to take the reins at semiconductor firm Nexperia, a subsidiary of Chinese firm Wingtech. At the time, his ministry warned [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-dutch-confronted-china-it-didnt-go-well/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trade-unions-need-to-fight-against-algorithmic-exploitation/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trade-unions-need-to-fight-against-algorithmic-exploitation/#respond Sat, 27 Sep 2025 15:40:20 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1289149 From the bartender who is always having their hours scheduled in the most erratic and unhelpful way possible by an app called “Harvest” or “ZoomShift,” to the nurse harangued by a platform for supposedly spending too long with one patient, workers are increasingly banging their heads against digital tools doing the job that supervisors once did. While these systems [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/trade-unions-need-to-fight-against-algorithmic-exploitation/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-europe-platform-workers-are-winning-limited-protections/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-europe-platform-workers-are-winning-limited-protections/#respond Mon, 12 Feb 2024 18:22:09 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1262083 As the European Parliament heads toward fresh elections in June, there’s one unresolved file on the desk of Brussels’s politicians and technocrats. The European Union (EU) Platform Work Directive, an attempt to establish a unified set of labor standards for workers on digital platforms like Uber and Deliveroo, has turned out to be a thorny [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/in-europe-platform-workers-are-winning-limited-protections/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/so-far-britains-employers-have-been-winning-the-class-war-over-inflation/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/so-far-britains-employers-have-been-winning-the-class-war-over-inflation/#respond Sat, 23 Sep 2023 15:17:18 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1254801 The question of who pays for inflation is fundamentally a distributional question. In other words, it’s about class. When prices increase, that additional cost has to be absorbed by someone, whether by capitalists in the form of lower margins and profits, or by consumers in the form of higher prices. Those consumers are also workers, [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/so-far-britains-employers-have-been-winning-the-class-war-over-inflation/feed/ 0