Up for discussion in this week’s newsletter: an internal brawl over Dave Chappelle’s Netflix special is just the latest chapter in increasing activism in the industry
Two former Netflix employees who criticised comedian Dave Chappelle for comments directed at the trans community in The Closer, a special for the streaming service, have dropped labour complaints related to Netflix’s response to the saga, they announced this week.
The decision brings a close to the most recent chapter of activism at the company and one of the more visible tech industry walkouts in the last few months. But the momentum of internal organising, particularly around social justice issues, has been building for years.
“We are seeing a wave of [employee walkouts],” said Jess Kutch, executive director of the Solidarity Fund, which raises money to support employees engaged in workplace organising (including at Netflix).
In October 2021 alone there were several walkouts in Silicon Valley in addition to the movement at Netflix, including at grocery delivery platform Instacart. And in November, Amazon workers in at least 20 countries staged a strike to demand the company pay higher wages and allow them to join unions.
The groundwork for this particular brand and scale of internal activism was laid in 2018 when more than 20,000 Google employees walked out in response to news the company had given a $90m severance package to an executive forced to step down over sexual misconduct allegations (which he has...
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