Algorithms to Improve Labor and Union Bargaining Outcomes

Description

By Jamie Maxwell:

"In the fight for workers’ rights, there’s power in numbers. Not just masses of union members, but also masses of data. At least that’s what Fredrik Söderqvist, a trade union researcher in Sweden, is banking on with a new algorithm he's developing to mine patterns to improve bargaining outcomes.

Söderqvist says his algorithm could help organizers anticipate when a company is vulnerable to bargaining, or likely to lay off workers. It could make major waves in Swedish labor; the white-collar, private sector union he works for, Unionen, has nearly 650,000 members — approximately 10 percent of Sweden’s working-age population." (https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/nep5wb/how-a-labor-union-is-using-an-algorithm-to-predict-when-to-organize)