In 2025, over two days during Toronto’s stunning fall, we brought together 20 people from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Spain, Canada, and the United States, from a range of contexts and backgrounds, to take up the following question: in what ways can workers govern technologies, such as platforms, artificial intelligence, and data? Whether through collective bargaining, co-op formation, or policy reform, we learned together about different possibilities for collective strategies. We were reminded of the importance of acting collectively and transnationally. We met artists, tech workers, delivery workers, academic workers, and organizers, each bringing different frameworks, challenges, and possibilities to our central question. This pluriversity—why reduce everything to a single world?—was the basis for the word repeated most often during and after our workshop: energy. “We feel more energized.” “That collective energy is still with me.” It was a reminder that moving together also gives us strength. Here is a glimpse of what we discussed and learned during the Workers Governing Technologies workshop.
Authors: Ashique Ali Thuppilikkat, Madison Mackley, Julia Parke, Daphne Idiz, Rafael Grohmann
Graphic Design and Illustrations: Isobel Woodiwiss
Funding: This workshop was co-funded by the SSHRC Connection Program, the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), the Creative Labour and Critical Futures project (CLCF/ UTSC), the Brazilian Institute of Science and Technology / Informational Sovereignty and Disputes (INCT/DSI), the Institute for Inclusive Economies and Sustainable Livelihoods (IIESL/ UTSC), the Centre for Learning, Social Economy & Work at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto (CLSEW/ OISE/UofT), the Knowledge Media Design Institute (KMDI/ UofT) and Data Privacy Brasil Research.
