Culture of hustle can be the norm in technology companies in the age of AI, but work will stop tomorrow at the creators of Medium publishing platforms. Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine is allowing his employees to take the day off to participate in tomorrow’s event. national general strike to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.
The activists behind the general strike are call for “no work, no school and no shopping” amid a campaign to defund ICE, which has intensified raids in American cities, killing several people including two American citizens earlier this month in Minneapolis.
In a Slack message common Today, along with Medium staff, Stubblebine says all employees are free to participate in the strike as they see fit.
“Whether or not you want to take a full day off, or work a partial day, or direct your work toward something that seems consistent with the goals of the strike, is up to you,” he wrote in a general announcement channel.
The executive clarified that Medium is not “in the business of dictating people’s policies,” so the choice to participate was an individual choice and not a corporate mandate.
Of course, the publishing platform plays an important role in helping people share news, opinions, ideas, and analysis on politics, culture, and other topics. To allow its employees to take the day off to protest, Stubblebine said Medium would coordinate with the necessary teams to ensure there was a “business continuity” plan in place on Friday.
Technology leaders, including Google DeepMind Chief Scientist Jeff Dean, have been speaks openly in protest against ICE. Yet many executives and major tech companies have spent the past few weeks court favors with the Trump administration. Some leaders, including Tim Cook, Apple CEO – have been criticized for attend the screening of the Amazon MGM Studios-produced documentary “Melania” about the day federal immigration agents shot and killed critical care nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
In the meantime, many core technical employees have demanded that ICE and CBP leave US citiesas evidenced by by the open letter signed by more than 500 employees in the technology industry.
Stubblebine appears to share this opinion, writing that Medium has a responsibility to “clarify its position,” especially “as many other tech organizations are donating to the Trump campaign.” He also said that Medium’s product exists to help “elevate truth and diversity of voices,” not hateful content or racism.
Her post also reiterated Medium’s support for DEI, the set of pro-diversity policies that the Trump administration has attempted to dismantle through executive orders, eliminating DEI positions in the federal workforce, eliminating curriculums, legal targeting, and more.
“Our business thrives when the country prospers, and so being there to represent is good for [our] mission,” Stubblebine said.
