Pickets and Power Bulletin [Mar 1, 2026]
Jack Dorsey bets on AI, fires 40% of Block staff; California educator strike wave spreads toward Sacramento; JBS meatpacking workers in Greeley prepare to strike; Paramount wins bidding war for WBD
Ex-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey bets on AI, fires 40% of Block staff; California educator strike wave spreads toward Sacramento; JBS meatpacking workers in Greeley prepare to strike; Paramount wins bidding war for Warner Bros Discovery
Ex-Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey bets on AI, fires 40% of Block staff
Block, the payments company led by former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, announced it will cut more than 4,000 jobs – nearly 40% of its workforce – arguing that rapid advances in AI mean companies can operate with far fewer workers. In a letter to employees, Dorsey wrote: “Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company… A significantly smaller team… can do more and do it better.” He also argued that most companies will soon reach the same conclusion, which could mean a wave of similar layoffs coming to tech.
Wall Street immediately rewarded the announcement. Block’s stock jumped more than 20% in after-hours trading, adding billions in market value within hours – a clear signal that investors are betting big on AI-driven cost cutting.
The move reflects a growing pattern across tech: layoffs justified by plans for expansive AI implementation to replace human labor. The cycle highlights how speculation around AI productivity is driving layoffs and instability across the industry, with workers absorbing the risk while investors chase future gains in a speculative bubble many believe is on the verge of bursting.
California educator strike wave spreads toward Sacramento
California’s statewide “We Can’t Wait” campaign is entering a new stage as multiple school districts move closer to walkouts. In the Sacramento area, Twin Rivers educators announced they could begin the district’s first-ever strike as early as March 5 if bargaining fails after fact-finding concludes. Educators are demanding the district spend today’s dollars on today’s students. The district has the largest percentage of high needs students across the entire state, and yet the district leadership continues to withhold available funding provided to specifically support those students.
In Oakland, educators have reached a tentative agreement with the district following a strike authorization vote, making gains on their core issues including 11-13% raises over two years and improved staffing and services for students. Oakland educators have a strong history of successful strikes in recent years, including in 2023, 2019, and 1996. These past strikes and the credible threat pushed the district over the line to settle.
These fights follow San Francisco educators’ recent strike victory where educators struck for the first time since 1979, winning a historic contract. This has given educators across the state a confidence boost as they continue to fight for the schools students deserve, and has put school district leadership across the state a clear message to settle now or face their own strikes.
JBS meatpacking workers in Greeley prepare to strike
Workers at the JBS beef plant in Greeley, Colorado – a largely immigrant workforce at one of the largest meatpacking facilities in the country – voted overwhelmingly to authorize an unfair labor practice strike. As negotiations drag on, the members are preparing to strike if no deal is reached. UFCW Local 7 members have called out the company’s unsafe factory conditions, abuses by management on the factory floor, and management’s disrespectful and illegal conduct at the bargaining table.
JBS is the largest meat processing company in the world after years of aggressive expansion and acquisition of other brands. A strike would be the first sanctioned walkout at a major U.S. meatpacking plant in decades. Meat processing plants commonly hire large immigrant workforces who they exploit and abuse with the implicit threat of using their immigration status against them. Many Haitian immigrant workers at the JBS plant worried they may lose their TPS visa status due to the Trump administration threats to strip visa status from hundreds of thousands of Haitian refugees.
Despite these tactics of fear and division, workers are preparing to shut down the plant. Over 10,000 Kroger grocery workers with UFCW Local 7 struck last year demanding a fair contract. The current strike threat puts pressure on one of the most strategic sectors in the food supply chain, taking on another corporate food giant.
Paramount wins bidding war for Warner Bros Discovery
Netflix has withdrawn its bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), leaving Paramount as the leading bidder in what has become one of the largest media acquisition fights in industry history. Paramount’s offer, which exceeds $100 billion, highlights the scale of consolidation reshaping Hollywood as studios scramble to survive the streaming wars, rising production costs, and rapid technological change.
The deal would further concentrate ownership in an industry already dominated by a handful of corporations. At the same time, studios are restructuring around streaming models, expanding the use of AI in production workflows, and shifting more work overseas to chase tax incentives and lower labor costs – all trends that put pressure on union standards and stable employment.
Paramount’s bid is backed financially by billionaire Larry Ellison, with leadership tied to his son, David Ellison. The Ellison-backed expansion comes as media ownership and political influence increasingly overlap, raising concerns among workers and industry observers about how consolidation shapes both cultural power and labor conditions.
Regardless of which company prevails, workers have historically borne the cost of media megamergers. Consolidation typically brings layoffs as companies eliminate overlapping departments, cut development pipelines, and rely more heavily on existing content libraries rather than new productions. For Hollywood workers already facing instability after strikes, streaming disruptions, and shrinking production schedules, another merger could mean fewer jobs and greater leverage for studios at the bargaining table.
Read our interview with Rhianna Shaheen with IATSE in LA for more, linked below.
BONUS ROUND
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