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Too hot to work, reclaim your tech, the myth of the middle class, and more

It’s too hot to work, but you can join a Summer book club on radically collaborative organizing, reclaim your tech, and pierce through the myth of the middle class. All that, plus some fun activities and news for tech workers in this month's update.
Collage of a hot face emoji, a git diff, weather forecasts, radical graffiti, and flying fediverse mascottes.
Table of Contents

Too hot to work. Heat strike anyone? #

How are you coping with the heat? As I write this, indoor temperatures are approaching 28˚C, which is apparently the maximum to safely perform ‘light indoors office work’, according to the Arboportaal. If your job involves laying fibre-optic cables or other forms of very strenuous physical activity, then you should only work at temperatures of at most 23˚C (or 25˚C if there’s a significant breeze). (Note, these are recommended levels, not legally binding maximums.)

Heatwave forecast for the Netherlands
Meteorological agency KNMI's forecast for dangerous heat levels in late June 2026

Working in a too-hot workplace can be dangerous. Exhaustion can leave you and your coworkers unable to concentrate, which could lead to errors and injury. You could risk heat-related conditions such as dehydration, heat stroke, or even death. Heat is becoming a daily occupational hazard for many workers in the Netherlands, and realistically, it’s only going to get worse.

If it’s too hot at your workplace, your boss may have to take measures, such as: offering you personal protective equipment, chilled drinks, shortening hours or even scrapping work entirely for that day. You’re allowed to consult with the arbodienst (occupational health and safety agency) about measures.

But what if your boss doesn’t act? In the UK, a coalition of labour unions and environmental action groups including the Trades Union Congress, the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, the Fire Brigades Union, and Extinction Rebellion are calling for legally binding maximum temperatures, and call on workers to enact a heat strike should temperature rise above certain levels. Idea?

Two panels. Panel 1: CEO quote stating that they don’t want workers who only care about money. Panel 2 is headed ‘Same CEO’ and shows a joker figure sitting on piles and piles of money.
Bosses will be bossin’

Upcoming events #

Want to meet other tech workers? Join one of the upcoming events:

Also feel free to add any interesting events to the calendar.

New resources #

Reclaim your tech! #

Fediverse mascottes cheerfully fly away on a rocket towards the future, under the heading ‘gegoogle the internet’.

Learn how to step away from the big tech platforms and reclaim your sanity, privacy and control of your data. From search engines to messengers to running your own email. A fresh video guide to help you get started.

Watch ‘Reclaim Your Tech!’

There is no ‘middle’ between working and owning #

Radical graffiti stating ‘you are not a tech bro you are a modern day factory worker’

Why is it that many tech workers don’t really see themselves as workers? This article dives into the pernicious ‘myth of the middle class’: the idea that there’s some class category in between that of worker and owner, always just one startup removed from becoming a millionaire. And guess what? It’s a trap.

Read the article

Reddit post of someone describing the satisfaction of being able to delete the majority of code in an inherited vibe-coded repository.
Ah! The joys of a good cleanup

On the radar #

Some news crumbs that caught tech workers’ attention this month:

Bye for now! tech workers unite ✌️

✧･ﾟ* written by humans *･ﾟ✧