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How algorithms wreaked havoc with these workers' schedules and cut their pay
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Interpreter Yves Valerus speaks at a LanguageLine press conference in front of New York City Hall in April.
Key facts
- Tax forms Valerus provided to the workers and seen by NPR show that her income from LanguageLine fell 18% from 2024 to 2025
- This kind of scheduling technology that tried to match workers' hours with customer demand affected retail workers hard over a decade ago, prompting New York's Attorney General to investigate 13
- These are not pre-ordained outcomes of the software," said Carlos Aramayo, president of UNITE HERE Local 26, which represents hospitality and restaurant workers, in Senate testimony last year
- In 2025, over 200 LanguageLine interpreters signed a petition to protest the company's reductions to their hours
Summary
For a year and a half, Yves Valerus was working a stable, full time job with a regular weekly schedule, a set hourly rate and benefits. But in 2025, Valerus's hours were cut and became fragmented and unpredictable after her employer experienced a business downturn and started using new scheduling software. By the end of the year, her pay was almost 20% less than the prior year. To try to counter these changes, Valerus and some of her fellow workers are trying to unionize with the Communications Workers of America. Valerus and her colleagues are some of the latest workers to encounter the effects of algorithmic scheduling.