<![CDATA[The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing.]]>The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing.

Contributors are raising concerns about loss of community-focused engineering, possible union busting and growing disconnect between WMF leadership and volunteers

A solidarity initiative is now underway across Wikimedia projects.

Read more & consider supporting:

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Community response to WMF layoffs and labor concerns - Wikitech-l - lists.wikimedia.org

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(lists.wikimedia.org)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/topic/e3d0596e-5535-4e14-8101-3a9eea5f67af/the-wikimedia-foundation-has-dissolved-the-community-tech-team-and-laid-off-5-engineers-1-manager-while-unionization-efforts-are-ongoing.RSS for NodeFri, 05 Jun 2026 06:52:56 GMTThu, 21 May 2026 21:03:26 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Sun, 24 May 2026 05:36:02 GMT]]>@neriman NB: in the jurisdiction where I live, the suspicion that an employer fired staff because they wanted to unionize may lead to criminal investigations ✊

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://machteburch.social/users/Boerdejakobiner/statuses/116627928683630870https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://machteburch.social/users/Boerdejakobiner/statuses/116627928683630870Sun, 24 May 2026 05:36:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Sat, 23 May 2026 23:13:09 GMT]]>@neriman @greenbone They always say that.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.hackers.town/users/drwho/statuses/116626423106184333https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://masto.hackers.town/users/drwho/statuses/116626423106184333Sat, 23 May 2026 23:13:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Sat, 23 May 2026 21:47:49 GMT]]>@yoasif @neriman Even before LLMs were implemented, the corpus was routinely used elsewhere, usually in conformance to the license but sometimes violating the copyrights of the contributors.

Do you think use as training data violates the CC license the corpus is licensed with?

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/BoydStephenSmithJr/statuses/116626087590518256https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://hachyderm.io/users/BoydStephenSmithJr/statuses/116626087590518256Sat, 23 May 2026 21:47:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Sat, 23 May 2026 18:23:49 GMT]]>@neriman I've sent an email to stop my recurring donations to WMF, and stated the reason as their union-busting practices.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://burnthis.town/users/Kiloku/statuses/116625285442675693https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://burnthis.town/users/Kiloku/statuses/116625285442675693Sat, 23 May 2026 18:23:49 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Sat, 23 May 2026 18:22:14 GMT]]>@deborahh @ShaulaEvans you can sign if you have Wikipedia account, you can also help by spreading the word:

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Take Action

How to take action for Wiki Workers United as part of the Wikimedia Community

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Wiki Workers United (wikiworkersunited.org)

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wikis.world/users/neriman/statuses/116625279166481212https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wikis.world/users/neriman/statuses/116625279166481212Sat, 23 May 2026 18:22:14 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Sat, 23 May 2026 18:16:35 GMT]]>@neriman It was always a bad foundation. They beg for money like they are going to die while giving huge bonuses to executives. I stopped donating after discovering that the campaigns are severely misleading

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://bolha.us/users/SkyLuke/statuses/116625256959436193https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://bolha.us/users/SkyLuke/statuses/116625256959436193Sat, 23 May 2026 18:16:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Fri, 22 May 2026 20:54:04 GMT]]>@neriman @ShaulaEvans wow, that "sign the petition is too geeky for me". I guess it's intended for wikipedidia contributors.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/deborahh/statuses/116620213919104984https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/deborahh/statuses/116620213919104984Fri, 22 May 2026 20:54:04 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Fri, 22 May 2026 18:00:18 GMT]]>@neriman This strike is so strange - it has nothing to do with the fact that contributions are being stolen and sold off to LLM companies, and is focused on layoff.

The actual corpus is being stolen, and people are quibbling over some jobs that people are getting paid for - while the volunteer community is being robbed wholesale.

The staff may be losing their job, but you are working for free and all you want is for some other people to get paid as you get robbed.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/yoasif/statuses/116619530607212812https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.social/users/yoasif/statuses/116619530607212812Fri, 22 May 2026 18:00:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Fri, 22 May 2026 15:20:05 GMT]]>@neriman incredible /s

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.tudbut.de/objects/fb6cd67b-4977-4f08-adf3-227105ed8de5https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://social.tudbut.de/objects/fb6cd67b-4977-4f08-adf3-227105ed8de5Fri, 22 May 2026 15:20:05 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Fri, 22 May 2026 11:56:42 GMT]]>@kouett merci ! great display name btw

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wikis.world/users/tamzin/statuses/116618100911853299https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wikis.world/users/tamzin/statuses/116618100911853299Fri, 22 May 2026 11:56:42 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Fri, 22 May 2026 11:26:29 GMT]]>@tamzin @neriman good! thank you for the effort and keep going :3
good luck]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://soc.kouett.net.eu.org/objects/0be8f238-63c8-422b-b904-60e682bc6d7ahttps://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://soc.kouett.net.eu.org/objects/0be8f238-63c8-422b-b904-60e682bc6d7aFri, 22 May 2026 11:26:29 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Fri, 22 May 2026 11:18:46 GMT]]>@kouett @neriman The English Wikipedia community is already discussing an editorial strike (conditional upon it being requested by Wiki Workers United). At the moment we have 113 signatories, who collectively have made over 3,000,000 edits and written about 700 of our best articles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Village_pump_(WMF)#Petition:_Editors_willing_to_join_in_collective_labor_action

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wikis.world/users/tamzin/statuses/116617951761463942https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wikis.world/users/tamzin/statuses/116617951761463942Fri, 22 May 2026 11:18:46 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Fri, 22 May 2026 10:14:05 GMT]]>@JoscelynTransient https://wikis.world/@neriman/116617693032716925

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wikis.world/users/neriman/statuses/116617697404267825https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wikis.world/users/neriman/statuses/116617697404267825Fri, 22 May 2026 10:14:05 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Fri, 22 May 2026 10:12:58 GMT]]>@greenbone That's exactly what many editors are worried about. Wikipedia's public trust comes from being community-driven and not behaving like a typical tech corporation.

By the way, WMF has stated that the layoffs were not related to unionization efforts and says it will respect the legal unionization process.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wikis.world/users/neriman/statuses/116617693032716925https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wikis.world/users/neriman/statuses/116617693032716925Fri, 22 May 2026 10:12:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Fri, 22 May 2026 09:00:40 GMT]]>@neriman wow, now I've seen it all

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://ohai.social/ap/users/115628614496668967/statuses/116617408678458943https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://ohai.social/ap/users/115628614496668967/statuses/116617408678458943Fri, 22 May 2026 09:00:40 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Fri, 22 May 2026 08:46:51 GMT]]>@neriman This Christmas past might be the last Christmas I give a donation to the Wikipedia website. I have seen vague rumors of shenangans about content and now this. Also they only used to ask for donations once a year, and when you gave they stopped asking for donations for that year. I was so impressed by that. It made me feel that here was a true community not in an endless chase of the dollar. I forget when that stopped and now seems like a continous begging alarm about how bad things are.

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.world/users/DespotOCosmos/statuses/116617354403032280https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://mastodon.world/users/DespotOCosmos/statuses/116617354403032280Fri, 22 May 2026 08:46:51 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Fri, 22 May 2026 08:11:10 GMT]]>@kouett I sent this message to multiple mailing lists

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wikis.world/users/neriman/statuses/116617214055072920https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://wikis.world/users/neriman/statuses/116617214055072920Fri, 22 May 2026 08:11:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Fri, 22 May 2026 08:04:37 GMT]]>@neriman you should contact the wikipedia projects. tell them how this decision will hurt them too.

make as much noise as possible. fuck shit up. let it be know theyre union busting assholes. I hope everyone hears you loud and clear! good luck for the fight - its not over]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://soc.kouett.net.eu.org/objects/0b32b5c7-7cde-4b3e-b9a8-c8446e34e7d5https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://soc.kouett.net.eu.org/objects/0b32b5c7-7cde-4b3e-b9a8-c8446e34e7d5Fri, 22 May 2026 08:04:37 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Fri, 22 May 2026 07:28:58 GMT]]>@neriman the union busting behavior is atrocious, and undermines the great work that actual workers at wikimedia do. The management of the org needs to stop being shitheads and respect their people, because they’re the ones who actually *do* what wikimedia does

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://chaosfem.tw/users/JoscelynTransient/statuses/116617048101575958https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://chaosfem.tw/users/JoscelynTransient/statuses/116617048101575958Fri, 22 May 2026 07:28:58 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to The Wikimedia Foundation has dissolved the Community Tech team and laid off 5 engineers + 1 manager while unionization efforts are ongoing. on Fri, 22 May 2026 06:05:27 GMT]]>@neriman possible of coming next? at community driven projects is a scandal

]]>https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://tooting.ch/users/greenbone/statuses/116616719702375391https://board.circlewithadot.net/post/https://tooting.ch/users/greenbone/statuses/116616719702375391Fri, 22 May 2026 06:05:27 GMT