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Those “prove you’re not a robot” CAPTCHA tests may be easy for you, but Tesla’s Autopilot systems still aren’t great at identifying the squares with the traffic signals. Thankfully, the EV giant hires real humans to assist the computers.

But on Tuesday morning, those same employees at Tesla’s Autopilot division sent an email to CEO Elon Musk alerting him to their intention to unionize. The workers are going through the same union that backed a sweeping and largely successful unionization drive amongst Starbucks workers. If that doesn’t give Musk a morning jolt, maybe a chai latte will.

Musk tweeted his skepticism of unions in 2018, and this came back to bite him (albeit mildly) in 2021 when the National Labor Relations Board ordered him to delete the tweet. The federal agency also forced Tesla to revise the confidentiality agreements it asked employees to sign and hire back a union organizer it had previously fired. This did nothing to stop Musk from continuing to publicly espouse his distaste for unions, which Tesla has managed to avoid despite being in automobiles, one of the most heavily unionized industries.

The workers behind Tuesday’s email are the ones who parse through footage from cameras on Tesla cars and label the different objects that appear, building the training data that allows the vehicle to tell the difference between, say, a stop sign and a child. It’s the type of meticulous labor nearly all Big Tech giants rely on, and the similarities don’t end there:

Off-Fording: While US Tesla workers clamor for unionization, European Ford employees might be asking their reps about redundancy packages. Ford announced Tuesday it will be cutting 11% of its European workforce, which translates to 3,800 jobs. Ford said the cuts were spurred partly by its desire to sell only electric cars by 2030 by slimming down its product lineup. Chalk up the pink slips to the green revolution.

-Isobel Asher Hamilton

Talk about filthy rich.

Investors, countries, and entire blocs are aiming to shift away from fossil fuels to cleaner energy alternatives. But hedge funds like Third Point, Makuria, and Odey are opting to be on the naughty list and seeing big returns on their investments in the coal industry, according to a new report in the Financial Times.

Let’s get this out of the way first: Coal is the dirtiest, unhealthiest, single most polluting way to produce energy — even more so than oil. And anyone who invests in it is often on the receiving end of a stink eye. But, coal is still used to produce one-third of the world’s energy, and global usage in 2022 was 1.2% higher than the previous year, according to the International Energy Agency. That equates to 8.8 billion tons in just one year.

While zero emissions and clean air are admirable goals, the hedge funds in question argue that the transition to renewable fuels is not going to happen overnight, especially as the planet navigates an energy crisis and Russia slashes its oil and natural gas flow to much of the Western world. In December, the UK even approved plans for a new coal plant for the first time in 30 years. Unsurprisingly, quite a few hedge funds are taking the “It’s nothing personal. It’s just business” approach to coal investments:

“It’s almost immoral not to invest in coal because of the reliance [by so many countries] on fossil fuels,” Makuria Founder Mans Larrson told the FT.

Is it Hot in Here? Our reliance on coal can create something of a negative feedback loop. Burning causes pollution, pollution causes climate change, climate change causes warmer temperatures. Winter in the Northern Hemisphere has been a lot milder this year. That’s not to say next year won’t be freezing cold, requiring more coal. Barry Norriss of Argonaut Capital told the FT that his group is shorting coal miner Thungela Resources. “It’s become a seasonal trade. Coal is very geared to natural gas, which is very geared to the weather,” he said. “We’ve avoided an energy crisis [in Europe] this year, but we may not be so lucky next year.”

-Griffin Kelly

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(Photo Credit: Jeffrey Smith/Flickr)

Please don’t tell Alexander Hamilton…

Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG), one of the biggest entities on the London West End theater scene, announced Tuesday it will merge with Broadway landlord Jujamcyn Theaters.

Although ATG is a distinctly West End outfit, it’s no stranger to the international stage. It owns 58 venues across the UK, Germany, and the US, including two Broadway theaters. Jujamcyn meanwhile owns five venues on Broadway (including the St. James and Al Hirschfield theaters), cementing the merged companies as easily Broadway’s third-largest operator with seven venues. The next-biggest landlord, the Nederlander Organization, only has two more, while the Shubert Organization has 17.

Though ATG is bigger than Jujamcyn, the relationship might not be totally lopsided. The New York Times reported Jujamcyn President Jordan Roth will continue to decide what shows go on at the five theaters he’s overseen for the last 14 years:

The terms of the merger have not been published and it is still subject to regulatory oversight, so there’s still plenty of room for extra… drama.

A Room With a Vue: Traditional theaters aren’t the only ones hopping on the consolidation train. Shares for British movie theater chain Cineworld (which also owns the US-based Regal Cinemas chain) popped as much as 28% Tuesday following reports it had a takeover offer from Vue International. This would come as a relief to Cineworld after prospective buyer AMC walked away from a proposed takeover deal in December. Talk about theatrics.

-Isobel Asher Hamilton