Anthropic staff were instructed to work from home this week due to a potential strike by security workers.
Anthropic employees in San Francisco were instructed to work from home on Monday and Tuesday to prepare for a potential strike by security workers. The AI company received a notice from its security staffing firm, Allied Universal, indicating that workers might go on strike during protracted contract negotiations for higher wages and better healthcare. While the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) noted they had not yet officially issued a strike threat for this week, Anthropic preemptively moved its staff to remote work to avoid disruption. This move comes as security spending increases across the tech industry, with Anthropic and OpenAI facing several threats against employees in recent years. Anthropic currently maintains a hybrid in-office policy and is expected to file for its initial public offering as soon as August. The company has reached a secondary market valuation of $1.5 billion.