Google Workers Form Union, a First for Big Tech

Over 200 employees of Google announced Monday that they had formed a union, in a watershed moment for organized labor in Silicon Valley. Though the last decade has seen substantial strife between major tech corporations and their workers on issues around office culture, diversity and ethics, organized labor efforts have been largely quashed in the white collar world of Big Tech. But in Monday’s announcement, 226 Google workers across cities in the US and Canada revealed that they signed cards with the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU). The new coalition takes its name from Google’s parent company, Alphabet.

While the AWU has the support of the Communications Workers of America, a larger collective of media and telecom workers, the Google union does not yet have collective bargaining rights, nor does it represent the vast majority of the company’s workforce. (The New York Times reports that Google employs 260,000 full-time and contract workers).

Still, the move is significant, reflecting years of grievances from workers at one of the world’s most powerful tech giants.

Rise of the Union

In recent years, activism has flared among Google employees, who have called-out out the company’s handling of sexual harassment, its work with the Pentagon, and its reliance on contract workers who typically do not receive the benefits of full-time employees. But the new union says that its purpose is to “build a structure and create worker power,” adding that all employees—full-time or contract—are welcome to join.

The leaders of the AWU, Parul Koul and Chewy Shaw, are software engineers for the company. In an op-ed for The Times, they explained that their union “will work to ensure that workers know what they’re working on, and can do their work at a fair wage, without fear of abuse, retaliation or discrimination.”

They also accused Google of engaging in reprehensible behavior, at the price of its workers. “Our bosses have collaborated with repressive governments around the world,” they wrote. “They have developed artificial intelligence technology for use by the Department of Defense and profited from ads by a hate group. They have failed to make the changes necessary to meaningfully address our retention issues with people of color.”

Google’s Sated Response

Kara Silverstein, Director of People Operations at Google, released a brief response to the news on Monday:

“We’ve always worked hard to create a supportive and rewarding workplace for our workforce. Of course our employees have protected labor rights that we support. But as we’ve always done, we’ll continue engaging directly with all our employees.”

The reference to “engaging directly with all our employees” is likely a dig at the union, which it does not acknowledge. But Google has a history of discouraging—if not suppressing—organized labor within its ranks. Last month, federal labor authorities alleged that Google broke the law by terminating two workers involved with labor organizing. The suit claims that Google obtained that information through employee surveillance.

Still, news of the Google union could set-off a fleet of similar organizations across Big Tech. Last year, tech workers at Kickstarter made headlines when they unionized, forming the first recognized white collar union in the industry. And workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama will vote later this month over whether to form that company’s first-ever union.

And as Big Tech continues to grow and gain power, fighting off federal antitrust inquiries along the way, talk of organized labor is only likely to increase.

Reprinted with permission from https://werax.com/google-workers-form-union-a-first-for-big-tech/