.png){kind=logo} | |
| Founded | January 4, 2021; 5 years ago (2021-01-04) |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Members | 1,200 (Oct. 2022) |
| Affiliations | Campaign to Organize Digital Employees, CWALocal 9009 |
| Website | alphabetworkersunion |
Alphabet Workers Union (AWU), also informally referred to as theGoogle Union,[1][2][3] is an Americantrade union of workers employed atAlphabet Inc.,Google's parent company, with a membership of over 800, in a company with 130,000 employees, not including temps, contractors, and vendors in the United States.[4][2] It was announced on January 4, 2021, with an initial membership of over 400,[5] after over a year of secret organizing, and the union includes all types of workers at Alphabet, including full-time,temporary, vendors andcontractors of all job types.
It has been called aminority union and asolidarity union.[6] AWU itself is not registered with theNational Labor Relations Board and cannot engage incollective bargaining.[7][2][8] In March 2022, subcontractors ofGoogle Fiber became the first members within the AWU to gain NLRB recognition.
On 4 February 2021, union members expressed support of data center workers, including Shannon Wait, employed throughAdecco contractor, who were demanding the right to drink water at work and discussing wages and other working conditions. Subsequently, Wait was suspended by the company for her pro-union activities, which AWU protested against through a legal charge.[9] On 10 February, the union announced Wait was re-admitted to work after pressure from the union.[10]
Members have stated that their union fights to improve workers' wages; fights against abuse, retaliation and discrimination; and advocates on behalf of disadvantaged workers at Google such as contractors.[7][11] It also fights to stopsexual harassment in the workplace[12] and aims to stop Google from allowing its social media platforms such asYouTube to function as a hub for right-wing extremism andwhite supremacy.[2]
Union members have argued that Alphabet has the ability to act in a wrongful manner for the sake of profit, and that forming a union allows workers to improve the world through pressuring the company to drop its bad practices and ensure tech labor is used for good purposes. Union members have also asserted that the company has retaliated against workers for speaking out, and that unionization allows workers to have a say in how certain company matters are run. The union itself serves as a mechanism for workers to speak safely, granting protection via collective strength and solidarity.[13]
The Alphabet Workers Union itself is notrecognized by the National Labor Relations Board. This is both due to difficulty of formally organizing a large company and also the different tiers of employment contracts.[7] In March 2022, subcontractors ofGoogle Fiber became the first within the AWU to gain NLRB recognition.[14]
In February 2023, 40Cognizant contractors who worked ascontent moderators forYouTube Music went on Google's firststrike in protest of change toremote work policy that would require them to go to the office inAustin, Texas.[15] A ruling in March 2023 by the NLRB regarding the liability of Google injoint-employment relations would mean that Google could be directly held liable for treatment of their sub-contracted companies. In April 2023, the contractors voted 41–0 to form the YouTube Music Union.[16][17] Google would be obligated to negotiate with them, even though they are directly employed byCognizant.[16] In March 2024, the 43 contractors were notified of their termination by Cognizant during a live session with theAustin City Council. Google stated that these members of the union were not Google employees, and that the termination was simply due to the contract ending.[18] The council passed aresolution asking Google to negotiate with the workers.[18][19]
In November 2023,Accenture contract workers at Google voted to form a union. This unionization effort started in June when contractors were asked to handle lewdprompts from the initialBard chatbot.[20][21] Google appealed the NLRB's designation of them as a joint-employer with Accenture.[17] Google denies being an employer as of December 2024[update], so AWU signed a collective agreement with just Accenture in the meantime. The agreement banskeystroke logging (a form ofemployee monitoring), guarantees permanent remote work, amongst other things. It would apply to the 25 employees.
The AWU is somewhat unusual in that it is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America but won't seek recognition or collective bargaining rights through the National Labor Relations Board. "We will use our reclaimed power to control what we work on and how it is used," AWU writes in its mission statement. "We will ensure Alphabet acts ethically and in the best interests of society and the environment." The group says it now has more than 700 dues-paying members. But that's still a tiny percentage of Alphabet's 130,000 employees—and an even smaller share of the company's total workforce, including temporary workers, contractors, and vendors. The union is unusual in another respect, because it welcomes contractors and temporary workers.
| Subsidiaries |
| ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| People |
| ||||||||||||||
