Google workers launch rare tech union

Employees want input on range of issues, including ethics

A group of Google engineers and other workers announced Monday they have formed a union, creating a rare foothold for the labor movement in the tech industry.

About 225 employees at Google and its parent company Alphabet are the first duespaying members of the Alphabet Workers Union. They represent a fraction of Alphabet’s workforce, far short of the threshold needed to get formal recognition as a collective bargaining group in the U.S.

But the new union, which will be affiliated with the larger Communication Workers of America, says it will serve as a “structure that ensures Google workers can actively push for real changes at the company.“Its members say they want more of a voice not just on wages, benefits and protections against discrimination and harassment but also broader ethical questions about how Google pursues its business ventures.

The unionization campaign is the latest signal from employees who don’t believe the company is living up to its professed ideals, as expressed in its original “Don’t be evil” slogan.

Google said Monday that it’s tried to create a supportive and rewarding workplace but suggested it won’t be negotiating directly with the union.

“Of course our employees have protected labor rights that we support,“said a statement from Kara Silverstein, the company’s director of people operations. “But as we’ve always done, we’ll continue engaging directly with all our employees.”

Unionization campaigns haven’t historically been able to gain much traction among elite tech workers, who get hefty salaries and other perks like free food and shuttle rides to work.

But workplace activism at Google and other big tech firms has grown in recent years as employees call for better handling of sexual harassment and discrimination and avoiding harmful uses of the products they’re helping to build and sell.

Many employees began seeing the power of their workplace activism in 2018 when an internal outcry led Google to abandon its work supplying the Pentagon with artificial intelligence services for conflict zones.

Later in 2018, thousands of Google employees walked out to protest how the company handled sexual misconduct allegations against executives.