Manager’s dilemma
Mobilising by woke unions poses biggest challenge to employers in a generation
Higher wages. More time off. Better food in the canteen, flexible hours and protection from unfair dismissal. There are lots of issues where trade unions have traditionally tried to get a better deal for the workers they represent and sometimes succeeded.
But right now that is changing. A new breed of “woke unions” is starting to emerge demanding a permanent cultural revolution within the workplace. It is starting at tech giants such as Apple and Google, but it may not be long before it spreads to anywhere Generation Z, degreeeducated workers congregate.
The trouble is, the woke unions are a far bigger threat to companies than the traditional version ever was. The relationship between management and unions was often combative, but in the end they could usually haggle a deal.
The “woke unions” are not interested in compromises or conciliation. It is a long way from the National Union of Mineworkers, the GMB, or Unison, the kind of labour organisations that have dominated the trade union movement for the past century. The cloth caps, seaside conferences and negotiations over beer and sandwiches, are a distant memory.
Last week, a group of Apple workers launched a new organisation called Appletoo, presumably based on “Metoo”, the movement that exposed sexism. Its main aim is to “expose persistent patterns of racism, sexism, inequity, discrimination, intimidation, suppression, coercion, abuse, unfair punishment, and unchecked privilege” within the company.
It argues: “When we press for accountability and redress to the persistent injustices we witness or experience in our workplace, we are faced with a pattern of isolation, degradation, and gaslighting.” Cripes. Sounds bad. At least the new movement will bring workers together to change that.
It will not be alone. Staff at Alphabet, the owner of Google, have launched the Alphabet Workers Union. Its “demands”, if that is the right word for them, include ensuring “social and economic justice are paramount to achieving just outcomes”, that the company “prioritise the needs of the worst off ”, and that “all aspects of our work should be transparent, including the freedom to decline to work on projects that don’t align with our values” because “we need to know the impact of our work, whether it’s on Alphabet workers, our communities, or the world”. It could have come straight from any campus organisation.
It has started in Silicon Valley, perhaps inevitably. The tech giants have the most highly educated, politically liberal workforce in the world, even if they are hardly “oppressed” in any of the usual meanings of the word (the average salary at Apple is $98,000, while at Alphabet the median is $258,000).
Yet it seems inevitable that “woke” unions will soon start spreading to the banks, consultancies, law firms or life sciences, tech or media companies – anywhere degree-educated Gen Zs can be found in significant numbers.
Indeed, we are already seeing plenty of signs of that, such as the ousting last year of the KPMG boss Bill Michael after he suggested staff “stop moaning” and “playing the victim”, or the removal of Deloitte’s diversity and inclusion champion Dimple Agarwal after allegations of bullying.
There isn’t yet a Union of Consultancy Workers to monitor diversity, inclusiveness and gender sensitivity, but it can surely only be a matter of time.
Of course, staff are entitled to organise if they wish to, and they are allowed to voice an opinion about the company they work for. There is a big problem with the new breed of “woke unions”, however, and it is one that is going to get worse and worse in the years ahead.
Traditional unions had a set of clear, defined demands. They wanted better pay, to protect workers who had been unfairly treated, to make sure health and safety standards were respected and occasionally hold managers to account. In extremis, they would organise a strike, or some other form of industrial action, to force a decision.
They were certainly intent on maximising their own power, and were seldom shy about using it to get a better deal for their members. Despite all that, they were something that management could deal with.
They were part of a process by which the revenues a company generated were divided up between labour, management and shareholders. Sure, everyone wanted a bigger slice of the pie, and the relationship was often difficult, but a deal could nearly always be done.
The new “woke unions” are not interested in any of that. They have adopted the language of extreme political correctness, and they are intent on bringing it into the workplace. The only issues they are interested in are “values”, “social justice” and “equality”.
In effect, they are demanding a cultural overthrow of the organization. Management can’t haggle over their “values”, nor can they concede that it is up to the staff what projects they are willing to work on regardless of what the customers might want.
There is no room for compromise, or a negotiation or a bargain. The relationship between traditional unions and companies was combative, but they could live together, usually completely harmoniously even though there were sometimes violent clashes.
The “woke unions” are something different. They promise only permanent cultural warfare, chaos and disorganisation, with hierarchies turned upside down, managers removed on a whim or a flimsy accusation, customers ignored and profits, the ultimate measure of any free-market enterprise, dismissed as little more than an irrelevance.
They might be small right now, but if the “woke” unions keep on growing they will make the businesses they dominate completely unmanageable – and will turn into the biggest threat business has faced in a generation.