More than 200 Google and Alphabet employees signed union cards with the Communications Workers of America union, forming the Alphabet Workers Union.
The leaders of the newly formed union detailed their concerns in a New York Times op-ed. "We built Google," the headline reads. "This is not the company we want to work for."
Silicon Valley has not been receptive to unionization efforts in the past, and Google faced criticism from employees last year for deciding to work with IRI Consultants, a workplace consultant firm with a history of union-busting.
In December, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against Google alleging the company violated labor law by spying on workers who organized protests against the company before firing them — restricting the employees' right to engage in collective action about issues in the workplace even if the workers do not belong to a union.
Google also made headlines last year after it fired Timni Gebru, a prominent artificial intelligence researcher who criticized the company for its "lack of progress in hiring women and minorities as well as biases built into its artificial intelligence technology."
As a result, Google employees have taken an "unconventional" approach to forming a union, according to the Washington Post. Rather than holding an election with the NLRB, the Alphabet Workers Union was formed without federal ratification — a move that limits the union's heft and denies the union collective bargaining rights.
Nevertheless, union executives Parul Koul and Chewy Shaw said that 226 Google and Alphabet employees signing union cards with the CWA was "the first step in winning a recognized bargaining unit under U.S. law."
The new union will have elected leaders and dues-paying members, according to the op-ed statement and "will be open to all Alphabet workers, regardless of classification," emphasizing that about half of Google's employees are lower-paid temp positions, vendors, and contractors who "receive fewer benefits, and have little job stability compared with full-time employees."
"They are also more likely to be Black or brown — a segregated employment system that keeps half of the company’s work force in second-class roles," Koul and Shaw wrote. "Our union will seek to undo this grave inequity."
The CWA represents more than 700,000 members across the United States, including tens of thousands without collective bargaining rights.
"This union builds upon years of courageous organizing by Google workers,” Nicki Anselmo, a program manager for Google, said in a statement. “From fighting the ‘real names’ policy, to opposing Project Maven, to protesting the egregious, multi-million dollar payouts that have been given to executives who’ve committed sexual harassment, we’ve seen first-hand that Alphabet responds when we act collectively."
Kara Silverstein, the director of People Operations at Google, told the Washington Examiner that the company supported its employees' labor rights but would continue to address issues with its employees directly.
"We've always worked hard to create a supportive and rewarding workplace for our workforce," Silverstein said. "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."
