In what can be termed as a rarity in the silicon valley, a group of Google employees formed a labour union. More than two hundred employees of Google’s parent company Alphabet and Google, have come together to form a union. Although the number of people in the union is far below the threshold for the numbers needed to get formal recognition as a union, the move has definitely shocked many.
This union will be affiliated to Communication Workers of America and says it will be a structure that ensures Google workers can actively push for real changes at the company. The union members say they want more of a voice not just on wages, grievances, benefits and protection against discrimination and harassment but also on the ethics of Google’s practices.
Google software engineer Chewy Shaw, who has been elected to the new union’s executive council, believes the union needed to be formed because of employees being asked to leave due to workplace activism.
The communications director of the union, Beth Allen said “One of the reasons why it’s taken a while for workers to get to this point is because the leaders of these companies did a good job of convincing workers they were these benevolent folks who were going to provide for them, kind of a paternalistic model (sic.)”
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The National Labor Relations Board typically recognizes petitions to form new unions when they get interest from at least 30% of employees in a given location or job classification in the United States. Alphabet has a global workforce of 1,20,000. While the number of members in the union might look like a tiny fraction, various other silicon valley giants will be watching this story develop with keen eyes.
