Google Employees Form Union to Push for Changes
January 04 2021 - 1:20PM
Dow Jones News
By Sarah E. Needleman
A group of Google employees has formed a union to organize
workers across the technology company's sprawling global
operations, a rare move within Silicon Valley and one that reflects
growing employee activism in the sector.
Representatives said the Alphabet Workers Union -- which is
currently backed by around 200 workers, a tiny fraction of the tech
company's more than 132,000 employees -- will be affiliated with
Communications Workers of America Local 1400 and is the first one
open to employees and contractors at any Alphabet Inc. company. The
union will be supported by dues-paying members, organizers
said.
Google employees are among the best-paid workers in American
corporations and enjoy ample perks, and members said the union's
immediate goal isn't collective bargaining or formal recognition by
Alphabet. The push instead reflects a need for employees to be able
to speak out about the company without facing career repercussions,
they said.
Organizing efforts began over a year ago, part of a continuing
tide of activism within Google. In 2018, thousands of employees
staged a walkout to protest a workplace culture that they said
promotes and protects perpetrators of sexual harassment. Employees
had previously also criticized the company's work with the Defense
Department and its plan to explore a censored search engine for
Chinese citizens.
Members said Google has retaliated against employees critical of
the company and done little to address complaints of discrimination
and harassment.
"We've always worked hard to create a supportive and rewarding
workplace for our workforce," said Kara Silverstein, Google's
director of people operations. "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."
Organizers also cited the recent firing of a Black
artificial-intelligence researcher in reflecting the need for
employee activism. Timnit Gebru late last year said she was fired
by Google after refusing to retract a research paper and
complaining about the company in an email to colleagues, saying it
ignored her feedback on issues like the proportion of female
employees. In a December memo, Chief Executive Sundar Pichai
pledged the company would review the circumstances behind the
researcher's exit, including "where we could have improved and led
a more respectful process."
"I've heard the reaction to Dr. Gebru's departure loud and
clear: it seeded doubts and led some in our community to question
their place at Google," Mr. Pichai wrote in the memo. "I want to
say how sorry I am for that, and I accept the responsibility of
working to restore your trust."
Google has long supported open debate among employees, though it
has implemented rules intended to curb political conversations
among staff. Google has also added corporate moderators to many of
its internal affinity groups as a way to reduce strife. It
announced changes last year to how it treats allegations of sexual
misconduct in its executive ranks and put $310 million into a new
fund for diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Unionization is rare within the ranks of Silicon Valley's tech
companies, and Google's U.S. white-collar workforce hadn't
previously been represented by a union. Median pay at Alphabet,
whose operations include internet search, digital video and online
advertising, was $258,708 in 2019, according to company
filings.
Google late last year announced the hiring of a chief people
officer following the resignation of its vice president of people
operations, Eileen Naughton. The new executive, Fiona Clare
Cicconi, was previously human-resources chief at pharmaceutical
company AstraZeneca PLC.
Several large tech companies have faced pressures from their
workforces of late. Workers at an Amazon.com Inc. warehouse in
Alabama received approval last month to hold a unionization vote,
the first such election since 2014 at the nation's second-largest
employer. Amazon has faced criticism from workers who have said the
company hasn't provided proper safety conditions at its warehouses
in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Some have also complained
of being retaliated against for urging better treatment of workers
as they handled an extraordinary surge in orders amid elevated
staff absences.
Amazon has said that its teams regularly consult with medical
experts to ensure the safety of its sites, employees and customers.
The company has denied firing workers for seeking better treatment
and also denied that people were terminated or reprimanded for
violating internal policies.
The Communications Workers of America union and its affiliates
represent 700,000 workers at a range of telecommunications and
media companies, from AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc.
to news outlets including the New York Times and The Wall Street
Journal. The unionization effort at Google is part of a broader
push within the labor group to organize digital workers.
"Activism can rise and fall depending on things that are
fleeting," said Beth Allen, a spokeswoman for the CWA. A union
allows workers to hold companies accountable over the long term,
she said, adding that the small number of initial participants in
Google's union isn't a concern. "It doesn't take a lot of workers
to make change," Ms. Allen said.
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Write to Sarah E. Needleman at sarah.needleman@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 04, 2021 13:05 ET (18:05 GMT)
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