GOOGLE EMPLOYEES IN US ORGANIZE LABOR UNION

More than 200 employees and contractors at Google parent Alphabet Inc. in the United States and Canada have formed a labor union to promote workplace equity and ethical business practices, the group’s elected leaders said, Paresh Dave and Ayanti Bera reported for Reuters.

The Alphabet Workers Union (AWU) will collect dues of 1% of total compensation from members, according to its website. The funds will cover paid organizers, events, legal support and wages for members in the event of a labor strike.

AWU members will be part of the Communications Workers of America Local 1400, which also includes employees from Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc. The group’s formation builds on unprecedented protests by Google workers in recent years.

While the tech industry has seen minimal union activity and worker pushback historically, thousands of people at Alphabet had banded together to publicly criticize Google’s handling of sexual harassment complaints, its work with the US military and other issues.

Unlike many budding unions, the newly formed group does not expect to collective bargain with Alphabet over pay and working conditions any time soon. Instead, it aims to create a more formal structure to organize future protests.

“Our union will work to ensure that workers know what they’re working on, and can do their work at a fair wage, without fear of abuse, retaliation or discrimination,” Google engineers Parul Koul and Chewy Shaw wrote in a New York Times opinion piece on Monday announcing the union.

Koul is the executive chair of the Alphabet Workers Union, and Shaw vice chair. Alphabet Workers Union members will be part of the Communications Workers of America Local 1400, which also includes employees from Verizon Communications Inc and AT&T Inc.

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