Pamela Cruz. Peninsula 360 Press [P360P].
About 225 engineers from Google, as well as other companies belonging to the parent company Alphabet, announced Monday the formation of a union, which will be a fulcrum to generate a change in the structure of the company.
According to Parul Koul, executive president of the Alphabet Workers Union, and Chewy Shaw, vice president of that union, "at Google and other subsidiaries of Alphabet, Google's parent company, we've had our workplace concerns dismissed by management."
In a letter published in the New York Times, they mention as background last November 1, 2018, when employees stopped working and abandoned their posts in some cities around the world, to demonstrate for inappropriate behaviors in the company.
The company paid tens of millions of dollars to two executives who had been accused of sexual misconduct toward workers, keeping quiet about the alleged abuse and letting them go without any consequences for their actions.
They also said the company has used workers' knowledge to collaborate with "repressive governments around the world. They have developed artificial intelligence technology for use by the Department of Defense," to name just a few issues.
"For those who are skeptical of unions or believe that tech companies are more innovative without unions, we want to point out that these and more important problems persist," as discrimination and harassment continues.
Union leaders said that "Alphabet continues to crack down on those who dare to speak out and prevents workers from raising sensitive and publicly important issues," and every time they organize to demand change, executives make only token promises.
As such, 226 employees signed union cards with the Communications Workers of America, representing the first step in gaining a recognized bargaining unit under U.S. law. "In other words, we are forming a union.
According to Koul and Shaw, they have created an elected leadership and representative structure with dues-paying members, so the union will be open to all Alphabet workers, regardless of classification.
And that's because half of Google's workers are temps, vendors or contractors, so they are paid lower wages, receive fewer benefits or have little stability compared to full-time employees, even though they often do exactly the same work.
Thus, this new union seeks to undo this gross inequity and "will work to ensure that workers know what they are working on and can do their jobs for a fair wage, without fear of abuse, reprisal or discrimination".
