THE ABC'S OF GOOGLE'S NEW UNION
By Clarissa Redwine, Collective Action in Tech.
January 4, 2021 | ORGANIZE!
An Explainer On Non-Contract Unions, How Workers At Alphabet Are Using This
Structure To Build And Maintain Power, And Why You Should Too.
Ever since I learned that unionizing was an option for workers like me, I
knew I wanted to be a union worker. It seemed so obvious to me-why do we
demand democracy from our government, then cede our individual power in our
workplaces? And the longer I've been at Google, the more pressing the need
feels. We've seen retaliation against workers speaking up against sexual
assault, accessibility, and diversity. The voices I came to Google to be
surrounded by are slowly but surely being silenced. I believe that The
Alphabet Workers Union is our chance to reclaim that power and make Alphabet
a company we can be proud of once again.
- Raksha Muthukumar, Google Software Engineer & union member
Google workers have organized for pay equity, opposed unethical uses of
machine learning, protested sexual assault, and more. Our small team at
Collective Action in Tech has been archiving these organizing events for
years. Now the workers of Google's parent company, Alphabet, are building
worker power through a non-contract union they've named The Alphabet Workers
Union.
This isn't the first time Google workers are unionizing. In 2017, Security
guards at Google and Facebook had their union recognized and fought through
a long contract negotiation. In 2019, Google cafeteria staff employed by
vendor Bon Appetit won their union election. In September 2019 a group of 80
contract office workers in Pittsburg voted to join the United Steelworkers,
forming Google's very first office worker union. But shortly after these
workers won their union, the company that contracted these workers to Google
outsourced their roles to Poland, decimating the union's bargaining unit in
retaliation for unionizing.
Since then, Google has ramped up its anti-union strategy. In November 2020,
Google illegally fired four workers for organizing. In an attempt to further
chill worker organizing, the company has shut down key channels for
challenging leadership, tracked expressions of dissent, and hired an
anti-union firm. To combat management's increasingly aggressive
anti-organizing tactics, workers at Google are now fortifying their
collective action efforts with a structure that enables them to strengthen
and maintain the power they've been building for years.
Today organizers announced they are launching The Alphabet Workers Union, a
union for all employees and contractors at Alphabet and all of its vendor
companies in partnership with the Communications Workers of America Union
(CWA). In this piece, we explain the non-contract structure of The Alphabet
Workers Union and how it works, with some help from fellow organizers.
1. What Is A Non-Contract Union?
Instead of going to the NLRB and winning recognition through an election,
Google workers are taking immediate advantage of the power of a union. All
unions start out as non-contract unions. A union, in its broadest sense, is
formed when two or more workers collectively act to improve working
conditions. For example, if you're talking to a coworker about pay inequity
and you both decide to do something about it, you've just formed a union
(just not a very strong one.yet). This kind of union-where workers are
acting as one to improve the workplace but have not yet pursued a formal
contract negotiation with the employer-is what's known as a non-contract
union, an open union, a minority union, or a solidarity union.
Semantics are really important in union organizing. The problem with a
non-majority union is that it might grow to include the majority and still
have this structure. Solidarity unionism is also a strange term because it
implies that other union structures don't have solidarity. That term is also
ahistorical because it positions this type of union as an alternative to the
norm when, in reality, NLRB-sanctioned unions are a blip in the long arc of
union organizing history. It wasn't until 1935 that we even had a framework
for a contract union sanctioned by the NLRB. Prior to 1935, all unions
organized just like this one. Non-contract union works well but I would
simply describe The Alphabet Workers Union as a union, because that's what
they are.
- Emma Kinema, Campaign Lead at CODE-CWA
Workers can choose to go through those legal processes (such as through
recognition from the NLRB in the US) down the road if they want, but even
without formal recognition from an outside entity, there is no legal
roadblock holding back a group of workers from being a powerful collective
that functions as a union. Non-contract unions embody the idea that worker
power does not come from legal processes, but rather through building power
through solidarity.
Our union is not defined by our company, nor is it defined by the US
government and labor law. We the workers define our own union, as workers
have been doing for hundreds of years, long before the National Labor
Relations Act established a government sanctioned union recognition process
in 1935. We define our union because it's ours.
- Emma Kinema, Campaign Lead at CODE-CWA
2. Why Build A Non-Contract Union?
Every worker deserves a union. In tech, we've seen activism lead to change
but often at a significant cost to activists and organizers. Instead of
acting individually, or on independent issue-based campaigns, it's time to
make each other stronger and come together as a collective. For US workers,
forming a non-contract union is the original way to unionize. Our laboring
forebears used this strategy before gaining enough power to pressure the
government to create worker protections through labor law.
Google was supposed to be the gold standard in tech, but even with the
relatively high FTE salaries and office perks, there's no substitute for
democracy and dignity on the job. I think it's amazing this is happening in
our industry.
- Ben Gwin, HCL Union Organizer
3. Who Can Join A Non-Contract Union?
That's up to the workers of the union. The Alphabet Workers Union will be
the first union open to all employees and contractors at any Alphabet
company. A collective that unites workers across teams, roles, and locations
is known as a wall to wall union. The structure of a non-contract union
allows workers to organize a collective that makes sense to them and is not
constrained by the rules of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Google
organizers have invited a wide range of workers to join the union, including
some workers who would not normally be eligible to join under NLRA
guidelines. This includes contractors, non-office workers, and lower-level
managers.
For years, companies have creatively diminished worker power by decreasing
unions' headcount through increasing reliance on contract workers and by
creating a sprawling layer of middle management. With a non-contract union,
the workers of Google are in control of the union composition and can invite
anyone they feel is aligned in a community of interest.
The safest way to organize across roles within the structure of a union that
is not sanctioned by the NRLB is to keep the participation of individuals in
subgroups like managers and contractors secret until there is a critical
mass of this subgroup. This makes it harder for the company to retaliate
against workers who are not protected under the NLRA and would have no legal
recourse if fired for union activity.
As long as the union is worker-led, it will empower a lot of people and help
grow the labor movement in tech. Our situation in Pittsburgh is not the norm
(unionized full time employees through third party vendor HCL). A lot of
TVCs (temporary, vendors or contractors) don't have the opportunity we had
because of their employment status. Joining a minority union alongside FTEs
(full time employees) is a solid alternative to build worker power. Just
from a numbers standpoint, the wall to wall union helps. It also makes sure
that voices from different offices are heard and that more perspectives are
included in organizing discussions. They hold an incredible amount of
leverage with their ability to withhold labor. The tiered system is in place
to prevent this very thing from happening, which makes this even sweeter.
- Ben Gwin, HCL Union Organizer
4. Who's In Charge Of A Non-Contract Union?
Just like a union that goes through the NLRB recognition process, Alphabet's
union is worker-led. The collective has elected a council of workers, hired
organizing staff, and is formally supported by the CWA. Workers have created
structure and process to bring democracy to the workplace. In other words,
The Alphabet Workers Union is run democratically by workers themselves.
We've learned a lot from the experience of CODE CWA staff who've helped us
set up structures to ensure that every union member is empowered to speak
up. We've elected an interim executive team for now, and are in the process
of establishing teams in chapter (location) offices, we're staffing
committees that focus on diversity & equity, we're ensuring that new members
know that they're heard. In fact I think we've specifically kept a few
things fluid before going public because we expect an influx of membership,
and we want to make sure we're not set in stone before more people weigh in!
- Raksha Muthukumar, Google Software Engineer & Union Member
5. Do Members Of A Non-Contract Union Pay Dues?
That's up to the union. Traditionally, dues fuel the support system for a
union. They typically go into a pool for legal support, strike funds, and
paying the salaries of other kinds of hired union support. The Alphabet
Workers Union set their own dues with guidance from CWA. The dues are a
percentage of a worker's individual total compensation. But this is only one
model for collecting union dues. Tech workers who are building a union can
decide how they want dues to work and come up with creative systems. For
example, your coworkers may want to include stock grants in this
compensation formula.
6. Will A Non-Contract Union Be Less Safe For Organizers?
Because workers in the US have the right to organize under the NLRA, any
group of two or more workers are protected by labor law, no matter how their
collective is structured. This means that whether a worker is part of an
NLRB-certified union, a non-contract union, or just organizing with another
coworker, they are protected from retaliation to the same extent. However,
because a non-contract union might try to organize workers who are not
considered eligible under the NLRA, such as independent contractors or
managers, organizers might need to take extra precautions to protect certain
workers who are not covered by labor law.
The mechanisms for safety are exactly the same for any union: collective
power, exercised by striking (or the credible threat to do so). There is no
safety without power. You can organize for power in any union structure, and
you can fail to do so in any structure. The closer you are to being able to
exercise that power through strike, the safer you are. The boss needs our
labor, and we can choose the terms under which we give it. That's the only
real safety there is.
- Laurence Berland, Google Organizer
7. Can A Non-Contract Union Still Take Advantage Of Labor Law To Protect
Workers?
Workers acting within a non-contract union outside of the NLRB recognition
process can still file charges against a retaliating company just like any
other union drive. Labor law can still offer basic protection to workers for
protected concerted activity as outlined in the NLRA. In fact, if the
organizers build a strong collective committed to protecting the group
against retaliation, the non-contract structure has the potential to rise
above the protection offered by the NLRB. A strong union of workers can be
more powerful and give workers more control than resting on formal
protection under existing labor law which can be slow and conservative when
evaluating worker issues.
I do believe that labor law has the potential to be a great force for worker
protection, but even if we had that sort of labor law, we would need to
maintain our power to keep such laws, both in text and in practice. As for
the NLRB, as a worker who is currently going through their process, in part
due to my being fired, I can say that there are good people there who want
to see workers organize and win, but their hands are tied by existing labor
law, which is not very good, and the process built around it, which is
cumbersome and was written with the goal of minimizing disruption above all
else. It took a year after my firing just for the NLRB to issue a complaint.
Many workers don't ever get that. If there had been a strike over my firing,
I would've been back at work a long time ago.
- Laurence Berland, Google Organizer
8. What Is A Specific Advantage To Forming A Non-Contract Union?
This kind of union keeps us creative. The NLRA and other forms of legal
representation can certainly benefit workers, but these institutions have
also allowed tech companies to use the system to their advantage for far too
long. As tech workers join the labor movement, we can take the path that is
as limitless as our solidarity. That path is the classic non-contract union.
If you don't have to worry about defining a bargaining unit, you can include
all of your coworkers, instead of thinking about whether the NLRB will find
your unit properly defined. Many tech companies, especially big ones, have
complex structures with TVCs doing everything from technical analysis to
making coffee, with different employers from each other and the company. If
you want to build one union for all of you, you can spend a lot of time
thinking about bargaining units and NLRB hearings, or you can get to
organizing. Besides, you can always define a bargaining unit and demand
recognition when it makes sense to you.
- Laurence Berland, Google Organizer
9. What Does This Union Mean For Tech?
The Alphabet Workers Union is one step in Google's rich history of tech
organizing. Years of activism, community building, and worker strength has
shown workers the power of the collective. Google remains an example of what
tech workers face when we stand up for ourselves and the communities we
serve and the launch of their union is a beacon for what we can achieve
together.
Only a few years ago, calling for a union that included all workers at
Google or in tech was grounds for social death. At the very least, you'd be
met with derisive laughter and libertarian mansplaining.
There were only a handful of people organizing, and our organizing was
experimental, testing the ground to see where we could lay a foundation.
Before we could get to the point of forming an all-worker union-structuring
it, calling on others to join and contribute-we had to make the case that a
union was necessary. We had to map the issues that mattered. We needed to
connect the plight of contract workers to the outsized wealth of executives;
the racism within Google's workplace culture to the racial bias and harm
perpetrated by Google's technologies and business decisions. We had to
provide a clear counter-narrative that showed exactly how far Google was
willing to go to put profits and executive comfort above worker safety and
social justice. We had to expose the contradictions, and lay down an
intellectual bedrock that could counter the marketing and platitudes issued
by the company.
This took years, significant research, and many campaigns, in which we
worked to put Google's unsatisfactory responses and duplicity in the
spotlight. Solidarity grew organically around these campaigns. We set up
"ethics lunches" and other fora where people could speak openly about their
concerns. We had 1:1 conversations with our colleagues. We made commitments
to support each other, even if this meant endangering our place within the
corporate hierarchy. A small group became a larger group, suddenly not
everyone organizing knew each other. Signal threads proliferated. Issues of
accountability, decision making, and strategy rose in importance. And in the
meantime, the company continued on its astounding streak of unforced errors.
This was the first stage, which fertilized the ground out of which it was
possible to grow an all-worker union. This is a joyful moment! The
establishment of the AWU union at Google is the clear next step in the
serious fight to take power back from Google and Big Tech, and to ensure
that workers, and those who bear the harms of technology, are in charge of
how these companies operate, and for whose benefit.
- Meredith Whittaker, former Google organizer
If you want to learn more about unions. Google it! Or contact the folks who
helped organize these workers at CWA. If you want to show support for the
workers of Google please express your solidarity with a retweet
@AlphabetWorkers. If you want to start organizing your company check out our
resources and get inspired by the Collective Action in Tech archive.
We stand with the workers of Alphabet and every worker taking collective
action to make tech more equitable and just.
