More than 400 Google employees and contractors participated in the creation of a new union in partnership with the Communications Workers of America. This union, called the Alphabet Workers Union, is to give longevity to ongoing activism within the company and doesn’t resemble traditional contract negotiations. The group was kept in secret conversations throughout most of 2020, until its official formation in early January this year. In a short period of time, the new union has had its first major success where Google has agreed to not silence workers who actively speak about pay discrepancies. This settlement ends a complaint filed by employees through the National Labor Relations Board, which stated that a data technician was suspended due to pro-union social media posts. While this news is a welcoming change of pace, it’s important to not forget the successful events that led to this settlement and to keep in mind the ongoing elections happening with other tech companies. The tech industry and Silicon Valley are notorious for limited union activity, but recent news could be showing a new trend. Kickstarter accomplished being the first major tech company to unionize in early 2020 and contractors at companies like Uber are fighting to be legally recognized as employees. Can this trend continue and what will the new landscape look like with expanding unionization? I reached out to Eric Rodriguez, a former TX-Mayoral candidate, author of “Poise under Pressure”, and the former Union President for the American Federation of Government Employees L1005. We discuss the recent ongoing labor union feuds in tech organizations.
A 2019 Gallup poll shows that a majority of Americans support labor unions, but only 10.6% of those employed claim membership in one. This is almost half of the union membership that was reported in 1983 and is significantly less than many other countries. What has led to the historical decline in unionization and what is unique about the United States compared to other countries?
One reason why I believe that union memberships have been on a decline points towards our economy from the eighties to now and the workforce in my opinion has changed dramatically. This is highlighted in fields like the industrial sector and special trades, such as plumbers, electricians, and assembly factories. We saw a major decline in the labor force since the eighties and I believe a huge amount of membership belong to that type of sector. I think another reason that could play a part in that role is nowadays a lot of people have a stigma of unions being inefficient or troublemakers.
Unlike traditional unions, minority unions only represent subsets of the workforce who voluntarily participate and can actively organize without winning a formal vote. What can the increase in minority unions mean for overall unionization and how does one decide which structure is more appropriate for their workplace?
This organizing strategy that minority unions are using I am not 100% familiar with, it’s kind of a new thing like you had mentioned, but I don’t think it’s going away and possibly could be the new way moving forward to unionize in such companies like Google, Amazon, etc… I believe all employees have the right to organize whether it is in a traditional way or not. Minority unions are simply employees adapting and establishing a happy medium between the employees and company management, it seems to work and be more effective than the traditional way.
Within the tech field, the top 5 companies were worth over $7 trillion and had no union to counteract the corporate boards. Why has Silicon Valley and the tech industry placed so much resistance towards labor unions and what has led to the recent turnaround for companies like Amazon and Google?
I think what is happening is that these corporate tech giants are realizing that it’s a power struggle. When you have a union, now the employee has a seat at the table. The union can now negotiate paid sick leave, pensions, benefits and establish formal grievance procedures and policies. There is now protection from being terminated for missing work due to Covid-19 or giving birth, just a few examples.
The Protecting the Right to Organize Act has recently received political support and passed the U.S. House of Representatives. How have you seen labor unions respond to COVID-19 and would the effects of this pandemic be different if we had higher unionization?
I think there would be a significant difference in protecting the American labor force. We all witnessed the initial essential phase when COVID-19 first happened, where only essential employees could work and the majority were being forced to work without proper personal protective equipment, or without paid sick leave as well. In some cases, people were laid off or fired because they had contracted Covid-19 on the job. I personally witnessed teacher’ s unions here in Corpus Christi fight to have a safe school environment for their students. Some teachers refused to go back unless there were safeguards put in place and either resigned or retired. This resulted with the school district implementing a quick game plan. I had even postponed my mayoral campaign and rallied with the local nurse’s unions because they were running out of masks, and gloves that they needed to do their job and then they received more supplies. I really do believe that especially during unprecedented times such as Covid-19 that unions are a particularly good protective shield.
Amazon fired Chris Smalls, a lead organizer in an office walkout within the company’s New York City branch. There’s still investigations by the National Labor Relations Board into the cause for the firing and if there was discriminatory motives. How can activists within companies avoid prosecution and make sure they’re safe from retaliations do their political beliefs?
If you want to organize in your company I suggest you read all of your company’s polices and regulations. Also, consult with your Human Resource personnel and even a employment law attorney. Make sure that you’re following all the company’s guidelines and you’re not doing anything illegal. If you have a union, I would request a copy of the contract binding agreement with the company and study it thoroughly, you always want to protect yourself. I really don’t know the situation in depth with this gentleman and looks like it could be a retaliation and I am assuming that’s why there is an investigation. In my personal experience, I have raised concerns and tried to make a safer working environment and I was retaliated against. I fought my company for three years and filed many appeals until I finally won my case representing myself in a U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board trial. It comes down to educating yourself on all the rules and regulations. If you’re interested in knowing more about my case and journey, please check out my new book “Poise Under Pressure”.
The pendulum swings back and forth . Unions began at a time when needed by the average worker for fair pay and safe working conditions. Then unions did become bloated and inefficient and now in 2021, they may be needed again.