Google employees form labour union in United States amid protests in recent years

More than 200 employees and contractors at Google parent Alphabet in the United States and Canada have formed a trade union to promote workplace equity and ethical business practices, the group’s elected leaders said on Monday.

The “Alphabet Workers Union” will collect dues of 1 per cent of total compensation from members, according to its website. The funds will cover paid organisers, events, legal support and wages for members in the event of a labour strike.

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 resistance historically, thousands of people at Alphabet had banded together to publicly criticise 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 organise 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.