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Tag: Alphabet Workers Union

  • Google Map Workers Given 90-Day RTO Extension

    Google Map Workers Given 90-Day RTO Extension

    Contractors working for Google Maps have received a 90-day extension on their return-to-office (RTO) deadline.

    Cognizant Technology Solutions employs some 200 workers on behalf of Google’s Maps division. The employees were previously told they had to be back in the office five days a week, unlike direct Google employees who are only required in the office three days a week. The employees pushed back, even threatening a strike, forcing Google to acquiesce.

    The Alphabet Workers Union backed the employees, despite their being outside contractors, and tweeted the news of the RTO extension:

    BREAKING:Google Maps Worker Victory! Today, the Google Maps contract workers informed management that they planned to go on strike due to the unsafe working conditions imposed by the 6/6 RTO date. In less than 3hrs workers won a 90 day extension—this is the power of organizing. — Alphabet Workers Union (@AlphabetWorkers), June 2, 2022

    The employees at the Bothell, WA location initially resisted Google’s RTO terms for a variety of reasons, including concern over COVID and rising gas prices.

    It remains to be seen what action Google will take long-term, but at least the employees in question gained a significant reprieve.

  • Google Will Pay Houston, Iowa, and North Carolina Workers Less

    Google Will Pay Houston, Iowa, and North Carolina Workers Less

    Google has announced plans to pay workers in Houston, TX, Iowa, and North Carolina less, a move that has lead to substantial backlash.

    Google ruffled features by announcing a change in the compensation status for the Research Triangle area in North Carolina, as well as Houston, TX, and Des Moines, IA. According to the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU), the salary band was lowered from “National” to “Discount.

    The company’s decision comes at a time when many Google employees are relocating to these areas, and will result in 25% less pay than the National rate. The areas in question include higher concentrations of minorities, groups Google is actively courting in its attempts to diversify. As the AWU points out, if Google is successful in expanding its recruitment of minorities, “the data will tell the story that Google is paying minorities less.”

    The AWU is calling on Google to abandon its plans and reclassify the areas to match the National salary band. The union also wants Google to be more transparent about any future pay decisions.

  • Google Has a Credibility Problem As Researchers Shun Its Funding

    Google Has a Credibility Problem As Researchers Shun Its Funding

    In the wake of Google’s high-profile missteps with its ethical AI team, the company has suffered a loss of credibility as researchers decline its funding.

    Google made headlines when it fired Dr. Timnit Gebru, its ethical AI team co-lead. Despite the company trying to portray the situation as a “resignation,” Dr. Gebru and her co-workers say she was fired. Given her stature as one of the world’s leading AI ethics researchers, Google’s actions resulted in tremendous scrutiny.

    At the heart of the issue was academic integrity, with Google objecting to a paper Dr. Gebru had co-authored, critical of certain types of AI technology, including some that Google uses. Margaret Mitchell, the other ethical AI team co-lead, was fired shortly thereafter.

    Google’s actions have drawn widespread condemnation, from both inside and outside the organization. Some engineers have quit in protest, and the firings were directly cited by workers when forming the Alphabet Workers Union. The company has also seen its sponsorship of at least one high-profile conference suspended.

    The company’s behavior is further impacting its standing in the AI community, as some researchers are turning down funding offers.

    CNN Business cites the example of Luke Stark, an assistant professor at Western University in Ontario, Canada. He originally applied for a Google Research Scholar award, because of his “sense at the time that Google was building a really strong, potentially industry-leading ethical AI team.”

    Despite being awarded a $60,000, no-strings-attached grant, Stark ultimately ended up turning it down because of the company’s actions.

    He’s not alone. Vijay Chidambaram, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin, had previously received $30,000 from Google in 2018. The company’s recent actions, however, have ruled out his taking any additional funding.

    “In good conscience, I can no longer accept funding from a company that treats its employees in this manner,” Chidambaram told CNN Business.

    Google has made attempts to mitigate the damage to its reputation, including an apology from CEO Sundar Pichai and appointing Dr. Marian Croak, a Black woman, to head the ethical AI team. These measures, however, have been criticized as being tone-deaf, shifting blame or an attempt to gloss over the company’s real issues with token measures.

    One thing is clear: Google has a major creditability problem that will continue to cost it until it takes concrete measures to address the real problem.

  • Prominent AI Ethics Conference Suspends Google’s Sponsorship

    Prominent AI Ethics Conference Suspends Google’s Sponsorship

    The fallout over Google’s handling of its AI ethics research team continues as the ACM Conference for Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT) has suspended the company’s sponsorship.

    Google made headlines when it fired the co-leads of its Ethical AI team, Dr. Timnit Gebru and Margaret Mitchell. Gebru’s firing, which Google called a “resignation,” was the result of what was labeled as research censorship of a paper Gebru had co-authored. Mitchell was allegedly fired for trying to find examples of the mistreatment Gebru experienced.

    The company has been widely criticized, by both employees and outsiders alike. Engineers have quit in protest, and Google’s handling of its AI ethics team was one of the issues specifically highlighted by employees when forming the Alphabet Workers Union. The company’s attempts to smooth the situation over have been seen as tone-deaf and generally falling far short of what’s necessary to repair the damage.

    The ACM FAccT Conference has now suspended Google as a sponsor, with the news first appearing via a tweet by FAccT program committee member Suresh Venkatasubramanian.

    In an email to VentureBeat, Michael Ekstrand, conference sponsorship co-chair and Boise State University assistant professor, went into more detail:

    FAccT is guided by a Strategic Plan, and the conference by-laws charge the Sponsorship Chairs, in collaboration with the Executive Committee, with developing a sponsorship portfolio that aligns with that plan. The Executive Committee made the decision that having Google as a sponsor for the 2021 conference would not be in the best interests of the community and impede the Strategic Plan. We will be revising the sponsorship policy for next year’s conference.

    Google has only itself to blame for its loss of standing within the AI community. Unfortunately for the company, leadership seems to have little interest in doing what’s necessary to fix the situation, make amends to the individuals impacted and regain the respect it’s lost.

  • Alphabet Workers Union Says Google Forbid Talk About Pay

    Alphabet and Google are once again in hot water, with the workers’ union claiming Google and a contractor forbid talking about pay.

    Federal law prohibits companies from interfering with workers discussing pay. In spite of that, according to The Mercury News, the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU) is accusing Google and a Google contractor of forbidding workers from discussing their wages.

    In its first complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, the newly-formed AWU says Google and Adecco Group had a “rule that precludes employees from discussing wages with one another,” at a South Carolina data center. One worker was even suspended in retaliation, after a supervisor noticed the worker’s social media post expressing support for the AWU.

    “The same supervisor previously sent an electronic message directing Wait not to discuss wages with her co-workers when she began asking questions about why some workers did not receive a promised bonus,” read the AWU’s news release.

    Alphabet and Google continue to have issues with employee relations, from fallout over firing Dr. Timnit to this latest incident. The companies clearly have a ways to go in their efforts to rebuild employee trust.

  • Alphabet Workers Announce Global Union Alliance, Alpha Global

    Alphabet Workers Announce Global Union Alliance, Alpha Global

    In the wake of US Alphabet workers forming the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU), employees have announced the formation of a global union alliance.

    Alphabet has been under increasing scrutiny over its handling of a range of issues, from sexual misconduct to discrimination and equality, as well as the ethical use of technology. Employees took the unprecedented step of creating the AWU, the first of its kind among the biggest tech companies in the US.

    Employees have now taken the next step, forming a global union alliance in an effort to address these issues worldwide. Alpha Global has been formed in cooperation with UNI Global Union and includes unions from 10 countries, including the US, UK, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland.

    In their joint statement, Alpha Global makes clear its goal is to hold Alphabet accountable.

    To build on these advancements and others, many Alphabet workers have started on a path to unionization and collective bargaining. Workers are building democratic organizations to represent their interests, to struggle collectively, to create a structural counterbalance to corporate power, and to build a movement of tech workers across the industry.

    A just Alphabet has wide-ranging implications for our democracies and societies. That is why we are joining together to demand fundamental human rights for all workers in Alphabet operations, including the right to form or join a union and the right to bargain collectively.

    The statement makes clear the employees believe in the good Alphabet is capable of, but the company must return to some of its early philosophies to achieve that.

    Alphabet has long lost its commitment of “Don’t be evil,” but we haven’t. Together, we will hold Alphabet accountable. Together, we will change Alphabet.

  • Alphabet and Google Employees Form Union

    Alphabet and Google Employees Form Union

    Alphabet and Google employees have formed a union in response to missteps by management.

    The Alphabet Workers Union (AWU) has been formed with support from the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The union is the first in the company’s history, and one of just a few in the tech industry at large.

    Support for unionization has been growing within Alphabet/Google for some time, and management’s actions have only increased that support. In late 2020, the company was accused of illegally spying on, and eventually firing, employees who were trying to form a union, leading to a complaint by the National Labor Relations Board.

    Google also landed in hot water for firing Dr. Timnit Gebru, one of the world’s leading AI ethics researchers. While the company maintains Dr. Gebru resigned, her colleagues insist the company forced her out. The move drew condemnation from experts inside and outside the company. While CEO Sundar Pichai tried to address the issue in an email to employees, it was widely criticized as being tone-deaf.

    Dr. Gebru’s firing was directly referenced in a statement announcing the formation of the AWU:

    Most recently, the company fired Dr. Timnit Gebru, a leading artificial intelligence researcher, for no reason whatsoever. The firing has caused outrage from thousands of us, including Black and Brown workers who are heartbroken by the company’s actions and unsure of their future at Google.

    The statement also addressed the company’s “Don’t Be Evil” slogan. Once a motto the company proudly displayed and adhered to, it has increasingly become an afterthought, as the company has worked with China, accepted military contracts, mishandled sexual abuse allegations, intimidated workers and more, issues that have further alienated workers:

    Workers who have organized to stop these trends have been met by intimidation, suppression, and blatantly illegal firings, as recently confirmed by the National Labor Relations Board. Instead of listening to workers, Google hired IRI, a notorious anti-union firm, to suppress their organizing. This is how Google’s executives have chosen to interact with workers.

    The only tactic that has ensured workers are respected and heard is collective action. Project Maven was cancelled when thousands of Googlers pledged they would not work on unethical tech. Forced arbitration was ended when Googlers walked out across the globe.

    Employees made it clear the AWU would work to address these issues, and use their collective power to force Google’s hand into making better decisions.

    “This union builds upon years of courageous organizing by Google workers,” said Nicki Anselmo, Program Manager. “From fighting the ‘real names’ policy, to opposing Project Maven, to protesting the egregious, multi-million dollar payouts that have been given to executives who’ve committed sexual harassment, we’ve seen first-hand that Alphabet responds when we act collectively. Our new union provides a sustainable structure to ensure that our shared values as Alphabet employees are respected even after the headlines fade.”

    “This is historic—the first union at a major tech company by and for all tech workers,” said Dylan Baker, Software Engineer. “We will elect representatives, we will make decisions democratically, we will pay dues, and we will hire skilled organizers to ensure all workers at Google know they can work with us if they actually want to see their company reflect their values.”

    It remains to be seen how Alphabet/Google will respond, but management has an opportunity to reset relations with employees and regain some of the respect it has squandered.