Greater than 40 YouTube Music contractors go on strike – a primary for Google, according to the Alphabet Workers Union (or AWU). The motion is in response to an order to return to work in individual subsequent week, one thing lots of the employees say they can’t do. They’re calling for a return-to-work coverage that’s “truthful, versatile and doesn’t threaten employees’ security and livelihoods”, in response to an AWU press launch.
The employees are a part of the YouTube Music Content material Operations workforce by means of Cognizant, a subcontractor for Alphabet, Google and YouTube’s mother or father firm. Their job is to “be sure that music content material is accessible and authorised” for the platform, in response to a earlier AWU press launch.
Objections to the back-to-office plan stem from wage and availability. Based on the AWU, contractors are paid as little as $19 an hour, making it tough to afford the relocation, journey or childcare prices they did not must pay once they labored remotely as a substitute of at an workplace in Austin, TX. .
An unnamed Cognizant spokesperson stated Engadget that the return-to-office coverage had been “communicated to [the workers] repeatedly from December 2021″ and that they took the positions “with the understanding that they had been accepting workplace positions and that the workforce would work collectively in a bodily location based mostly in Austin.” Google wouldn’t present an on-the-record remark for this story, however the firm advised the Nationwide Labor Relations Board that it doesn’t contemplate the workers to be workers, in response to Bloomberg.
The contractors are presently attempting to unionize with the AWU, which petitioned the Nationwide Labor Relations Board to signify the contractors in October. Final week, the AWU filed an unfair labor follow cost in opposition to Alphabet and Cognizant, alleging the reinstatement was used to “intrude with the truthful voting situations required by federal regulation,” as Sam Regan, one among employees. a press launch.
There have been earlier organized labor actions at Google. In 2018, tens of 1000’s of employees walked out to protest Google’s dealing with of sexual harassment, spurred by stories that it paid Android co-founder Andy Rubin $90 million after he was accused of sexual harassment. And in 2022, a gaggle of Cognizant entrepreneurs engaged on Google Maps managed to return to their workplace after threatening to strike.