For many years, organizers at Alphabet worked to raise the profile of ethical issues and abuses of the company leadership. As time went on the company stopped listening, and eventually started clamping down more severely—shutting down internal discussion and retaliating against workers.
Alphabet workers had to adapt to the changing circumstances. We realized that in order to keep this fight going and start winning, we needed to get organized. We needed a structure with elected and accountable leadership. We needed to pool our resources to support one another when volunteer labor wasn’t enough. We needed to start thinking ahead and strategizing, being proactive with a plan to build power in the workplace. We needed a union.
The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is forward-looking and adaptable. They understand that the tech sector is the future of labor. They are willing to take risks and organize in unconventional ways, with decades-long legacies of non-contract unions in the public sector like TSEU and UCW. They have a wider view towards labor and global society, running campaigns like the Committee for Better Banks and linking their struggle to the workers around the world.
Most importantly, CWA believes in putting workers at the lead. Their organizing department and staffing is structurally based on these ideas, because they recognize that a movement can only be successful when workers participate and drive the agenda forward. They go beyond bread-and-butter labor board issues and support whatever fight the workers want to take, whether it’s for an equitable workplace or ethical use of technology.
By joining the union movement, we are combining the struggle for the soul of Alphabet with the broader working-class struggle in America and around the world.