Organizing Update

Alphabet (Google)

Last Friday, in a momentous victory for Alphabet Workers Union-CWA (CWA Local 9009) members, Google raters, who were fired for speaking up about their poor working conditions and the danger of faulty AI products, were informed that they will be reinstated and receive back pay. Raters, who are employed by Google subcontractor Appen, are often invisible human workers that train, test, and evaluate Google Search and Bard results.

The half dozen Google raters across Appen’s AI projects received notice that they had been terminated at the end of May after they publicly spoke out about their concerns. In response, the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA (AWU-CWA) filed Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on behalf of the workers. The charges alleged retaliation for organizing, a prohibition against discussing said terminations publicly, and threats that wages may decrease with the union.

Even though these subcontracted raters provide critical support to Google’s most profitable products, workers are still denied access to the company’s own purported established minimum standards for contractors, leaving thousands of workers in poverty. Previous organizing by these workers secured their first ever pay raise in January 2023. Re-energized by their latest victory, the workers are more determined than ever to continue fighting for better working conditions and standards. Read more here.

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ProPublica

Fifteen years after ProPublica published its first investigation, workers at the award-winning, nonprofit investigative newsroom announced last Wednesday that they were forming a union. Their union, ProPublica Guild, part of New York NewsGuild (TNG-CWA Local 31003), is a wall-to-wall union with overwhelming support across the business and editorial sides of the newsroom. In a mission statement distributed to all ProPublica staff and presented to management, employees said that forming a union is essential to preserving ProPublica’s values and making it a fairer, more secure workplace regardless of turbulence within the industry. They have requested swift recognition of their union from management. Their organizing effort comes as a slew of newsrooms have organized and, increasingly, won major material gains for members. Read more here.

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Montefiore Nyack

Last Thursday, Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN) at Montefiore Nyack Hospital in New York overwhelmingly voted to join CWA in a National Labor Relations Board election. The workers will be members of CWA Local 1103, which already represents hundreds of technical employees at the hospital.