Google Alphabet Inc. is legally the boss of YouTube’s contract staff and must be with workers if they choose a union, US labor council officials ruled.
In a ruling Friday, the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board rejected the internet giant’s claim that it was not the employer of a group of Texas-based YouTube workers, who were recruited through staffing agency Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. The director ruled that Google is actually a “joint employer” – a company that has sufficient control over a group of workers responsible for their care and is obliged to negotiate with them if they join.
“Google exercises direct and indirect control over benefits, hours, supervision and direction of work,” the Fort Worth, Texas, regional director wrote.
The ruling could set the stage for Alphabet to begin collective bargaining with US employees for the first time in its history, but Google plans to appeal.
“We believe the facts and the law clearly support our position,” Google spokeswoman Courtenay Mencini said in an emailed statement. “We simply do not control the terms or working conditions of these workers.”
The plight of contract workers has been a recurring flashpoint for Alphabet, which relies heavily on employee companies to meet its labor needs. Contract staff made up the majority of the company’s global workforce in 2018, and the AWU has pushed to organize both those workers and Alphabet’s direct employees.
“We are proud to have won a precedent-setting victory not only for ourselves, but also for workers across the country, where technology companies in particular have created new ways to deny responsibility for workers’ livelihoods through subcontracting, gig work and other poor employment. practice,” YouTube employee Sam Regan said in an emailed statement from the AWU.
The Alphabet Workers Union petitioned in October to represent a group of about 60 employees, whose jobs include making sure videos are labeled correctly and looking into requests from YouTube Music users. Alphabet – the owner of Google and its YouTube unit – has repeatedly rejected the idea that it uses such employees.
“These have not been and are not our employees,” Alphabet attorney Aaron Agenbroad said at a November NLRB hearing on the union’s petition, according to a transcript obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The government will hold a vote among workers on whether to join a union, the regional director wrote. The time has not been announced. A Cognizant spokesperson said the company also disagreed with the decision.
The problem goes beyond Google or even the tech industry. Companies in health care, hospitality, construction and other fields are increasingly franchising, outsourcing or subcontracting their staff – sparking controversy over how these workers are treated.
The AWU, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America, has also filed a pending complaint with the NLRB that accuses Alphabet and Cognizant of responding to the union campaign by making threats, transferring jobs overseas and using rules to return to new offices. trying to destroy the organization. Cognizant said the allegations were “baseless.” Workers have been on strike for the past month over the dispute.
Learn how to navigate and strengthen trust in your business with The Trust Factor, a weekly newsletter that examines what leaders need to succeed. Log in here.