Approximately a month after saying they would unionize—and in what appears to be a pretty cut-and-dry case of union busting—80 of the 120 Google Help workers have been told they'll be laid off. Previously (as reported by Bloomberg, these workers had been tasked with a number of important duties including "creat[ing] internal and external Google content, including all of the materials for Google Help support pages. They’ve also recently helped to review AI-generated content."
The layoffs come at a time where it'd obviously be beneficial to Alphabet to union-bust: Alphabet Workers Union is currently before the NLRB to essentially prove that Alphabet is a joint employer. Given the substantial involvement of Alphabet in Google Help working conditions and the work they're assigned, it seems fairly likely the NLRB will eventually find in favor of AWU and pave the way for unionization of these workers. In the past few months Alphabet has also tacitly admitted their subcontracted employees are theirs, not just their subcontractors. Despite Google raters being subcontracted employees Alphabet fired them in May, then had to rehire them in June when AWU filed an unfair labor practice on the workers' behalf alleging. That ULP alleged the workers had been fired as retaliation for working to unionize and speaking about their working conditions.
Also adding to the evidence this is union busting, Engadget interviewed Google Help employee Casey Padron, who is quoted as saying “They claimed that the cuts were a result of changes in budget allocation, but Accenture has also posted job listings that have our exact job description and project code.”
AWU is currently investigating all the options it has at its disposal to fight the layoffs.
