AUSTIN, Texas — Google contractors in Austin are protesting against YouTube Music after filing for a union election.
On Tuesday, Feb. 21, dozens of workers held a rally against union-busting at the Downtown Austin office, located at 500 West Second Street. The rally, as well as another rally in New York City, was held to show support for "mostly Texas based striking YouTube Music Workers," according to a press release from the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA.
According to the release, there are 58 YouTube Music employees that have been on an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike since Feb. 3 – the first-ever strike in Google's history. The group filed for a union election and sought to have Alphabet Workers Union-CWA as their representative on Oct. 21, 2022.
Following this filing, Cognizant, a subcontractor for Google, required all workers to return to the office on Monday, Feb. 6. Workers then proceeded to file a ULP with the National Labor Relations Board because the return to office (RTO) order "violates the employers' responsibility to maintain 'the status quo' before a union election," according to the release.
The release went on to detail that if workers are forced to return to the office, they are "faced with 'voluntarily termination' for being unable to physically show up at the office."
During the COVID-19 pandemic, most of the employees were hired remotely and do not live close enough to the Austin office to commute on a regular basis.
"At $19/hr, workers are not paid enough to afford gas, childcare and other costs related to in-person work. The current RTO mandate is an attempt to derail union organizing and for the striking YouTube Music workers, the ULP strike is the only thing protecting their jobs," the release stated.
On the East Coast, Google workers held the same strike at the New York City office, located at Chelsea 76 9th Avenue.
The chief communications officer of Cognizant is disputing the claims in an email saying:
"Cognizant respects the right of our associates to disagree with our policies, and to protest them lawfully. However, it is disappointing that some of our associates have chosen to strike over a return to office policy that Cognizant leadership has communicated to them repeatedly since December 2021.
"Associates working on this project accepted their employment with the understanding that they were accepting in-office positions, and that the team would work together at a physical location based in Austin.
"Cognizant also wants to make clear that individuals who want to pursue alternate jobs with Cognizant - where they may be able to work from a particular location or remotely - have the option to do so as part of a program we offer to all Cognizant employees. The “voluntary termination” language is an outright lie.
"These Austin-based employees were hired, trained and continue to be paid by Cognizant. They may receive some ancillary training from our client so they can interface with a specific project’s tools and processes, but Cognizant is the sole employer of these employees, not Google or YouTube."
A Google spokesperson sent KVUE the following statement:
“The individuals striking today are employees of Cognizant, not Google or YouTube, and we respect their right to join a union or not. Their decision will not affect our work with Cognizant, as we hold many contracts with both unionized and non-union suppliers. As the employer, Cognizant is responsible for these workers' employment terms.”