Google Flat-Out Refuses to Bargain With Workers, Prompting YouTube Music Strike – By Jules Roscoe (VICE) / Sept 20. 2023
In an email obtained by Motherboard, Google tells YouTube Music workers it will “not be participating in collective bargaining.”
YouTube Music contract workers went on strike on Wednesday morning because of Google’s refusal to bargain with the union representing the workers. Google, YouTube’s parent company, claims that because the workers are employed through a third-party contractor it has no obligation to meet them at the table, according to an email from a law firm representing Google seen by Motherboard.
These workers are contracted by Cognizant, one of the many subcontractors which works with Google and its parent company Alphabet. They’re responsible for “ensuring music content is available and approved for YouTube Music’s 80 million subscribers worldwide,” according to a press release from April, when they first voted to join the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU-CWA). The union as a whole is not yet federally recognized, as it has not achieved a majority status in the company, but the NLRB has recognized YouTube Music workers.
However, Google has refused to bargain with them, because it says it is not legally considered to be their employer. The workers, the union, and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) contest this point.
