Google contractors vote to join United Steelworkers’ union

Bloomberg

Contract workers for Google in Pittsburgh voted to join the United Steelworkers, according to the union.
The result was 49 votes for and 24 against, said Maria Somma, the organising director for the union.
This is one of the first victories for organised labour since waves of employee activism began consuming the technology giant last year. The union hopes to gain a broader foothold in the sector, even with white-collar staff who have largely avoided organised labour. It has already expanded beyond steel, representing employees in education and healthcare.
“I would hope, if direct Google employees should consider union organising, that they would consider the Steelworkers,” Somma said.
HCL Technologies, the employer of the contract workers, did not respond to requests for comment. A Google spokeswoman said the company works with many unionised partners. “As with all our partners, whether HCL’s employees unionise or not is between them and their employer. We’ll continue to partner with HCL,” she said.
Contract labour has been one of several internal flash points at Alphabet Inc’s Google. More than half the company’s workforce comes from temporary, vendor and contract workers, called TVCs, who lack access to some of Google’s famous perks.
Several employees petitioned management to address the discrepancy late last year. Since then, Google brought some contract roles in-house and started requiring contract firms to provide health care, parental leave and other benefits.
At tech companies, organised labour has mostly had success with service sector roles, such as janitors and cafeteria workers.