Google workers plan to unionise against pay disparity, bias

San Francisco, Jan 4 : In a bid to tackle issues like pay disparity, retaliation and controversial government contracts, Google workers have announced plans to unionise with the Communications Workers of America (CWA), the media reported on Monday.
The Alphabet Workers’ Union will be open to all employees and contractors at Google’s parent company, reports The Verge.
“This union builds upon years of courageous organising by Google workers,” said Nicki Anselmo, a Google programme manager.
“From fighting the ‘real names’ policy, to opposing Project Maven, to protesting the egregious, multi-million dollar payouts that have been given to executives who’ve committed sexual harassment, we’ve seen first-hand that Alphabet responds when we act collectively,” Anselmo was quoted as saying.
Project Maven, now shelved, was a project that involved the US department of Defense and used artificial intelligence in tasks such as analyzing drone footage.
Google faced backlash from employees over its involvement in Maven. The decision not to renew the contract in 2018 came after about 4,000 employees signed a petition demanding “a clear policy stating that neither Google nor its contractors will ever build warfare technology.”