This week, the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU) announced that members of YouTube’s music content operations team who are employed by Cognizant have voted to unionize. This marks a major win for employees in the digital industry and represents a shift towards increased workplace solidarity.
Maxwell Longfield, a YouTube music contract worker with Cognizant and member of AWU-CWA, shared, “My coworkers and I have spoken. No one working for a multi-billion dollar platform should have to juggle three jobs to make ends meet, and no one should have to give up their livelihoods due to a retaliatory return-to-office mandate.”
Though the AWU announced the voting results this week, Alphabet and Cognizant must now negotiate a union contract with workers under the National Labor Relations Board ruling. Alphabet has challenged the decision, but the AWU remains optimistic that this ruling will be upheld.
In addition, 41 members of the operations team voted in favor of unionization out of a total of 49 eligible workers. This follows a similar result in March 2022, when employees for a Google Fiber subcontractor voted to unionize.
The AWU’s success this week highlights the importance of workplace solidarity
