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A group of about 80 Google contractors that work alongside Google employees in Pittsburgh voted to unionize today.
The group of employees at the company HCL Technologies will organize under the name Pittsburgh Association of Tech Professionals (PATP), alongside the United Steelworkers, for collective negotiation of wages and working conditions. The PATP will advocate for collective bargaining in Pittsburgh and southwest Pennsylvania.
“We deserve more respect, dignity and democracy in our relationship with our employer,” HCL worker Joshua Borden said in a United Steelworkers statement. “We fought for a seat at the table, and today we won. We look forward to bargaining a contract that reflects our important contributions to HCL’s continuing success.”
In response to the news, a Google spokesperson told VentureBeat: “We work with lots of partners, many of which have unionized workforces, and many of which don’t. As with all our partners, whether HCL’s employees unionize or not is between them and their employer. We’ll continue to partner with HCL.”
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The union will be formed as the result of 49 votes in favor, 24 votes against union format, and 1 objection, a USW spokesperson told VentureBeat in an email.
United Steelworkers criticized HCL earlier this month for forcing employees to attend mandatory anti-union meetings and to speak with a management consultant ahead of the vote.
In other tech worker news, last month California governor Gavin Newsom signed AB5 into law, a bill that requires gig economy companies like Uber and Postmates to consider more of their workers employees instead of independent contractors.
