Good morning, Search Marketer, have you ever entertained the idea of unionizing?
I've never given it any thought, but then again, I've never worked at a company that had more than a few hundred employees. It's clearly on the minds of Google employees, though: The Alphabet Workers Union was announced earlier this week, and although the website says it has 200 members, The New York Times reported that there are now over 400 — still, a tiny fraction of Google's quarter-million employees.
The Alphabet Workers Union's goal isn't necessarily better benefits or higher wages; Google is known to be generous in those areas. Its mission is to ensure working conditions are inclusive and fair, that employees have the freedom to decline working on projects that don't align with the union's values, and that all workers, regardless of employment status, have access to the same benefits. Imagine an employee resource group, but with some semblance of bargaining power, because optics matter to Google.
The company has been under scrutiny both publicly and internally over its ethics, and I imagine that everytime someone mentions the old company motto, "Don't be evil," a Google PR person's ears start to burn. But, this has the potential to be more than just another story about how a company treats its workers — I believe it can impact workers in the search industry, too.
We know that, to some extent, Google is willing to come to the bargaining table: 20,000 workers staged a walkout against former executive Andy Rubin's $90 million severance package after he was accused of sexual harassment, and Google responded by ending its forced arbitration policy. Its contributions to Project Maven, which attempted to improve targeted drone strikes through the use of AI, also caused employee protests and Google did not renew its contract with the Pentagon.
The search industry has been very vocal about equality and diversity, especially last summer. As one of the major players in the space, Google can set a better example than it has been. If it does, I hope that agencies and brands will be inspired; not to simply match whatever Google is doing, but to lead our sector into a more humane future in which sexual harassment and discrimination are simply not tolerated.
And, guess what? We don't have to wait for Google to make its move. Here are two of our finest articles on this subject:
George Nguyen,
Editor
