Alphabet Workers Union-CWA members are proud to stand with the YouTube Music Content Operations team and call on Google and Cognizant to bargain in good faith. 

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A History of the Campaign

• A super majority of a group of 58 workers at YouTube Music workers in Austin filed for union election seeking AWU-CWA as their representative October 21,2022. These workers review, edit and correct the YouTube Music catalog metadata which includes editing mistakes made by AI tools.  

• Workers dealt with an exhaustive anti-union campaign that included a retaliatory Return-To-Office mandate. 

• On February 3rd, 2023 more than 40 workers went on a ULP strike as the first Alphabet strike ever. This has global implications for organizing. Many striking workers did so, because their only other option was “voluntary termination” for being unable to physically show up at the office. The ULP strike is the only thing protecting their jobs.

• The workers unanimously voted to unionize with Alphabet Workers Union-CWA (AWU-CWA) in April 2023.

• On July 19, 2023 the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced that it will uphold the Region 16 - Fort Worth Director’s previous ruling that the YouTube Music contract workers are jointly employed by both Google/Alphabet and the Alphabet subcontractor Cognizant. 

• As of August 3, 2023 Google has refused to bargain with these workers stating, “Google does not employ any of the Cognizant employees in the bargaining unit you represent, does not control any of the essential terms and conditions of their employment, and therefore could not meaningfully contribute to collective bargaining.”

• On Thursday, February 29 2024, Google informed workers on the YouTube Music Content Operations Team that they would be laid off while the workers were testifying before the Austin City Council on a resolution calling for Google to bargain with them in good faith. The Austin City Council passed its resolution after a hearing during which workers revealed that they had just received word of the layoffs.

• AWU-CWA has filed multiple Unfair Labor Practice charges on behalf of workers, and awaits a resolution on the ongoing legal battle. A super majority of a group of 58 workers at YouTube Music workers in Austin filed for union election seeking AWU-CWA as their representative October 21,2022. These workers review, edit and correct the YouTube Music catalog metadata which includes editing mistakes made by AI tools.  

Download Our Strike Compilation Album

As a musically inclined group of workers, members of the YouTube Music Content Operations team  produced a Strike Party album, which can be purchased on Bandcamp. All proceeds support our strike fund!