(Mountain View, Calif.)—We believe that tech workers deserve to have a say not only in how the industry is run but also in how it is regulated. With several ongoing antitrust trials and enforcement actions attempting to rein in Big Tech in the United States and abroad, it is crucial that workers are engaged and our views and interests considered during the decision-making process around antitrust remedies. That has yet to happen.

In August, immediately following U.S. District Judge Ahmit Mehta’s ruling that “Google is a monopolist” in the online search marketplace, Google’s President of Global Affairs, Kent Walker, illegally ordered the company’s workers not to discuss the antitrust trial—a potentially life-altering event for workers, judging by the remedies proposed by the Department of Justice—even amongst ourselves. Days later, AWU-CWA filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the NLRB, as the gag order violates our rights as protected by Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. Google workers have received no explicit correction or rescission from Kent or other executives.

Google has a long history of chilling worker organizing and dialogue with its history of surveillance and retaliation against workers who raise concerns about the company’s practices. In 2019, the company hired union avoidance firm IRI Consultants to clamp down on worker unrest, and just weeks ago, documents released in the ongoing ad tech antitrust trial detailed Google’s monitoring of employee sentiment and reaction to the news. Workers believe they have been managed out or simply fired for raising concerns about workplace harassment, pregnancy discrimination, and ethics questions. This unlawful gag order is the latest in a long line of efforts to suppress worker speech.

“Our employer continues to demonstrate a blatant disregard for federal labor law and our right to discuss working conditions with coworkers—up to and including the proposed remedies of federal antitrust actions that could affect many of our jobs at Google. Alphabet Workers Union-CWA demands that Google clarify our rights to protected speech with respect to the ongoing antitrust trials that will affect our work.”  said Parul Koul, Software Engineer and President of Alphabet Workers Union-CWA.

We will continue to fight against the unlawful suppression of our voices at work and advocate for a voice in the decisions made about our jobs—decisions that are being made by executives, legal experts, and government officials, none of whom do the work that keeps Google running.