(San Francisco, CA)—The Alphabet Workers Union-CWA (AWU-CWA) filed Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today on behalf of six Google raters who were fired for engaging in protected activity; prohibited against discussing said terminations publicly; and threatened that wages may decrease with the union. Raters are often invisible human workers that train, test, and evaluate Google Search and Bard results. The workers were fired after publicly speaking out about their poor working conditions. The charges were filled to Google and Appen as joint employers.

Even though these subcontracted raters provide critical support to Google’s most profitable products, workers are still denied access to the company’s own established minimum standards for contractors ($15/hour, health care, tuition reimbursement, etc ) leaving thousands of workers in poverty. Previous organizing by these workers has secured the first ever pay raise for these workers in January 2023. Yet, workers will still be earning under $15 an hour. One of the fired workers, Ed Stackman, recently submitted a letter to the Senate hearing on Oversight of A.I.: Rules for Artificial Intelligence (see attached).

“We’re the people who work everyday to make sure the AI millions of people are growing to rely on doesn’t share inaccurate information. We are paid less than Google’s commitment to pay contractors $15 an hour and we don’t receive paid time off or healthcare. Despite years of service we were terminated by email and told it was because of “business conditions” despite the fact they are screaming out to hire new workers and have our colleagues take on additional hours.” said Michelle Curtis, one of the fired Raters

Thousands of contract workers, like these fired workers, are discouraged from speaking out about their working conditions due to NDA’s that are forced upon workers. Instead of entering into an open dialogue with workers, workers are discouraged from even speaking to other Google workers who are not on their same team. In order to ensure the safe and ethical development of AI, the workers behind these technologies must be given a seat at the table to shape working conditions and inform policy. 

Previously, Alphabet Workers Union-CWA won reinstatement and compensation for former Google Data Center worker Shannon Wait, who was illegally fired by Modis for speaking out about working conditions.