Google Contractors Vote to Join United Steelworkers Union

By Mark Bergen and Josh Eidelson

Contract workers for Google in Pittsburgh voted to join the United Steelworkers on Tuesday, according to the union.

The result was 49 votes for and 24 against, said Maria Somma, the organizing director for the union.

This is one of the first victories for organized labor since waves of employee activism began consuming the technology giant last year. The union hopes to gain a broader foothold in the sector, even with white-collar staff who have largely avoided organized labor. It has already expanded beyond steel, representing employees in education and health care. Most of the Pittsburgh staff are data analysts for Google Shopping, the company’s product search service.

“I would hope, if direct Google employees should consider union organizing, that they would consider the Steelworkers,” Somma said.

HCL Technologies Ltd., the employer of the contract workers, did not respond to requests for comment.

A Google spokeswoman said the company works with many unionized partners. “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,” she said.

Contract labor has been one of several internal flash points at Alphabet Inc.’s Google. More than half the company’s workforce comes from temporary, vendor and contract workers, called TVCs, who lack access to some of Google’s famous perks.

Still, some HCL workers said the benefits fall short. The company does not provide paid sick days and forced staff to take vacation days during national holidays, when Google’s offices closed, according to Ben Gwin, an HCL employee. He also said HCL didn’t provide wages in line with inflation. “We’re effectively losing money the longer we stay,” he said.

Unionization at big tech firms has been relatively scarce. In 2014, about 40 sub-contracted Microsoft Corp. software bug-testers won…

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