Pittsburgh Google Contract Workers Join Steelworkers Union

PITTSBURGH, Pa.—Employees of a Google contractor in Pittsburgh voted 49-24 to join the United Steelworkers, the union announced Sept. 24. The new local, one of the first formed by workers at a tech company, will cover 80 employees of HCL Technologies, mostly data analysts for Google Shopping. More than half of Google’s workers are temporary, vendor, or contract employees, who get paid less and have fewer benefits than Google employees. “A lot of my fellow coworkers make $10,000 more than me for doing the exact same task,” HCL worker Francesca Baisden told KDKA-TV. HCL had tried to discourage workers from joining the union, but issued a statement saying “we respect the decision.” “To my knowledge, there is not another all-tech local in the United States,” Steelworkers organizer Damon DiCicco told KDKA-TV. Software bug-testers Microsoft hired through Lionbridge Technologies voted to form a union in 2014, but Lionbridge laid them all off in 2016. “If you ask me, I would say in 10 years we’re going to see a lot more efforts like this,” DiCicco said. HCL has two weeks to recognize the union or contest the vote. Read more