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Why The Google Workers Union Was Good News — But Not Great News…Yet
On the morning of Monday, January 4th, welcome news came to all who have a stake in changing the silicon valley tech giants — which is to say, everyone with a stake in how our democracy and economy functions: a new union for Google/Alphabet workers had launched.
The following week, and the days since, have presented perhaps the most fundamental illustration yet of the challenges facing those who’d remake and reform silicon valley. In the wake of the Capitol Hill riot, tech companies deplatforming a President inciting violence, and the likely prospect of the newly inaugurated Biden administration pursuing a new regulatory approach towards the entire sector, one might ask: where does worker organizing and efforts like the Alphabet Workers Union fit in?
We Can’t Fix Silicon Valley Without Empowering Tech Workers — Period.
I want to be clear from the start here: we simply can not solve the problems endemic within silicon valley without empowering tech workers to stand up to management.
It just won’t work, for obvious reasons. Scratch any tech scandal of the last decade, from Theranos to aiding autocrats, and sooner or later you’ll find either an internal Cassandra whose warnings were ignored, or a whole set of ignored workers who knew something bad was on…
