4,000 Google Cafeteria Workers Have Joined Unions During the Pandemic

Workers in the Google cafeteria in Atlanta may soon become the newest unionized workers.

Majority of Google's Cafeteria Workers Have Joined Unions

Thousands of cafeteria workers working in the tech giant already joined unions.

The majority of Google's food service employees are now unionized, according to a recent article in The Washington Post (via Engadget).

The publication claimed that 4,000 employees at Google's cafeterias have joined unions since the COVID-19 outbreak began.

Why Are the Issues That the Cafeteria Workers Wanted to Solve

The majority of the workers in the Google cafeteria are contract workers, who allegedly do not receive the same perks as full-time employees. In recent months, contractors from across the tech behemoth have advocated for more pay and more protections.

The Post claims that "the average unionized worker at a Google cafeteria makes $24 an hour, pays little to nothing for health insurance, and has access to a pension plan," in contrast to Atlanta's Sodexo workers, who make $15 an hour and must spend "hundreds" on health insurance.

According to the report, employees of the contracting company Sodexo told their manager that they intended to unionize, and Sodexo promised that they would not stop the action if "a majority" of the employees agreed.

When a formal agreement might be achieved is not yet certain.

Who Is Representing Google's Cafeteria Workers

The cafeteria staff at Google are represented by the union Unite Here. Since joining Unite Here, the union that represents Google's cafeteria workers, other cafeteria employees have already seen a number of benefits.

This Is Not the First Time Contracting Firm From Google Unionized

The Kansas City, Missouri, Google Fiber subcontractors who elected to join the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU) this year have managed to secure bargaining rights with the union's leadership.

Prior to Jan. 4, the first anniversary of the AWU's founding, the subcontractors submitted their petition for a vote to join the union to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

The petition from the subcontractors also requested that BDS Connected Solutions, rather than Google, be recognized as the employer by the NLRB.

Ten full-time employees of Google's parent company, Alphabet, Inc., BDS Connected Solutions, make up the workforce. They are employed by Google Fiber, an initiative of Google that offers high-speed internet access to 19 US States, including Missouri. They work in a retail location for Google Fiber.

With the NLRB's official recognition, the 10 subcontractors are now the first members of the AWU-Communication Workers of America (CWA) to obtain leadership-level bargaining rights. Former Alphabet union members were unable to engage in labor contract negotiations with their company since it was determined that they had not gone to that extent.

The AWU currently has hundreds members spread across the organization, but it formerly used a "minority union" model where the union had no bargaining power with management.