Wednesday, June 29, 2022
  • Login
198 Japan News
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • BUSINESS NEWS
  • VIDEO NEWS
  • FEATURED NEWS
    • JAPAN US TRADE NEWS
    • JAPAN EU NEWS
    • JAPAN UK NEWS
    • JAPAN INDIA NEWS
    • JAPAN RUSSIA NEWS
    • JAPAN GULF NATIONS NEWS
    • JAPAN AFRICA NEWS
    • JAPAN EGYPT NEWS
    • JAPAN NIGERIA NEWS
    • JAPAN MEXICO NEWS
    • JAPAN BRAZIL NEWS
    • JAPAN THAILAND NEWS
    • JAPAN INDONESIA NEWS
  • CRYPTO
  • POLITICAL
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • JAPAN AGRICULTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN MANUFACTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN AGRICULTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN IMMIGRATION NEWS
    • JAPAN UNIVERSITY NEWS
    • JAPAN EDUCATION NEWS
    • JAPAN VENTURE CAPITAL NEWS
    • JAPAN JOINT VENTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN BUSINESS HELP
    • JAPAN PARTNESHIPS
  • ASK IKE LEMUWA
  • CONTACT
198 Japan News
  • HOME
  • BUSINESS NEWS
  • VIDEO NEWS
  • FEATURED NEWS
    • JAPAN US TRADE NEWS
    • JAPAN EU NEWS
    • JAPAN UK NEWS
    • JAPAN INDIA NEWS
    • JAPAN RUSSIA NEWS
    • JAPAN GULF NATIONS NEWS
    • JAPAN AFRICA NEWS
    • JAPAN EGYPT NEWS
    • JAPAN NIGERIA NEWS
    • JAPAN MEXICO NEWS
    • JAPAN BRAZIL NEWS
    • JAPAN THAILAND NEWS
    • JAPAN INDONESIA NEWS
  • CRYPTO
  • POLITICAL
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • JAPAN AGRICULTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN MANUFACTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN AGRICULTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN IMMIGRATION NEWS
    • JAPAN UNIVERSITY NEWS
    • JAPAN EDUCATION NEWS
    • JAPAN VENTURE CAPITAL NEWS
    • JAPAN JOINT VENTURE NEWS
    • JAPAN BUSINESS HELP
    • JAPAN PARTNESHIPS
  • ASK IKE LEMUWA
  • CONTACT
No Result
View All Result
198 Japan News
No Result
View All Result
Home JAPAN MANUFACTURE NEWS

Google Fiber staff seek union vote and direct negotiations with Alphabet

by 198 Japan News
January 6, 2022
in JAPAN MANUFACTURE NEWS
Reading Time: 4 mins read
A A
0
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


Subcontracted Alphabet Inc. workers in Missouri are petitioning the U.S. government to make the company collectively bargain with them, opening a new front in the struggle over what the internet giant owes workers it claims aren’t its employees.

In a filing Tuesday with the National Labor Relations Board, the Alphabet Workers Union requested the agency hold a unionization vote among about a dozen Google Fiber retail store staff in Kansas City, almost all of whom the union says it has signed up. AWU’s petition specifies that the workers are seeking to negotiate not only with the Alphabet vendor that officially employs them, BDS Solutions Group, but also with Alphabet itself, the parent of Google and its sibling unit known as Access that includes the high-speed internet service Google Fiber.

The workers contend that Alphabet is a “joint employer” — a company with enough control over a group of employees to be liable for their treatment and obligated to negotiate if they unionize, even if it doesn’t sign their paychecks.

“We want to feel like we have a voice and some kind of say in our working conditions, and feel like we matter a little bit more,” said Emrys Adair, one of the Kansas City employees who’s been organizing over the past couple months. “We kind of feel like once we’re contracted out, Alphabet just forgot about us.”

A spokesperson for Alphabet didn’t immediately respond to an inquiry.

The labor board petition tees up what could be a lengthy and weighty legal battle. At stake is whether Alphabet, whose army of “temps, vendors, and contractors” has grown to comprise most of the company’s global workforce, should in fact be considered the boss of some of those contract workers. Any ruling from the labor board’s regional director deeming Google a joint employer could be appealed to the NLRB’s members in Washington, and if workers do vote to unionize and the agency requires Alphabet to negotiate with them, the company could fight that order in federal court.

The scope of “joint employer” liability has been one of the mostly hotly contested issues facing the labor board over the past decade. Former President Barack Obama’s appointees established a broader definition of joint employment. That was replaced by a more narrow view under Donald Trump and now President Joe Biden’s appointees have signaled they plan to change the policy once again. A more liberal standard would make it easier to bring claims against other companies, such as McDonald’s Corp., whose restaurants are mostly franchised, and Amazon.com Inc., which uses a network of third-party “delivery service providers” to complete orders.

The treatment of contract staff has been a flash point for activism over the past few years at Google, and more recently for the Alphabet Workers Union, a one-year-old affiliate of the Communications Workers of America. Tuesday’s petition marks a shift in strategy for AWU, which until now hadn’t sought formal recognition or bargaining with the company, focusing instead on tackling issues via collective action, advocacy campaigns and legal complaints.

AWU recognized that seeking collective bargaining is the “swiftest and most powerful” approach for the Kansas City staff, and is gearing up to pursue that tactic in other places where it makes sense, while continuing to deploy other approaches elsewhere, said Google software engineer Parul Koul, the group’s executive chair. “When you’re taking on an employer as massive and as varied as Alphabet, all strategies are on the table,” she said.

Alphabet once invested heavily in Google Fiber, which competes with major cable providers, but the company cut that spending around 2018 and has largely halted the service’s expansion into new markets. The division doesn’t share its sales.

Some of Alphabet’s contract workers have already formally unionized and won collective bargaining agreements with the vendors they worked for, covering groups including Google Shopping analysts in Pennsylvania and cafeteria workers in California. But AWU says its campaign in Kansas City, if successful, would be the first in the U.S. to force Alphabet itself to collectively bargain with any employees.

For sub-contracted workers employed by a staffing firm, winning direct negotiations with the bigger “joint employer” that firm works for can be a years-long legal struggle, but it can make a big difference, said former National Labor Relations Board Chair Wilma Liebman. “In general, the clients have far greater ability and flexibility to be able to improve conditions than the smaller staffing companies.”

In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever.
By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

You might also like

China’s tech giants lost their swagger and may never get it back

Nissan suspends Russia production for six months

Japan firms that embraced remote work rediscover value of the office

PHOTO GALLERY (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

  • The treatment of contract staff has been a flash point for activism over the past few years at Google, and more recently for the Alphabet Workers Union. | REUTERS



Source link

Tags: AlphabetdirectFiberGooglenegotiationsseekstaffUnionvote
Share30Tweet19

Recommended For You

China’s tech giants lost their swagger and may never get it back

by 198 Japan News
June 29, 2022
0

On trading floors in New York and Hong Kong, the brightening mood toward Chinese technology companies is unmistakable: With stocks like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings...

Read more

Nissan suspends Russia production for six months

by 198 Japan News
June 28, 2022
0

Nissan Motor Co. has suspended production in Russia for the first half of the business year that began on April 1 as there is little prospect of the...

Read more

Japan firms that embraced remote work rediscover value of the office

by 198 Japan News
June 28, 2022
0

Outspoken entrepreneur Elon Musk sparked controversy earlier this month when he told Tesla employees they needed to come to the office for at least 40 hours per week...

Read more

Food export bans from India to Argentina risk fueling inflation

by 198 Japan News
June 27, 2022
0

MUMBAI/BUENOS AIRES/LONDON – It only took 24 hours last month for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in India — the world’s second-largest producer of wheat — to shelve...

Read more

ODX private financial exchange opens in Japan

by 198 Japan News
June 27, 2022
0

The Osaka Digital Exchange, or ODX, a new private financial exchange in Japan, opened on Monday, starting trading of stocks and exchange-traded funds. The ODX became the third...

Read more
Next Post

Number of pachinko parlors in Japan decreasing rapidly, down 12 percent in two years

COVID-19 testing policies under scrutiny worldwide as omicron surge drives up demand

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest

Gravitas: China retaliates after Biden's Taiwan comment

37

The Global South has the power to force radical climate action | Climate Crisis

June 29, 2022

U.S. vows to bolster military presence in Europe amid Russia threat

June 29, 2022

China’s tech giants lost their swagger and may never get it back

June 29, 2022

From war to wild weather, global crop problems point to years of high food prices

June 29, 2022

CryptoCom Removes DOGE, SHIB, and 13 Other Altcoins From Earn Program CryptoCom Removes DOGE, SHIB, and 13 Other Altcoins from Crypto Earn 

June 29, 2022

Kyodo News Digest: June 29, 2022

June 29, 2022
198 Japan News

198 Japan News will provide the latest news update as the government facing a growing challenging in preventing Japan from breaking apart along ethnic and religious lines.

198massmedia Group. USA. 3821 Dominion Drive, Dumfries, USA. 22026.

Toll Free 1 888 642 8433.
Contact: info@198japannews.com

LATEST UPDATES

The Global South has the power to force radical climate action | Climate Crisis

U.S. vows to bolster military presence in Europe amid Russia threat

China’s tech giants lost their swagger and may never get it back

From war to wild weather, global crop problems point to years of high food prices

CryptoCom Removes DOGE, SHIB, and 13 Other Altcoins From Earn Program CryptoCom Removes DOGE, SHIB, and 13 Other Altcoins from Crypto Earn 

Kyodo News Digest: June 29, 2022

1990 World Cup winner Matthaus expects Germany to beat Japan

Deborah James, British Cancer Campaigner and Podcaster, Dies at 40

RECOMMENDED

Tokyo Disney to keep admission limit post-COVID

1st U.N. nuke ban treaty meeting urges “immediate action”

Japan to host G-7 summit in Hiroshima on May 19-21, 2023

Why China Has Increased Military Flights off the Coast of Taiwan

Latin America’s new ‘pink tide’ gains pace as Colombia shifts left

Crypto-gold exchange Vaultoro lowers fees, increases withdrawal limits » CryptoNinjas

PM Hasina opens Bangladesh’s longest bridge over River Padma | News

Bybit Review [The Ultimate Guide 2022]

Copyright © 2021 198 Japan News.

No Result
View All Result
  • Browse the latest updates from Japan
  • Landing Page
  • Buy JNews
  • Support Forum
  • Contact Us

Copyright © 2021 198 Japan News.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In