US WORKERS at tech giant Google are forming a trade union, they announced today.

The Alphabet Workers Union, named after the parent company of Google established during the firm’s restructuring in 2015, has been set up with assistance from the Communication Workers of America’s Campaign to Organise Digital Employees (Code-CWA).

Google software engineer Dylan Baker said: “This is historic — the first union at a major tech company by and for all tech workers.

“We will elect representatives, we will make decisions democratically, we will pay dues, and we will hire skilled organisers to ensure all workers at Google know they can work with us.”

Programme manager Nicki Anselmo said the new union “builds on years of courageous organising by Google workers,” citing staff who organised against Project Maven, under which the company collaborated with the Pentagon on artificial-intelligence projects for military use.

Google has been struck by scandals, including over sexual harassment of staff, which prompted a walkout in 2018. Last month the US National Labour Relations Board (NLRB) filed a complaint against it for alleged union-busting, saying it had violated employees’ right to organise and unlawfully spied on staff. The NLRB filed its complaint after investigating the sacking of several staff, including Berland and Kathryn Spiers, who allege that they were fired for trying to organise fellow workers.

Code-CWA has been fighting to build union membership in the poorly organised digital sector, as Britain’s Communications Workers Union is doing with last year’s formation of a United Tech & Allied Workers sector.