YouTube Music Contract Workers Unionize with Alphabet Workers Union-CWA & File Petition with NLRB to Win Bargaining Rights

(Austin, Texas)—A supermajority of Workers at YouTube Music Content Operations have signed union cards and filed with the NLRB to win union recognition and bargaining power on the job. This filing comes as Alphabet Workers Union-Communications Workers of America (AWU-CWA) has grown to almost 1,200 members since its launch in January 2021. The wall-to-wall union has been leading the charge to improve working conditions for all Alphabet workers, including full-time employees and temporary, vendor and contract workers.

These YouTube Music workers were already dues-paying members of AWU-CWA and are now calling on the NLRB to grant them the bargaining rights that they have earned by successfully organizing their workplace in Austin. These bargaining rights would force Alphabet to recognize the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA as the bargaining unit for workers. The unit will represent a total of 58 workers. Both the Alphabet subcontractor, YouTube Music Content Operations (YTM-MCO), and Alphabet will be listed as joint employers on the filing.

“YouTube Music Content Operations is proud to be a part of this crucial moment in the history of the labor movement. Our workforce is a tapestry of diverse, creative, and progressive people that give Austin its notoriety of being a culture that celebrates the arts. We are so proud to stand together to demand that our employers give us the basic dignity of a living wage, so that we can continue to enjoy living and working in our community that has become nearly impossible to afford–due in part to big technology companies relocating their headquarters here. We are proud to stand united to fight for our right to remain working from home, so that we can ensure each YTM MCO employee has a work-life balance that allows them to pursue their hobbies and passions. Today is just another step in a long fight, but we are proud to restore dignity to our friends and colleagues, and to turn YTM MCO into a democratic workspace that values creativity, innovation, and security for us all,” said Katie Marschner, Subject Matter Expert at Youtube Music Content Operations and member of AWU-CWA.

By ensuring both full-time Alphabet workers and contractors alike have a protected voice on the job, the new bargaining unit within the southwest chapter of AWU-CWA is paving the way for industry-wide standards that will better the shared working conditions at Alphabet and beyond. As key personnel behind a platform with a valuation of over $180 billion in 2022, workers are eager to receive the quality pay, benefits and rights they have earned on the job. As a part of the YouTube Music Content Operations team, workers ensure music content is available and approved for YouTube’s 2.1 billion monthly active users worldwide. 

“We are honored to welcome the workers of the YouTube Music Content Operations team as members of the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA. Google platforms like YouTube have largely been a success thanks to the labor and efforts of the thousands of contract workers that ensure quality content while being denied their fair share. We’re excited to see these workers bring Alphabet to the bargaining table and use their power to win the quality pay, benefits and rights on the job they deserve,”said Parul Koul, Google Software Engineer and Executive Chair of AWU-CWA.  

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Alphabet Workers Union - CWA unites full-time employees, temporary employees, vendors, and contractors at Google and other Alphabet companies in the United States and Canada in collective action to ensure that our workplace is equitable and that Alphabet acts ethically. We are members of Communications Workers of America Local 1400 and currently represent over 1,100 workers across Alphabet. Learn more at alphabetworkersunion.org or follow us at @AlphabetWorkers.