A number of Google employees have started to take another step up in their activism as Venmo adds a new check-cashing feature while Slack is experiencing a number of other issues.
Google employees unionize
According to the story by TechCrunch, over 200 employees over at google as well as its parent company known as Alphabet have just announced that they have officially formed what is now known as the Alphabet Workers Union. Obviously, this is still but a fraction of Alphabet's total workforce of over 130,000 employees.
A report made by The New York Times, however, states that the group is actually a "minority union" that is designed to give more structure towards employee activism, rather than a union that negotiates for a specific contract. It will also reportedly be open to contractors.
Union gives statement
A certain Google software engineer known as Dylan Baker gave a statement saying this is quite historic as it is the very first union that was made at a major tech company by tech workers for tech workers. It was stated that the union will elect their own representatives and will make their decisions based on democracy.
They will also reportedly pay dues and will hire the right skilled organizers in order to make sure that all of the workers at Google know that they can work with the union if they actually want to see the particular company reflect their own values. The union is reportedly doing what they can in order for proper process to be followed.
Google gives their response
It was also stated that their main goals do go beyond the workplace questions like if the employees are actually getting paid enough and the union reportedly tackles issues that are even broader. It was said that it is a time wherein a union is supposedly answering these given problems.
In response to the union, Google's director of people operations, Kara Silverstein gave a statement saying the company has always worked hard in order to create both a supportive and rewarding workplace for their work force. It was also stated that the employees are still protected by the labor rights which the company supports. The statement ended with Kara saying that like the company has always done, they will still continue engaging directly with every single employee.
Other news
This is not the only news as of the moment as Slack is reportedly struggling as of this moment. However, there is still no clear estimate as to when the downtime started but as per TechCrunch staff, they started experiencing difficulties a little after 10AM Eastern time.
Venmo is also reportedly adding a check-cash feature and will waive fees for incoming stimulus checks. This particular feature can also be used to cash printed, payroll as well as official US government checks, this will include the new stimulus checks.
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian Buenconsejo
