UK tech workers ready to join union amid growing unrest

Staff from Google, Amazon and other big digital companies are set to join Britain's first tech trade union, amid growing employee activism in the industry.

The United Tech and Allied Workers (UTAW) was launched on Tuesday, as a branch of the Communications Workers Union (CWU), with the aim of "representing and fighting for workers interests in the tech industry".

Several hundred workers are already thought to have joined the union from companies such as Samsung, Google, Amazon and Microsoft.

The creation of the UK's first tech union follows growing unrest among digital workers over issues such as safety and discrimination - primarily in the US.

Over the spring this year, Amazon's US warehouse workers staged protests over working conditions which they claimed were putting their health at risk. Amazon responded by saying it had put in place safety measures across its sites, including promoting social distancing and more frequent cleaning.

Google has been hit by a series of walkouts across the world, most notably in 2018 when an estimated 20,000 staff took part in a protest over claims of sexual harassment and gender inequality.

At the time, Sundar Pichai, Google's chief executive, said the company would support those who took part in the protests, adding it took a "hard line" on sexual misconduct.

More recently, tech firms have faced accusations they are muzzling staff. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg told employees last week he only wanted them to express their views on a special area of the company's internal messaging platform.

Facebook said: "We deeply value expression and open discussion. What we’ve heard from our employees is that they want the option to join debates on social and political issues rather than see them unexpectedly in their work feed."

It followed protests among US staff of the social network earlier this year against the decision to allow comments by president Donald Trump advocating racial violence to stay up on the site. Google is also said to be considering tightening rules on its own internal message boards.

Ray Ellis, the CWU’s head of recruitment and organising, said: “These tech-sector workers are leading the way as a new generation realise the value of collectivising struggle and begin to self-organise to build industrial strength, and we are delighted they believe the CWU is the best union to help them achieve this.

“It’s clear from the meetings we’ve had with these activists and tech workers that they’re keen to both organise and unionise – and that they want to do this within the CWU.”