Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about joining AWU-CWA

General FAQs

Who is in our union?

Anyone who works at Alphabet in the US and Canada is welcome to join! That means our members include direct Alphabet employees, referred to within Alphabet as "Full Time Employees" (FTEs), and anyone who works as an Alphabet subcontractor, internally referred to as "Extended Workforce" (xWF, also referred to as "Temps, Vendors, and Contractors (TVCs)"). Members can be full- or part-time workers.

If you're an employee of Accenture Flex in the Accenture Content Creation Team Union, please reach out to their contact email for questions.

How big is the union?

Right now our union includes over a thousand members from across Alphabet in the US and Canada.

I work for Alphabet. Am I required to join?

No, but we hope you choose to build power alongside your coworkers and join us!

Will Alphabet or my manager know that I’ve joined the union?

We do not publicize lists of members to Alphabet or management. You can choose to be public or private about your membership.

Can I be fired for joining?

According to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), you can’t be fired, disciplined, demoted, or penalized in any way for joining a union or participating in union activity.

Can I leave after I join?

Membership is voluntary; you can leave at any time! We also expect members to end their membership if their employment with Alphabet ends. If you have questions about leaving membership, please contact our Membership Committee.

Will being in the union affect my chances of promotion?

It is illegal for employers to discriminate against employees based on union membership or activities. That’s not to say that it can’t happen, but you may have legal recourse if this happens. Many public union members have been promoted multiple times. There are even members that are L7s.

What do unions do besides negotiate pay and strike?

Historically unions have fought for issues from an 8 hour workday, to equal rights at work, to smaller classroom sizes. In general, a union puts workers on more equal footing with management to ensure that our voices are heard. We have paid staff to help organize campaigns and give legal advice where needed for this as well. A union is also about committing to be there for each other; to support each other, care about each others’ issues and concerns, and protect each other from retaliation and unfair practices. AWU-CWA is our union—if you want something to be different at work, AWU-CWA is about connecting you with like-minded people and making that happen!

Joining the Union

Can workers outside the U.S. and Canada join?

Due to the complexity of international labor law, AWU-CWA membership is restricted to workers in the US and Canada. We are allied with Google workers worldwide and work to build our collective power. Communications Workers of America is part of a global federation of labor organizations called UNI Global Union. If your country does not have a group of organized Google workers, we recommend you get in contact with UNI to find a union in your country.

If you are in the following countries, you can find more about your local Google union here:

Ireland - Financial Services Union
Japan - JMITU Alphabet Union
Korea - Google Korea Union
Poland - Konfederacja Pracy
Switzerland - Syndicom
UK - UTAW (United Tech & Allied Workers @ Google) and Unite at Google

What about xWF/TVCs? What about other bets?

We believe that all workers who contribute to Alphabet deserve a say in how it is run, therefore extended workforce (xWF) / temps, vendors, contractors (TVCs) and workers for all of Alphabet are welcome to join the union. We used to be a single company, and we’re not going to let arbitrary corporate structure divide us from each other.

Can interns join this union?

Yes!

Can lawyers join this union?

Yes, lawyers are welcome to join, as long as they are not managers or supervisors. The National Labor Relations Board has generally found that lawyers are able to organize and can do so without ethical or conflict-of-interest concerns.

Can non-US Citizens join this union?

Yes. Regardless of your immigration status, you are welcome to join AWU-CWA. Some of our members aren’t US citizens, but they are living and working in the US and Canada for Alphabet. For more information, see Immigrant Employee Rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

Can managers join this union?

Yes, managers under the director level are welcome to join us. Managers may face additional risks getting involved with organizing, so if you’re a manager interested in joining, we’d love to have a conversation with you. Please fill out the contact form and a union member will reach out to discuss.

I’m in a right-to-work state. Can I still join?

Yes. Being in a right-to-work state doesn’t prevent you from joining a union.

About AWU-CWA

What are AWU-CWA’s demands?

We are not organized around a list of demands or specific issues. We are an organization working to build a structure to create worker power. This work is about forming a system to create change and continue to drive new changes to make Alphabet a better place for workers. To see some issues that we are currently organizing around, check out our Campaigns page.

What happens once I card-sign?

When you sign a card, your information undergoes a verification process. Once verification is complete, you will be added to the union mailing list and receive a welcome email with more information including a link to sign up for our Discord server. If there are any concerns, a representative will reach out to you to follow up. If you still have questions or concerns please email contact@alphabetworkersunion.org.

Is AWU-CWA a “solidarity union”?

All unions have solidarity. We are a union with a pre-majority organizing model. In fact, most US workers in unions were organizing this way until their efforts resulted in the codified labor law we know today. We are organizing and building power and resources. That makes us a union. Some unions have contracts, some don’t. Some unions have contracts for some workers, while other workers within that same union might not have a contract. They are all still unions.

What do staff do?

AWU-CWA organizing staff are experienced organizers who can work on campaigns as their full-time jobs without burning out, like volunteers do. As we scale, we need staff not just to run campaigns but to train and support our members, to facilitate our organizational structures and decision-making processes, to advise us from their extensive experience in labor organizing, and to run our technical infrastructure. Staff also includes lawyers who can advise our members on questions of labor law and defend members from retaliation.

While staff are critical to our success as an organization, they do not make decisions for our union: our membership do.

About Union Dues

Why collect dues?

Dues are our money: we all vote on the budget, which we write. We are trying to organize inside of a trillion dollar corporation, and we need enough money to do that. Many of our members will be TVCs, so while many engineers may be paying $3000 a year in dues, many TVCs will be paying $400 a year or less in dues.

The majority of our dues pay for staff. Staff are critical to the sustainability of our organization, which otherwise would need to fully depend on member volunteer hours for organizing, communications, and administrative tasks, and be subject to fluctuations in the member workforce, such as layoffs.

Dues mean that we can support hourly workers if we go on strike. While the raw number may sound high, 1% is lower than dues at most unions. In the labor movement, dues are commonly calculated as 2.5 hours of pay per month, which comes out to around 1.3%, and most union dues in the US/Canada range from 1-2%).

How much are dues?

1% of total annual compensation, divided into monthly increments. For Alphabet full-time employees, this is calculated by adding up base pay, annual bonuses, and granted stock value (if applicable). Changes to compensation can be reported to our Membership Committee for amendments to dues.

For any members covered by a collective bargaining agreement, dues are 1.3%, which is set by the Alphabet Workers Union Bylaws, following the CWA Constitution.

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How are dues collected?

When you sign a card to join AWU-CWA, we will ask you to include a credit card or bank information (preferred). Your method of payment will be charged on a monthly basis on the first of the month.

For any members covered by a collective bargaining agreement, dues are directly deducted from your paycheck.

What are the dues accomplishing?

We are building an active and growing group to mobilize large numbers of Alphabet workers. Dues go towards a shared budget that is fully reinvested in AWU-CWA. Dues cover costs like full time organizing staff, software infrastructure, printed materials and swag, travel and expenses for assemblies, legal support, training and events, and accessibility.

As a registered non-profit labor organization, we also file annual federal LM-2 reports of our financial activities. Our latest LM-2 can be found here.

How much of dues go towards CWA?

We pay a flat fee of $25 per month per member to CWA national. Funds to our parent union are an important mechanism to strengthen the labor movement as a whole. Our union was started with the help of paid staff organizers from CODE-CWA, a campaign focused on tech workers that was funded out of the “per caps” of journalism and telecommunications union siblings at CWA. We receive legal, legislative, and administrative support.

Come join us to build power.

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