Workplace

Unionizing is the 'easy' part. Getting a contract can be harder.

The union representing Google contract workers in Pittsburgh still doesn't have a contract after nearly 21 months.

Two neon digital hands shaking

Union contract negotiations take, on average, about 16 months.

Photo: Charles Deluvio/Unsplash

In the nearly seven years Gabrielle Norton-Moore has worked as a contractor at Google, her annual take-home pay has increased by just $91.

"When I did the math on that, like — I knew it was bad, but I didn't know it was that bad," Norton-Moore, a data analyst, told Protocol. "I was so angry because that's literally criminal."

Unfortunately, the opposite is true. But achieving better pay is one of the demands Norton-Moore and her unionized comrades have on their bargaining list. Norton-Moore is part of a group of roughly 65 employees for information technology firm HCL who are contracted to work at Google's Bakery Square office in Pittsburgh. Norton-Moore and her colleagues handle the data "that makes the machine learning happen and run smoothly," she said.

In September 2019, these workers unionized with the United Steelworkers union. But they have yet to solidify their contract with HCL.

Members of the HCL union are part of a growing number of tech workers who have unionized or are actively forming a union in recent years. But forming a union is just the first step on the long road of collective bargaining. Negotiating a contract with an employer can take years.

Time to contract

The contract negotiation process is generally a slow one. On average, it takes unions a little over 13 months to solidify their first contract, according to a Bloomberg Law analysis.

The Glitch union, which the management team voluntarily recognized in March 2020, became the first tech union to ratify a contract this past March. The contract, which codified grievance and arbitration procedures, just-cause provisions and terms for severance pay, came about one year after the creation of the union, but was negotiated over the span of five months.

Representatives from the Glitch union were unavailable for comment.

The HCL union, however, is in its 21st month of negotiations.

"It can really vary," USW spokesperson Jess Kamm Broomell told Protocol when asked how long it takes to get a contract. "But this one is moving very slowly. We're also very supportive of the PRO Act. One of the reasons that's important is because it does put limits on how long a company can drag out that initial process."

The unionized workers in Pittsburgh say HCL is not bargaining in good faith and that the company is intentionally dragging its feet.

"It's so obvious," Norton-Moore said, noting HCL has cancelled multiple scheduled bargaining sessions.

"Most contracts do take a long time," she added. "Especially the first one, but I mean, even this is pushing it."

In May, USW delivered a petition signed by 1,156 tech workers to HCL, demanding the company negotiate in good faith. The May petition came several months after the National Labor Relations Board issued a complaint against HCL, alleging the company failed to bargain in good faith. The complaint also claims HCL retaliated against its Pittsburgh workforce by moving some of the work to Poland. This week, the NLRB issued an amended complaint alleging HCL illegally froze wages in 2020. The hearing for the complaint is scheduled to take place in mid-July.

HCL, however, disagrees with that characterization. The company told Protocol it has negotiated in good faith.

"Successful contract negotiations require all parties to communicate in reasonable, actionable terms," a spokesperson for HCL told Protocol in a statement. "That has been and is our goal. To that end, HCL continues to negotiate in good faith with the USW in hopes of finalizing a mutually beneficial contract."

What's on the table

Kickstarter, following HCL, became the second major group of tech workers to unionize in February 2020. The union, Kickstarter United, reached an agreement with Kickstarter management pertaining to laid-off workers in May 2020, but still has yet to ratify a contract.

Kickstarter United, the company and the company's lawyers have met regularly throughout 2020 and 2021, Kickstarter senior software engineer Dannel Jurado, on behalf of Kickstarter United, told Protocol in a statement.

"As is usual with first contracts, things have been moving slow but we are making progress," Jurado said. "We are working towards a comprehensive contract that meets our bargaining unit's priorities of transparency, accountability, and equity. That takes time."

Kickstarter United organized around issues including equitable compensation, diversity and inclusion, and transparency around hiring, firing, promotions and disciplinary action. Jurado was unable to provide any additional context on the details of the negotiation process.

The HCL union conducted a survey of its bargaining unit to determine what issues are workers' highest priorities. They landed on better health care benefits, more vacation and higher, more equitable compensation.

"The biggest thing that we found out through all of this is the insane pay disparity," Norton-Moore said. "It's absolutely bonkers."

The lowest paid HCL worker at the Google office makes about $35,000 annually while the highest paid person makes $72,000 annually, Norton-Moore said. On average, HCL contractors at Google only receive about a 1% raise per year, which is lower than the rate of inflation over the last few years, she said. That's also much lower than the average 2.6% salary increase U.S. employees are projected to receive this year, according to a 2020 survey.

The union also wants to receive the same paid holidays their coworkers who are Google employees receive. While Google grants paid time off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Presidents Day, HCL does not. That means that when Google closes its building, HCL contractors are required to take vacation time.

Despite how long the process has taken, Norton-Moore is optimistic about its outcome.

"[The bargaining committee seems] to be down to the nitty-gritty and seem hopeful they'll be able to get us what we're requesting," she said. "It looks hopeful, but it's just literally getting them to the table is the biggest thing."

*This reporter's partner was on the bargaining committee at Glitch. She left the company in April 2021.

Fintech

Judge Zia Faruqui is trying to teach you crypto, one ‘SNL’ reference at a time

His decisions on major cryptocurrency cases have quoted "The Big Lebowski," "SNL," and "Dr. Strangelove." That’s because he wants you — yes, you — to read them.

The ways Zia Faruqui (right) has weighed on cases that have come before him can give lawyers clues as to what legal frameworks will pass muster.

Photo: Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images

“Cryptocurrency and related software analytics tools are ‘The wave of the future, Dude. One hundred percent electronic.’”

That’s not a quote from "The Big Lebowski" — at least, not directly. It’s a quote from a Washington, D.C., district court memorandum opinion on the role cryptocurrency analytics tools can play in government investigations. The author is Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui.

Keep ReadingShow less
Veronica Irwin

Veronica Irwin (@vronirwin) is a San Francisco-based reporter at Protocol covering fintech. Previously she was at the San Francisco Examiner, covering tech from a hyper-local angle. Before that, her byline was featured in SF Weekly, The Nation, Techworker, Ms. Magazine and The Frisc.

The financial technology transformation is driving competition, creating consumer choice, and shaping the future of finance. Hear from seven fintech leaders who are reshaping the future of finance, and join the inaugural Financial Technology Association Fintech Summit to learn more.

Keep ReadingShow less
FTA
The Financial Technology Association (FTA) represents industry leaders shaping the future of finance. We champion the power of technology-centered financial services and advocate for the modernization of financial regulation to support inclusion and responsible innovation.
Enterprise

AWS CEO: The cloud isn’t just about technology

As AWS preps for its annual re:Invent conference, Adam Selipsky talks product strategy, support for hybrid environments, and the value of the cloud in uncertain economic times.

Photo: Noah Berger/Getty Images for Amazon Web Services

AWS is gearing up for re:Invent, its annual cloud computing conference where announcements this year are expected to focus on its end-to-end data strategy and delivering new industry-specific services.

It will be the second re:Invent with CEO Adam Selipsky as leader of the industry’s largest cloud provider after his return last year to AWS from data visualization company Tableau Software.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donna Goodison

Donna Goodison (@dgoodison) is Protocol's senior reporter focusing on enterprise infrastructure technology, from the 'Big 3' cloud computing providers to data centers. She previously covered the public cloud at CRN after 15 years as a business reporter for the Boston Herald. Based in Massachusetts, she also has worked as a Boston Globe freelancer, business reporter at the Boston Business Journal and real estate reporter at Banker & Tradesman after toiling at weekly newspapers.

Image: Protocol

We launched Protocol in February 2020 to cover the evolving power center of tech. It is with deep sadness that just under three years later, we are winding down the publication.

As of today, we will not publish any more stories. All of our newsletters, apart from our flagship, Source Code, will no longer be sent. Source Code will be published and sent for the next few weeks, but it will also close down in December.

Keep ReadingShow less
Bennett Richardson

Bennett Richardson ( @bennettrich) is the president of Protocol. Prior to joining Protocol in 2019, Bennett was executive director of global strategic partnerships at POLITICO, where he led strategic growth efforts including POLITICO's European expansion in Brussels and POLITICO's creative agency POLITICO Focus during his six years with the company. Prior to POLITICO, Bennett was co-founder and CMO of Hinge, the mobile dating company recently acquired by Match Group. Bennett began his career in digital and social brand marketing working with major brands across tech, energy, and health care at leading marketing and communications agencies including Edelman and GMMB. Bennett is originally from Portland, Maine, and received his bachelor's degree from Colgate University.

Enterprise

Why large enterprises struggle to find suitable platforms for MLops

As companies expand their use of AI beyond running just a few machine learning models, and as larger enterprises go from deploying hundreds of models to thousands and even millions of models, ML practitioners say that they have yet to find what they need from prepackaged MLops systems.

As companies expand their use of AI beyond running just a few machine learning models, ML practitioners say that they have yet to find what they need from prepackaged MLops systems.

Photo: artpartner-images via Getty Images

On any given day, Lily AI runs hundreds of machine learning models using computer vision and natural language processing that are customized for its retail and ecommerce clients to make website product recommendations, forecast demand, and plan merchandising. But this spring when the company was in the market for a machine learning operations platform to manage its expanding model roster, it wasn’t easy to find a suitable off-the-shelf system that could handle such a large number of models in deployment while also meeting other criteria.

Some MLops platforms are not well-suited for maintaining even more than 10 machine learning models when it comes to keeping track of data, navigating their user interfaces, or reporting capabilities, Matthew Nokleby, machine learning manager for Lily AI’s product intelligence team, told Protocol earlier this year. “The duct tape starts to show,” he said.

Keep ReadingShow less
Kate Kaye

Kate Kaye is an award-winning multimedia reporter digging deep and telling print, digital and audio stories. She covers AI and data for Protocol. Her reporting on AI and tech ethics issues has been published in OneZero, Fast Company, MIT Technology Review, CityLab, Ad Age and Digiday and heard on NPR. Kate is the creator of RedTailMedia.org and is the author of "Campaign '08: A Turning Point for Digital Media," a book about how the 2008 presidential campaigns used digital media and data.

Latest Stories
Bulletins