YouTube TV contractors allege in NLRB complaint they were terminated in response to broader union organizing efforts

YouTube Music and Cognizant workers strike outside Google's office in Austin, Texas.

SUZANNE CORDEIRO/ Getty Images

• Three workers for Cognizant filed an NLRB complaint against the firm and Google on Friday.
• They allege they were let go as a union movement among Google contractors began to make inroads. 
• Google's contractors have been putting pressure on the company to provide better working conditions.

The Alphabet Workers Union has filed a new complaint on Friday with the National Labor Relations Board against Google and its contractor Cognizant on behalf of three contract YouTube TV workers who were terminated.

The AWU alleges in the complaint that the workers were fired in order to squash unionization efforts among YouTube TV contractors, who worked in the same Austin, Texas office as Cognizant contractors for another Google-owned unit, YouTube Music, that voted in favor of forming a union on April 26.  

The day before on April 25, Google ended its YouTube TV contract and all 15 workers at the Austin office were notified they'd be let go unless they were able to find a different role at the company. One worker who spoke with Insider on the condition of anonymity says that the timing of the layoff notice just before the union vote was not coincidental.

But Google told Insider that the layoffs occurred because it ended the YouTube TV contract. Google also emphasized that because these were the employees of Cognizant, it's not a matter for the search giant.

"For well over a year, we've been managing our spend more effectively across dozens of our suppliers and vendors for Alphabet in the US and abroad, and any suggestion that contract changes are due to reasons beyond increasing our efficiency and cost savings is untrue," Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini said in a statement. 

Mencini also said the company has "had many contracts with unionized suppliers and have no objection to Cognizant workers organizing or joining a union."

Cognizant did not respond to a request for comment. 

The NLRB ruled in March that Google could be considered a joint employer with Cognizant of certain contractors, which would require the search giant to negotiate with unionized contractors. Google and Cognizant are appealing that ruling. 

In the complaint, the AWU alleges as the YouTube Music contractors' efforts to unionize gained momentum, Cognizant worked to prevent employees at other units from organizing. The complaint says that TV screens in the Austin office cycled through slideshows with anti-union talking points. Insider also previously reported that the AWU claims that Cognizant held meetings with YouTube TV contractors where they repeated anti-union talking points.

Cognizant previously described these meetings to Insider as regular staff meetings where employees were able to ask questions about the process. "Cognizant's view is that its employees should ask questions and should receive timely answers. They should have all of the facts," a Cognizant spokesperson said in April.

The AWU also alleges in this complaint that Cognizant's YouTube TV workers at other offices were offered opportunities to continue working with Google after the company ended the contract, whereas the Austin employees were granted seven-week severance, but not other work.

The worker who spoke to Insider said they decided to file Friday's unfair labor practices complaint because they "felt Cognizant was treating us unfairly since the beginning" including through perceived union-busting behavior, unclear return to office expectations, and the sudden dissolvement of their team. 

Cognizant has previously disputed that its behavior was untoward, and said it was always clear with workers they would have to return to an office following the pandemic.

A Cognizant spokesperson previously confirmed that Google was winding down some projects with the firm, but that it would attempt to place workers in other positions internally. On the issue of return-to-office, Cognizant previously told Insider that employees had been given notice of its return-to-office intentions well in advance and that they could apply for other internal jobs that wouldn't require working in Austin.

Often called "shadow workers" because they are not always afforded the pay and benefits of the full-time direct employees, contract workers who support Google's vast array of services have become louder this year, holding rallies and, in certain places, working on organizing unions.

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