A joint venture owned by Google and Accenture is facing accusations of violating US federal labor law, as alleged by the Alphabet workers union, according to a Bloomberg report.
The union's complaint, filed on August 3 with the National Labor Relations Board, claims that Alphabet's actions constituted a violation of laws that prohibit retaliation against employees involved in organizing efforts.
Reportedly, Alphabet terminated the contract employment of a significant number of Google Help employees due to their involvement in unionizing activities. This action affected more than 70% of the "proposed negotiating arm," leading to the job loss of 118 writers, graphic designers, and publishing coordinators responsible for generating content for Google's internal and external use. The roles related to Google's search engine optimization and artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot were managed through Accenture.
Anjail Muhammad, an Accenture writer who was informed of her impending job cancellation, expressed her view that the action seemed "vindictive." The timing of the layoffs raised questions, prompting the unfair labor practice charge against Google and Accenture.
When carrying out layoffs in July, Google indicated that the issue of organizing work was solely a matter between the workers and their employer, Accenture. Google maintained that it didn't control the terms and conditions of employment. The company reiterated its stance in response To the complaint, asserting that any changes to employment contracts were made with the goal of cost-saving and enhancing efficiency.
Earlier this year, on January 20, Google reportedly laid off 12,000 employees, a trend that was echoed by other technology and cryptocurrency firms around the same time. In April, Google also announced structural changes within its artificial intelligence re search and development entity, DeepMind. The company faced further legal challenges with a class-action lawsuit filed on July 12, related to its new AI data-scraping privacy policy.
