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☆ YouTube Music team laid off by Google while workers testified to Austin City Council about working conditions
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-02 | by ( Kenneth Niemeyer | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The entire YouTube Music team is out of a job after going on strike last year. AdvertisementThe entire YouTube Music team is out of a job as tensions rise at Google parent company, Alphabet. The Alphabet Workers Union, which represents workers at Google's parent company, Alphabet, said Google laid off the YouTube Music team on Friday. "We just got laid off, our jobs are ending today, effective immediately," one worker tells the city council in video of the meeting. The YouTube Music team previously went on strike in February 2023 over Google's crackdown on remote work.

Persons: —, Cognizant, Sundar Pichai, Pichai Organizations: YouTube, Austin City, Google, Service, Alphabet Workers Union, Twitter, YouTube Music Locations: Texas, Austin

☆ Alphabet cuts ties with Australian AI firm that helped train Bard and Google Search
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-23 | by ( Hayden Field | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai departs federal court on October 30, 2023 in Washington, DC. Appen, based in Australia, has helped train AI models for a star-studded list of tech behemoths. Five customers — Microsoft , Apple , Meta , Google and Amazon — have in the past accounted for 80% of Appen's revenue. Alphabet accounted for roughly one-third of Appen's revenue, meaning the decision to end the relationship will impact "at least two thousand subcontracted Alphabet workers," according to a statement Monday from the Alphabet Workers Union. Alphabet has cut contractual ties with Appen , the artificial intelligence data firm that helped train Google's chatbot Bard, Google Search results and other AI products.

Persons: Sundar Pichai, Pichai, Appen, Bard, Appen's, OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Bard, didn't, Bard chatbot Organizations: Google, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet Workers, Appen, Revenue, Australian Securities Exchange, CNBC, Adobe, Nvidia, U.S . National Labor Relations Board Locations: Washington ,, Australia

☆ Googlers are realizing layoffs are 'just business' — and they're starting to fight back
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-19 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

download the appSign up to get the inside scoop on today’s biggest stories in markets, tech, and business — delivered daily. Pushing back against Google leadersIn response to the most recent wave of cuts this week, Google software engineer Diane Hirsh Theriault took to LinkedIn to vent about Google's leadership. "We're continuing to support any impacted employees as they look for new roles here at Google and beyond," Google said. Though he acknowledged one director followed up with him after the news, he has "harbored a lot of anger and frustration at Google's leadership" over the way layoffs have been handled since January 2023. AdvertisementThat's probably a pretty tough thing to accept for Google workers aggrieved by the layoffs.

Persons: —, Larry Page, Sundar Pichai, Googlers, Diane Hirsh Theriault, RSVP, hiZPDomas5, Stephen McMurtry, Kenneth Smith, Gergely Orosz, Smith, Orosz Organizations: Service, Google, Business, Big Tech, LinkedIn, Alphabet Workers, Alphabet Workers Union Locations: Mountain View, New York

☆ Leaked memo: Google is laying off hundreds of employees in its advertising sales team
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Google is laying off "several hundred" employees in its advertising sales team, Business Insider has learned. Schindler wrote that the cuts were the result of changes being made to how Google's sales team operates. BI previously reported that Google was shifting more staff away from Large Customer Sales (LCS), a team that serves the company's bigger advertising clients, to its Google Customer Solutions (GCS) team, which serves more medium-level clients. This reorg is the next evolution of that as cuts appear to be primarily targeted at the LCS team. Our goal has always been to have the right customer, mapped to the right channel for growth, with the best support models and streamlined operations.

Persons: Philipp Schindler, Google's, Schindler, Max, Chris Pappas, Jerry Dischler, Vidhya Srinivasan, Here's, we've, we're, I've, we'll, Philipp Organizations: Google, Business, BI, LCS, Alphabet Workers, Global, Solutions

☆ The tech sector is pouring billions of dollars into AI. But it keeps laying off humans
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-13 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

More than 5,500 tech layoffs less than two weeks into 2024The latest rounds of tech job cuts are occurring across a range of roles and in both Big Tech companies and smaller startups. There were some 262,682 tech industry layoffs recorded in 2023, per Layoffs.fyi data, after 164,969 cuts the previous year. Against that backdrop, the tech industry went on a remarkable hiring spree. Disparate impacts of tech job cuts come under scrutinyAs the tech industry layoffs continue, labor advocates and even lawmakers are taking notice. “Recent findings have consistently shown that minorities and women are vastly overrepresented in industry layoffs,” the letter said.

Persons: Roger Lee, Lee, Dropbox, Goldman Sachs, Parul, Koul, ”, Emanuel Cleaver, Missouri, Barbara Lee of, Julie Su Organizations: CNN, Big Tech, Tech, Google, Unity Software, ”, Chegg, IBM, Alphabet Workers, CWA, Democratic, American, Labor, Department of Labor Locations: Silicon Valley, Barbara Lee of California

☆ Google contractors who helped train the Bard AI chatbot vote to unionize
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Caroline Haskins | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

AdvertisementAdvertisementGoogle contractors with Accenture, who write Google Help articles and review AI-generated content from the Bard chatbot, voted on Monday to unionize with the Alphabet Workers Union, which represents Google employees and contractors. The vote comes after a coalition of 118 Accenture workers announced their union in June. Google is currently appealing the NLRB's September ruling that it is joint employer of Accenture contractors. Accenture contractors worked on BardGoogle rushed its release of Bard in an effort to make a product to compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT. Other Google contractors have unionizedMonday's vote marks the second time this year that contractors for Google successfully voted to unionize with the NLRB.

Persons: Cognizant, —, Bard chatbot, Monday's, Bard, Organizers, Jen Hill, Courtenay Mencini, Bard Google, OpenAI's, Hill, Laura Greene, Greene, OpenAI Organizations: Accenture, Service, Alphabet Workers Union, Google, National Labor Relations, Alphabet Workers, Bloomberg, Workers, . Workers, Meta Locations: Manila

☆ Group of Google contractors who work on Search and Bard win union vote
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-07 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A group of Google contractors, some of whom have worked on Search and Google's artificial intelligence chatbot Bard, have successfully voted to unionize. The group, from Google contractor Accenture, filed for unionization efforts in June after claiming Google asked them to help train the generative AI answers offered in Search and Bard, and that they felt underprepared for their work. The Alphabet Workers Union teamed up with the Communications Workers of America in 2021 as a minority union. "We have no objection to these Accenture workers electing to form a union," said Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini in a statement to CNBC. The decision marks the second ruling to classify Google as a joint employer with its contractor for a subset of employees.

Persons: Bard, Courtenay Mencini, Jen Hill, Hill Organizations: Accenture, Google, Bloomberg, Alphabet Workers Union, Communications Workers of America, U.S . National Labor Relations Board, Workers, NLRB, CNBC, CWA, YouTube, Cognizant Technology Solutions, CNBC PRO Locations: London, England, Francisco

☆ Google cut 40 jobs in its news division the same week its CEO promised to focus on content moderation: report
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google cut an estimated 40 to 45 jobs in its Google News division this week, according to CNBC. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said on Tuesday that content moderation is a "critical focus" for the company right now. The tech giant laid off an estimated 40 to 45 workers at Google News, according to the Alphabet Workers Union, per CNBC. Google and the Alphabet Workers Union did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. We will continue to tackle disinformation, hate speech, graphic content and terrorist content."

Persons: Sundar Pichai, —, Benjamin Netanyahu, Shayan, Michael Bennet Organizations: Google, Google News, CNBC, Service, Alphabet Workers Union, Hamas, BBC, Twitter Locations: Israel, Gaza

☆ Google cuts dozens of jobs in news division
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-18 | by ( Jennifer Elias | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Google cut dozens of jobs in its news division this week, CNBC has learned, downsizing at a particularly sensitive time for online platforms and publishers. An estimated 40 to 45 workers in Google News have lost their jobs, according to an Alphabet Workers Union spokesperson, who didn't know the exact number. A Google spokesperson confirmed the cuts but didn't provide a number, and said there are still hundreds of people working on the news product. The cuts in Google News follow widespread layoffs across many parts of the company this year. In January, Google announced it was cutting 12,000 jobs, affecting roughly 6% of the full-time workforce.

Persons: We're, We've, Sen, Michael Bennet, TikTok, Thierry Breton, Breton, Sundar Pichai, Neal Mohan, Google's, they've Organizations: Google, CNBC, Google News, Alphabet Workers Union, Union, YouTube, EU's Digital Services, LinkedIn Locations: Israel, Gaza, Russia, Ukraine, Canada

☆ 5 major companies explain how they've designed their hybrid-work policies
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-13 | by ( Madison Hoff | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Based on five companies' responses, hybrid work is thriving right now. The spokesperson noted that the company believes both hybrid work and flexibility aren't going anywhere. EYOutside of the tech sector, companies are also prioritizing hybrid work. Still, Giampietro noted the challenge of hybrid work for meeting with clients, as some of "those clients may not be in as frequently or may not want us in as frequently." Reach out to this reporter at mhoff@insider.com to share your story and how you feel about your company's current remote, hybrid, or in-person work policy.

Persons: Yahoo Finance's Daniel Howley, We've, Ryan Lamont, Lamont, we're, Fiona Cicconi, Chris Schmidt, Schmidt, Frank Giampietro, EY, Giampietro, McKinsey & Company Katy George, George Organizations: Microsoft, Service, Gallup, IBM, Google, Microsoft Microsoft, Yahoo, Google Google, Street, Alphabet Workers, Alphabet Workers Union, CWA, McKinsey & Company, McKinsey Locations: Wall, Silicon, New York City, Americas

☆ YouTube TV contractors allege in NLRB complaint they were terminated in response to broader union organizing efforts
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

They allege they were let go as a union movement among Google contractors began to make inroads. 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. But Google told Insider that the layoffs occurred because it ended the YouTube TV contract. Mencini also said the company has "had many contracts with unionized suppliers and have no objection to Cognizant workers organizing or joining a union." Insider also previously reported that the AWU claims that Cognizant held meetings with YouTube TV contractors where they repeated anti-union talking points.

Persons: they'd, it's, we've, Courtenay Mencini, Mencini, Cognizant Organizations: Google, Alphabet Workers Union, National Labor Relations Board, YouTube, Austin, NLRB, YouTube Music Locations: Austin , Texas, Austin

☆ Google's crackdown on remote work is frustrating some employees: 'We don't like being micromanaged like school kids'
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Google has told staff they must show up in the office at least three days a week. Google employees are having strong reactions to the company's biggest push yet to bring staff back to the office. The news has not gone over well with staff, according to discussions with several current employees and internal materials viewed by Insider. Google insiderGoogle has told staff that their work badges will be tracked, but the company told Insider it will only be used to identify consistent absences over multiple weeks. "Currently, New York City workers do not even have enough desks and conference rooms for workers to use comfortably," said Chris Schmidt with the Alphabet Workers Union.

Persons: Ryan Lamont, we're, Memegen, Fiona Cicconi, Chris Schmidt Organizations: Google, Google's, Alphabet Workers, Alphabet Workers Union Locations: New York City

☆ Silicon Valley escalates the battle over returning to the office
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-10 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The updated policy includes tracking office badge attendance and possibly factoring it into performance reviews, according to CNBC, citing internal memos. Other tech companies are also grappling with how best to compel workers to come into the office after they’ve grown accustomed to greater flexibility. At Amazon, tensions boiled over last week as hundreds of office workers staged a walkout to call attention to their grievances, including the three-day return-to-office mandate that was implemented in May. In response to the walkout, Amazon previously told CNN it may “take time” for some workers to adjust to being in the office more days. (A Meta spokesperson told CNN the updated policy was not set in stone, and employees designated as remote workers will be allowed to keep their remote status).

Persons: Chris Schmidt, Ryan Lamont, ” Lamont, “ we’re, they’ve, Pamela, it’s, Schmidt, ” Schmidt, “, ” Organizations: CNN, Silicon, Google, CNBC, Alphabet Workers Union, Facebook, Good, “ Locations: New York City

☆ Google is downsizing its contract workforce that supports YouTube, shortly after one contractor team's union victory
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | Hugh Langley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Workers in Austin recently formed a collective bargaining group with the Alphabet Workers Union. The move comes shortly after a group of Cognizant workers supporting YouTube Music voted 41-0 in favor of unionizing with the Alphabet Workers Union, which is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America, a larger trade union. The cuts did not impact the YouTube Music team, which helps curate themed playlists and review song metadata. The Cognizant team supporting YouTube TV had been in early talks to form their own union following the group at YouTube Music, according to three workers there. Cognizant also confirmed in an email that its contract supporting YouTube TV is ending.

☆ YouTube Music contractors won a historic union election, which means Google could have to negotiate with a labor group for the first time
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Contact workers who support YouTube Music won their union election 41-0. Contract workers who support YouTube Music have won their union election and will now prepare to bargain for a labor contract. The Alphabet Workers Union launched in 2021 and represents both full-time workers employed directly by Google as well as its large contract workforce. Some Google contractors can command high salaries, while many — like those at Cognizant — make as little as $19 an hour. The YouTube Music contractors initially began organizing to seek a guaranteed work-from-home policy, saying that it's too expensive to live in Austin on the wages offered.

☆ YouTube TV contractors in early stages of organizing say they're being held in 'captive meetings' to discourage unionizing
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

YouTube TV contractors are in the early stages of making a push towards unionization. The YouTube TV contractors' efforts follow that of their colleagues in YouTube Music. In response, Cognizant held two "captive meetings" with the YouTube TV team in the past two weeks to dissuade them from organizing, contractors say. Contractors working for Cognizant say they've been told they should not take these new signs down. In the past year, more than 300 Starbucks locations organized under the Starbucks Workers Union.

☆ Google contractors say they don't have enough time to verify correct answers from the company's AI chatbot and end up guessing
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The bot has been tested internally by Googlers, and now contractors are also testing a chatbot. Some contractors say they're not given enough time to rate the most accurate chatbot responses. Because each assigned task represents billable time, some workers say they will complete the tasks even if they realize they cannot accurately assess the chatbot responses. Google raters who work for Appen make between $14 and $14.50 an hour, despite supporting a business that generates most of its revenue from search and advertising. The group estimates that Google employs more than 200,000 people as contractors, who aren't recorded in the company's official headcount.

☆ YouTube Music contractors say their office is promoting anti-union messages on TVs ahead of the union election
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-21 | by ( Thomas Maxwell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Contracting firm Cognizant is pushing back as contractors for YouTube Music begin union elections. In October, YouTube Music contractors announced their plans to unionize with the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU), which represents more than 1,200 full-time Googlers and contractors doing work for the company through outsourcing firms. The YouTube Music contractors will hold a union election on Wednesday. Sam ReganCognizant required YouTube Music contractors to work from its Austin office starting February 6. YouTube Music contractors are voting to unionizeAfter the union election on Wednesday, the National Labor Relations Board will hold a vote count on April 26 to determine whether a majority of YouTube Music workers voted in favor of collective bargaining.

Google (GOOGL), which for years ranked as the top company to work for in the United States, laid off thousands of workers by e-mail. During her early years there, she worked in marketing and became known as the “The Bard of Google” for the internal emails she sent celebrating the company’s culture. Google employee affected by January layoffs“The problem was, suddenly, you didn’t work for a company that was sending stuff to space or building autonomous cars,” Rout said. Hundreds of Google employees in Switzerland staged a walkout last week to protest layoffs, partly out of frustration with the lack of transparency. About a month before the January layoffs, one former employee said Google painted “You Belong” on one of the walls in their working area.

☆ Read the letter Google employees sent to Sundar Pichai about mass layoffs that tells him: 'Don't Be Evil'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Google employees wrote an open letter to CEO Sundar Pichai asking for better handling of layoffs. They want the company to consider freezing new hires and prioritize laid-off workers for job vacancies, as well as let employees finish scheduled leave, such as parental and bereavement leave. And a former Google employee told Insider he lost his job while on carers' leave looking after his terminally-ill mom. Google and Alphabet Workers Union didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider, made outside normal working hours. 2) Grant priority rehire to any Alphabet employees that have been recently laid off.

☆ The tech layoffs have created the perfect moment for tech workers to get organized and unionize, but getting there isn't easy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Paayal Zaveri | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The widespread tech layoffs shattered long-held illusions about the tech industry and its culture. That's pushing interest in organizing and unionization efforts across the tech industry, labor experts said. There are hurdles ahead, as tech workers fear for their jobs, but the perspective has forever changed. These episodes show a certain appetite for collective action in the tech industry, the experts said, laying a foundation for things to come. Tech workers have taken inspiration from the service workers at their respective companies, many of whom have unionized in recent years, Code-CWA's Kinema said.

☆ A man who rates Google search results said he makes $3 less per hour than his daughter working in fast food
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A man who rates Google search results told the LA Times he makes $3 less than his daughter who has a fast food job. "There are times that I have seen some of the graphic content replayed in my dreams," Stackhouse told the Times. Stackhouse didn't tell the Los Angeles Times how much his daughter makes or what her role at her fast food job is. Four Sama workers told Time they were paid $2 or less per hour. Sama also works with Google and Microsoft, and told Time it would stop working with graphic content by March 2023.

☆ YouTube Music contractors staged protests in Texas over a return-to-office policy
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-05 | by ( Jyoti Mann | Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Staff working for YouTube Music protested on Friday in Texas over a return-to-office requirement. Cognizant workers said most were hired to work remotely and a quarter were not even based in Texas. The workers were calling for management at their employer Cognizant, a major contractor for YouTube's parent company, Alphabet, to create a return-to-office policy that is "fair" and "flexible." The workers were notified in November they would have to all start working from the Austin office from February 6, Axios reported. Approximately 50 employees protested over low wages outside a Google store on Thursday in New York, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the protests, minutes after parent company Alphabet released its fourth-quarter results.

☆ Laid-off Google employees are turning to a Discord server with nearly 18,000 members for emotional support and financial advice
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-04 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Laid-off Google employees have flocked to Discord to vent and seek financial advice. Almost 18,000 people are currently on the Discord server called "Google Post-Layoffs." Laid-off engineers told Insider Discord gave them a way to communicate with their ex-colleagues. "Google Post-Layoffs" has more than 17,800 members, comprised of laid-off Google staff, current employees, former workers who left prior to the job cuts, recruiters, and journalists. On top of the Discord server, employees have created a Google doc spreadsheet where they track who was laid off and which departments were affected the most, ex-staff told Insider.

☆ Offices are more than 50% filled for the first time since the pandemic started
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Nearly three years after the pandemic began, American offices are finally more than halfway filled again as workers have gradually returned to the office. Office occupancy across 10 major US cities crossed 50.4% of pre-pandemic levels for the first time since early 2020, according to security swipe tracker Kastle Systems. That marks the first time occupancy has crossed the 50% mark since March 2020, when many offices sent workers home because of Covid. Disney is ordering corporate employees to return to offices four days a week beginning March 1. The protest involves more than 40 contractors for YouTube Music, according to the Alphabet Workers Union, which is backing the strike.

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