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If you look at the history of activism at Google, a lot of former organizers have been terminated. The union is there to protect current organizers from similar

If you look at the history of activism at Google, a lot of former organizers have been terminated. The union is there to protect current organizers from similar retaliation.

fshbbdssbbgdd 6y ago
I agree with that interpretation of the facts on the ground. It just seems like an unconventional reason to have a union. Generally I think the purpose of unions is to advocate for the interests of the workers at large, not to be a kind of employment guarantee for people who want to do activism instead of their job. If I worked at Google and I had some complaint about my health insurance or something, it doesn’t seem like the union would even be the right people to talk to, because they don’t seem to represent the well-being of the workers like an ordinary union.
- selestify 6y ago
  If you were a member of AWU, that would very much be a legitimate issue to bring to your workplace unit chair. AWU does advocate for the interests of workers, as demonstrated by this article. It's just that full-time employees don't tend to have as many issues as the temps do.
samr71 6y ago
Why should activist employees (who, I should note, are activists for their pet political causes rather than actual working conditions) not get reprimanded/terminated?
- simion314 6y ago
  There should be no discrimination, if you a non activist and an activist did the same thing (posted same shit on FB) then you both should have the exact same treatment. What I read from this and other articles is that management goes hunting for reasons to fire people they don't like. In this case someone posted about bad work conditions and got fired, in other casaes people posted "wrong political thoughts" and got fired, maybe there needs to be a reasonable reason for firing somebody and there should be a body that would have the job to try and defend the worker.

If you look at the history of activism at Google, a lot of former organizers have been terminated. The union is there to protect current organizers from similar retaliation.

fshbbdssbbgdd 6y ago

I agree with that interpretation of the facts on the ground. It just seems like an unconventional reason to have a union. Generally I think the purpose of unions is to advocate for the interests of the workers at large, not to be a kind of employment guarantee for people who want to do activism instead of their job. If I worked at Google and I had some complaint about my health insurance or something, it doesn’t seem like the union would even be the right people to talk to, because they don’t seem to represent the well-being of the workers like an ordinary union.

selestify 6y ago
If you were a member of AWU, that would very much be a legitimate issue to bring to your workplace unit chair. AWU does advocate for the interests of workers, as demonstrated by this article. It's just that full-time employees don't tend to have as many issues as the temps do.

samr71 6y ago

Why should activist employees (who, I should note, are activists for their pet political causes rather than actual working conditions) not get reprimanded/terminated?

simion314 6y ago
There should be no discrimination, if you a non activist and an activist did the same thing (posted same shit on FB) then you both should have the exact same treatment. What I read from this and other articles is that management goes hunting for reasons to fire people they don't like. In this case someone posted about bad work conditions and got fired, in other casaes people posted "wrong political thoughts" and got fired, maybe there needs to be a reasonable reason for firing somebody and there should be a body that would have the job to try and defend the worker.