Slashdot: Google Promises Not to Muzzle Staff on Pay, Settling Labor Case

Google Promises Not to Muzzle Staff on Pay, Settling Labor Case
Published on April 01, 2021 at 03:30AM
According to Bloomberg, Google has settled one of the first legal complaints filed by a new union, promising not to silence workers who talk about their pay. From the report: "WE WILL NOT tell you that you cannot discuss policies with other employees," states the notice to staff, signed by an attorney for Google and parent Alphabet Inc. and being posted at a Google data center in South Carolina. "WE WILL NOT discipline you because you exercise your right to discuss wage rates, bonuses, hours and working conditions with other employees." The settlement ends a National Labor Relations Board complaint filed by the Alphabet Workers Union in February alleging that management at the data center forbid workers from discussing their pay and also suspended a data technician, Shannon Wait, because she wrote a pro-union post on Facebook. Wait was reinstated earlier this year, although she left soon after. [...] The Alphabet Workers Union filed its complaint against units of Google staffing vendor Adecco Group AG, which employed workers including Wait, and also against Alphabet, which it deemed a âoejoint employerâ -- a company with sufficient control over a group of workers to be legally liable for their treatment. The settlement also requires the companies to remove any reference to Waitâ(TM)s suspension from her file.

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