{"id":22699,"date":"2026-07-16T03:47:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T02:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovatenews.site\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/how-to-unionize-your-tech-workplace\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T03:47:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T02:47:25","slug":"how-to-unionize-your-tech-workplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/innovatenews.site\/index.php\/2026\/07\/16\/how-to-unionize-your-tech-workplace\/","title":{"rendered":"How to unionize your tech workplace"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The topic How to unionize your tech workplace<\/strong> is currently the subject of lively discussion \u2014 readers and analysts are keeping a close eye on developments.<\/p>\n

This is taking place in a dynamic environment: companies\u2019 decisions and competitors\u2019 reactions can quickly change the picture.<\/p>\n

The best time for tech workers to unionize was 20 years ago, when they had plenty of leverage. The second-best time is now, when they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Mass layoffs, AI-driven displacement, corporate surveillance, workplace disillusionment have created conditions that have made organizing compelling for tech professionals. But the federal labor board that has historically protected workers\u2019 right to organize has been weakened, and the companies that once feared it are openly defying it.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how organizers and labor experts describe the pros and cons to organizing \u2014 and how you can get started.<\/p>\n

This is Part 2 of a series on tech worker unionization. Also see Part 1: \u201cA brewing battle: More IT workers want unions. The industry doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

The single biggest benefit of a union contract for most tech workers isn\u2019t pay \u2014 it\u2019s protection against arbitrary termination, especially in the wake of recent mass layoffs in tech. In the United States, nonunion \u201cat-will\u201d workers can be fired at any time without a stated reason, while unionized workers negotiate protections written into their contracts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat fear of the company letting you go for anything at any time\u2026with a union they just can\u2019t do that,\u201d says Zak Thompson, a senior software engineer at Kickstarter and union steward at Kickstarter United. Now that Kickstarter employees are unionized, people are less worried that saying something negative will result in termination.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been shocked at the willingness of my co-workers to speak up against what they see as poor or controversial business decisions,\u201d Thompson says.<\/p>\n

Beyond job security, unions can deliver concrete material gains. Kickstarter United was formed in 2020, although getting there wasn\u2019t easy: two employees were fired during the organizing campaign \u2014 which itself became a galvanizing event. And while the union hasn\u2019t been able to prevent layoffs, it did negotiate better terms: four months of severance pay and four to six months of continued health insurance, versus the two to three weeks per year of work that management had initially proposed.<\/p>\n

Other benefits include a four-day work week; AI protections; a minimum pay floor; and standards for raises, promotions, and time off for the company\u2019s 59 employees.<\/p>\n

Unions can give tech workers a voice in decisions that affect their daily work \u2014 including how AI tools are deployed. \u201cNobody I\u2019ve spoken to is against new technologies or getting trained in it,\u201d says Max Belasco, a business systems analyst at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law and co-chair of the UCLA chapter of the University Professional and Technical Employees\/Communications Workers of America (UPTE-CWA) Local 9119.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when new technologies is being implemented, we want to know: what\u2019s the five-year vision, the 10-year vision? Are we implementing this in a way that betters staffing, increases efficiency, or eases the lives of people already working? Or are we trying to take away jobs, automate people out of their pension or paycheck?\u201d Belasco says.<\/p>\n

The challenges are real. Tech professionals are less inclined to leave their jobs in the current market because wages haven\u2019t been increasing as fast as they once were, and it can take longer to land another job.<\/p>\n

\u201cTech moved from a very tight labor market in 2022 (1.85% unemployment rate) to a noticeably weaker one in 2024\u20132026 (3.49%),\u201d although that\u2019s still better than the national unemployment rate of 4.36% through May of this year, says Liya Palagashvili, senior research fellow and director of the Labor Policy Project at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.<\/p>\n

Liya Palagashvili of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University<\/p>\n

Flexibility is a concern. The more substantive challenge, raised by economists including Palagashvili, is that traditional union contracts impose uniform terms across an entire bargaining unit, limiting the flexibility that many tech workers \u2014 and their employers \u2014currently enjoy. Tech firms need to move fast, adjusting teams, products, and roles on the fly.<\/p>\n

\u201cCollective bargaining agreements can make those adjustments much more difficult, whether by making them slower, costlier, or inconsistent with the contract,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Workers skeptical of unions in a survey of 1,900 tech professionals conducted by the career site Blind cited specific concerns: that unions are \u201cnot meritocratic,\u201d \u201cprevent innovation,\u201d and \u201chold back earnings of top performers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thompson from Kickstarter United pushes back: \u201cWe have nothing in our contract about \u2018you can\u2019t bend down and pick up a piece of trash because that\u2019s someone else\u2019s job.\u2019 The company is free to give bonuses and individual raises as much as they like. This is all just up to the people who are bargaining the contract from the union side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organizing carries potentially serious personal risks. During negotiations for a second three-year contract in 2025, Kickstarter United went on strike for 42 days. A few months later, the company announced layoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey let go strong union leaders, including a person who had bargained our last contract,\u201d Thompson says. The union appealed, and the issue is now going to arbitration.<\/p>\n

If you form a union, don\u2019t expect much support from the National Labor Relations Board, the agency that certifies US labor unions and protects workers\u2019 right to organize, in terms of prosecuting complaints of unfair labor practices, Thompson warns. \u201cWe\u2019re in a political moment in this country with a pretty weakened NLRB. You have to be ready to organize and withhold worker power without any guarantee of safety.\u201d<\/p>\n

Organizers are up against an enormous union avoidance industry. Organizers can expect fierce pushback as soon as the business discovers that organizing is underway.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s a multi-billion-dollar industry in union avoidance,\u201d says Alan McAvinney, a Google software engineer and organizing chair, Alphabet Workers Union-CWA, a 1,400-member minority union of Alphabet employees. (Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet.)<\/p>\n

US employers spend roughly $1.7 billion a year on union avoidance consultants and law firms, according to the data a May 2026 report by the Economic Policy Institute and LaborLab.<\/p>\n

Expect hardball tactics. Management may play hardball during the time between when organizers announce their intention to unionize and the actual vote. for example, management can threaten to fire foreign-born workers in the US on H-1B visas if they support the union. Those workers would then have just 60 days to find a new sponsoring employer or lose their H-1B status, according to the data a recent Tech Workers Coalition blog post.<\/p>\n

And at venture capital-backed startups, investment agreements sometimes require management to attest there is no union activity \u2014 meaning a public organizing drive can trigger funding withdrawal. Or, if a unionized company is acquired, the new management can dissolve the union overnight by reclassifying unionized workers as new hires.<\/p>\n

With these sobering facts in mind, here is how organizers who have done it describe the process of creating a union.<\/p>\n

At the University of California, a two-tier system had evolved where some tech workers were unionized and some weren\u2019t, Belasco says. Management created new titles that fell outside the union even though they had similar job descriptions and responsibilities to those in the union. Those nonunion employees received lower pay and benefits than their unionized peers, which created resentment and instability.<\/p>\n

Belasco and other organizers wanted to eliminate that division by bringing everyone under the same contract. But when they began their unionization drive, \u201cthe biggest barrier we faced wasn\u2019t management opposition \u2014 it was that people felt this was just the best-case scenario realistically available: \u2018We have this job at the university, we have concerns about automation and layoffs, but what can we really do about it?’\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The antidote to that fatalism, organizers say, is simple: \u201cJust start talking to your immediate co-workers. Are they experiencing the same challenges you are experiencing?\u201d says McAvinney. \u201cThere\u2019s no need to start talking about a union at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just get a consensus and start building a group of like-minded individuals, Thompson advises. \u201cAlways start with one-on-one conversations, and that\u2019s what you should do the whole time. That\u2019s the key to organizing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Tech workers often think they\u2019re a special case, says Thompson, and therefore that unionization isn\u2019t a good fit. \u201cYou\u2019re not special. You are a company of workers, you are organizing, and there is a playbook for that. Trust the process, because it tends to work pretty well,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Once there\u2019s a consensus, continue to grow your network. Keep a list of everyone you\u2019ve spoken with and note their disposition: \u201cIs this person union-friendly or anti-union? Would they be a strong organizer?\u201d Thompson says.<\/p>\n

Maintaining secrecy early on is essential, because anti-union tactics will start immediately, and that can stop union organizing before it can gain momentum.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally, employers do not want to share power with their workforce,\u201d McAvinney says. Employers will deploy every means at their disposal to stop organizing efforts and peel away potential yes votes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at historical examples, having 70% approval before the employer finds out about you results in a high percentage of wins when you actually cast the vote. Historically, that\u2019s an effective buffer,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a real threat of firing and layoffs. The traditional tech worker belief that job mobility makes collective action unnecessary is now being tested by a tighter job market, McAvinney says, noting that workers who many believe were fired for speaking out back in 2019 were a galvanizing factor in his union\u2019s formation.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou generally don\u2019t want to be in a situation where the employer feels comfortable firing everyone. Part of that is thinking from a cynical standpoint about what the consequences would be to the employer if they did fire everyone,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

One-on-one conversations that include personally asking co-workers to keep conversations confidential are key to keeping things quiet, Belasco says. When 2,100 UC tech workers voted to unionize in May, 96% voted in favor. To stay out of earshot of managers, avoid employee surveillance tools, and sidestep conference calls that could be recorded, organizers met with workers in their homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat tactic is probably what made the difference between winning the election and getting the majority we got,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cRunning a campaign against major employers requires the resources and expertise of the larger labor movement, even if workers publicly present as independent,\u201d says Kate Bronfenbrenner, director of labor education research and senior lecturer emeritus at Cornell University\u2019s School of Industrial and Labor Relations.<\/p>\n

Options include the Communications Workers of America (CWA), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), among others. Another resource, the Tech Workers Coalition (TWC), provides training on organizing tactics, AI-in-workplace issues, and contract negotiation, and can match workers to the right unions for their needs.<\/p>\n

The Alphabet Workers Union decided early on to affiliate with CWA. \u201cThey gave us a bunch of support early on in our campaign with no strings attached,\u201d McAvinney says.<\/p>\n

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Kickstarter is organized through OPEIU, Thompson says. \u201cThey\u2019ll usually have resources and staff that can help you through the next steps: collecting signatures in support of a union, bringing that to management, holding a vote \u2014 the more formalized things that interact with US labor law. They\u2019ll also help with organizing along the way,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

For workers at institutions where a union already exists, there may be a faster path. Organizers at UCLA did what\u2019s called a \u201cunit modification,\u201d aligning with UPTE. By organizing under UPTE, the workers didn\u2019t have to negotiate a new contract from scratch \u2014 they joined an already-negotiated contract covering existing UPTE tech members, which put them in \u201ca much stronger position\u201d than starting fresh, Belasco says.<\/p>\n

Assess what\u2019s practical for your organizing effort. In a majority union, more than 50% of all workers in a defined bargaining unit must vote to join the union through an NLRB-supervised election in the private sector, or a Public Employment Relations Board (PERB)-supervised election for public sector workers.<\/p>\n

The NLRB must certify the union, which then operates under its legal protections. This means, for example, that the employer must bargain, negotiated contracts are enforceable, violations must go to the NLRB or arbitration, and workers can\u2019t be dismissed without just cause.<\/p>\n

A pre-majority or minority union is a minority labor organization operating without NLRB protections or collective bargaining agreements. \u201cPre-majority means that workers are able to demonstrate majority support \u2014 through signed cards, petitions, a walkout, or everyone wearing solidarity T-shirts \u2014 without going through a formal election,\u201d Bronfenbrenner says.<\/p>\n

Kate Bronfenbrenner from the School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University<\/p>\n

The Alphabet Workers Union-CWA (AWU-CWA) formed as a pre-majority union because achieving majority status across a globally distributed workforce of over 100,000 was not a realistic near-term goal. \u201cAn underground model where you try to reach 70% support across a workforce of over 100,000 people isn\u2019t realistic,\u201d McAvinney says.<\/p>\n

A pre-majority union can still make a difference, he says. for example, the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA convinced management to offer voluntary exit packages \u2014 buyouts \u2014 prior to announcing layoffs.<\/p>\n

For smaller organizations, a majority union may be the more practical option \u2014 it\u2019s more attainable, McAvinney says. \u201cI don\u2019t think [the pre-majority union model] is the correct thing to do in all situations. I certainly would not recommend it to a 200-person shop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kickstarter, which had fewer than 100 employees, was able to form a majority union, with 55% voting to organize.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, says McAvinney, \u201cthere\u2019s no inflection point where you go from being able to win nothing to winning everything, even with a contract and a supermajority. But the more people you have who are willing and able to fight for what they want, the more you\u2019ll be able to get.\u201d<\/p>\n

Belasco\u2019s situation at UCLA illustrates a broader strategic choice that every organizing campaign must make. He had been in a union position in educational technologies when he was told his role would be reclassified as a non-union position.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was given a choice: apply to the new non-union position to continue doing the work I\u2019d trained for, or stay in my union position doing service desk work I wasn\u2019t used to,\u201d he says. \u201cEssentially, it was a choice between job security and career progression.\u201d<\/p>\n

Belasco joined a \u201cwall-to-wall\u201d union, which represents a broad range of university professional and technical employees across the UC system rather than a single job category, such as engineers or tech professionals.<\/p>\n

Kickstarter United is another example of a wall-to-wall union. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the engineers who are unionized, but also customer support, designers \u2014 everyone,\u201d Thompson says.<\/p>\n

Wall-to-wall unions are more powerful, but they\u2019re also more difficult to achieve. Under US labor law, \u201cprofessionals have to vote separately on whether they want to be combined with other workers,\u201d says Bronfenbrenner. \u201cYou can never have a wall-to-wall unit without giving professionals the chance to decide whether they want to be separate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The law\u2019s \u201cprofessional employees\u201d category includes roles like software engineers and developers but not necessarily others. for example, customer support specialists and QA analysts would fall into the \u201cnon-professional workers\u201d category.<\/p>\n

Winning a union vote means having a seat at the table, says Thompson. \u201cOnce the workers have come together and agreed they want that seat, you bring that to management, and they have a chance to voluntarily recognize a union,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

But in most cases employers contest the results, which must be certified by the NLRB or PERB. That process, in which the employer uses various tactics to challenge the legitimacy of the outcome, can take weeks or months.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the legal framework that is supposed to protect workers during this process has been significantly weakened in the last few years. In a potentially more ominous development, SpaceX, Amazon, Trader Joe\u2019s, Starbucks, and the University of Southern California have in separate legal actions challenged the constitutionality of the NLRB, arguing that the agency\u2019s structure violates the separation of powers. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld injunctions against the NLRB in SpaceX\u2019s case in August 2025 \u2014 a serious challenge to the agency\u2019s authority.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, some companies may disregard negotiated contracts, which can lead to lengthy legal appeals or extended arbitration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe NLRB can still force an election, but it can\u2019t force a contract, and companies are saying they simply won\u2019t comply,\u201d Bronfenbrenner says. This is where the expertise and resources of affiliation with a major union can help, she adds.<\/p>\n

As a result, contract negotiations can take far longer than workers might expect. At Kickstarter, for example, two years and four months elapsed from the time of the union vote to the first contract, and that was at a 59-person company with a relatively cooperative employer. At larger companies with more aggressive legal teams, the timeline will be longer.<\/p>\n

Forming a union is hard work, Robutti says. \u201cIt\u2019s not a service you pay for and they protect you. It doesn\u2019t happen spontaneously, and it doesn\u2019t happen magically. It\u2019s the choice to take responsibility for improving your workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

See Part 1: A brewing battle: More IT workers want unions. The industry doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n