Worker power in the tech industry
Guided by our vision for an inclusive & equitable tech industry, TWC organizes to build worker power through rank & file self-organization and education.
Looking for a Tech Worker Union?
While TWC is strongly affiliated with several unions around the world, and counts many union members and organizers in our ranks, we are not a union ourselves. If you're interested in unionizing, we can help! If you're curious what is out there, check out this (rough) list of active and ongoing labor efforts in both tech and adjacent industries.
Who we are
We are a coalition of workers in and around the tech industry, labor organizers, community organizers, and friends.
Who we support
We work in solidarity with existing movements towards social justice, workers' rights, and economic inclusion.
How we work
We’re a democratically structured, all-volunteer, and worker-led organization. At this point, membership consists of attending meetings in person and working on the various projects that people are interested in. We organize online but IRL is the crux of what we do. Check out our Community Guide for more info. Join the Slack to connect with a local in your area.
Find a local chapter
Check out a meeting at a local chapter
Contact us
We’re also happy to chat, answer any questions you might have, or hear about any social justice efforts in which you need a partner. Send us an email.
If you’re a member of the press, please get in touch with us through press@techworkersco.org.
Recent mentions in the Press
Voices From the Valley Is a Snapshot of the Tech Industry, as Told By Workers Themselves via Jacobin [1]
Construction for Tesla's gigafactory in Berlin is full steam ahead, but not everyone is happy about it via Sifted [1]
Should Berlin Become a Tech Hub? via KCRW Berlin [1]
Recent Collective Actions by Tech Workers
Over 500 Google employees in the U.S. and Canada revealed that they had formed a solidarity union. The Alphabet Workers Union includes contractors, who make up over half of the company's workforce, and is affiliated with the Communications Workers of America. According to the union website, the goal of the AWU is "to create a democratic process for workers to wield decision-making power; promote social, economic, and environmental justice; and end the unfair disparities between TVCs (temporary, vendor, and contractor workers) and FTEs (full-time employees)". The union has been over a year in the making and organizers credit the foundation laid by the last decade of collective actions at the company. Updated to 530 members (1/6/21) [1] [2] [3] [4]
Shanghai factory workers at the Apple supplier Pegatron turned out to protest a pay dispute with management at the weekend. Thousands of temporary workers gathered outside the Taiwanese-invested Pegatron facility in Shanghai, as authorities dispatched large numbers of police to block their entrance to the facility, sparking clashes. The protest came after Pegatron tried to transfer thousands of workers from its Shanghai factory to another facility at Kunshan in the eastern province of Jiangsu. Those who refused the transfer would be fired, and workers fired for refusing the offer wouldn't be eligible for their share of finders' fee commission usually shared between recruitment agencies and workers. [1]
Activists from various initiatives, including initiatives against the Amazon Tower, Mietenwahnsinnbündnis, #200Häuser spontaneously demonstrated in front of the construction site of the “Amazon East Side Edge Tower” at Warschauer Brücke. The protests are directed at Amazon's handling of the pandemic in several German Amazon centers. The company is responsible for the increase in infections and illnesses among workers and is allowing the Christmas shopping season to continue. [1]
Two weeks after Dr Timnit Gebru was fired from her role in Google, Google’s Ethical AI employees sent CEO Sundar Pichai a list of demands, including organizational changes and a request to reinstate dismissed researcher Timnit Gebru at a higher level. [1] [2]
Workers at an iPhone production facility in the city of Narsapura near Bangalore in India protested unpaid wages by destroying office property and factory equipment at Wistron Infocomm's manufacturing facility. Around 100 workers are arrested. [1]