YouTube laid off 43 unionized workers as they were testifying over higher pay
Employees unionized as part of the larger fight for better pay and benefits and petitioned Google to come to the table for negotiations, but the software company had refused.
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TechTranscript
00:00 Google fired its entire YouTube music team while the employees were in the middle of testifying before the Austin City Council a group of
00:06 Less than 50 employees were testifying about their unionization efforts when they were informed of their sudden termination. They just laid us all off
00:13 Oh, yeah, they just laid us all off. We just all I guess we just
00:18 Last year the YouTube music team voted to unionize under the alphabet workers union seeking better pay
00:26 Benefits and a flexible return to office policy. However, Google refused to negotiate arguing that because the employees are contractors their contractor
00:33 Cognizant is responsible for bargaining
00:35 but the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Google and
00:38 Cognizant are joint employers of the YouTube music team and the NLRB said that Google's refusal to bargain with the YouTube music workers is illegal
00:45 Still in a statement to fortune a spokesperson for Google claims the Austin based workers are not Google employees saying Cognizant is
00:52 Responsible for them Google also denied that it fired the workers saying this was a routine end of contract that was agreed on with Cognizant
00:58 but the workers say the termination was a surprise and many feel as if they could lose their homes due to the sudden and
01:03 unexpected layoff