Google DeepMind Union Talks Stumble on First Meeting

Negotiations between Google DeepMind and its London-based employees over unionization hit an early snag this week, with union representatives feeling the initial talks were a waste of time.

In May, DeepMind employees asked Google to recognize the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union as joint representatives. The company denied this request but agreed to participate in negotiations arbitrated by a third party. An initial meeting on Wednesday was attended by union officers, DeepMind employees involved in the unionization push, the third-party arbitrator, and DeepMind HR representatives. Those advocating for unionization were frustrated by the absence of DeepMind leadership figures.

"Recognition talks not being attended by senior management at the opening stage is a leading indicator that a company isn’t engaging in good faith. It’s just a time-wasting exercise," claimed John Chadfield, a CWU officer, who attended the meeting. He stated that negotiations have stalled at an early stage.

DeepMind denies that negotiations have stalled. "The first step in the process is to define who the unions want to represent and the parties agreed on next steps to do this," said Al Verney, a Google DeepMind spokesperson. "The appropriate representatives attended this initial meeting." During the meeting, a DeepMind employee read out a prepared letter on behalf of colleagues supporting unionization. The letter stated, "Instead of having meaningful dialog with its employees about our concerns, Google DeepMind workers have been treated as a problem handed off to HR." The employee reading the statement was interrupted twice by DeepMind HR representatives, according to multiple sources familiar with the meeting.

The letter further alleges that Google has attempted to suppress open dialog among DeepMind employees and crack down on dissent by shutting down or reconfiguring internal chat venues and preventing staff from responding to company-wide communications about the unionization bid. Employees who sought to bypass restrictions were "reprimanded" by HR, the letter claims. "The intention was to intimidate," claimed a DeepMind employee involved in drafting the letter, who requested anonymity as they are not authorized to speak to the media. "These are well-established union-busting techniques."

"We’ll continue to engage constructively in the . . . process and have open dialog with employees,” Verney stated. “For topics outside of this, we continue to offer employees a variety of other channels and opportunities to discuss their views.” The push to unionize at DeepMind began after Google's parent company Alphabet removed a pledge from its ethics guidelines stating it would not use AI for purposes like weapons development and surveillance.