Google Korea Forms Labor Union... "Driven by Job Insecurity"

Employees of Google Korea have established a labor union.

On the 14th, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) National Office and Financial Services Labor Union announced that Google Korea employees held a general meeting on the 11th in a conference room near the Yeoksam Station headquarters and established the KCTU National Office and Financial Services Labor Union Google Korea Branch.

The Google Korea Branch includes about 680 employees belonging to Google Korea and about 170 employees belonging to Google Cloud Korea, totaling approximately 850 members. At the founding general meeting, the Google Korea employees enacted branch operation regulations and elected the branch head, deputy branch head, and secretary-general.

The reason they established the union is due to growing job insecurity. Alphabet, Google's parent company, announced at the end of January this year that it would reduce its total workforce by about 6%. This amounts to approximately 12,000 employees at headquarters. At that time, Google said it would provide additional notice in March regarding the scale of reductions and the affected employees. Google Korea also notified employees in early March of job eliminations at a level equivalent to voluntary resignations.

Kim Jong-seop, head of the Google Korea Branch, said, “Amid ongoing waves of additional workforce reductions sweeping through the U.S. information technology (IT) industry, employees who felt unilateral layoffs and continuous job insecurity became the spark to promote the establishment of the union through behind-the-scenes efforts since last month.” He added, “The purpose is to lead both employees and the company in a better direction by ensuring job stability, improving working conditions, and enhancing welfare for Google Korea employees, and we aim to increase synergy by cooperating with Google unions in other countries.”