[raxxorrax]

I doubt that very much to be honest. Not that I believe that there aren't any smart people at Google.

I expect a Google union to force me to go to some sensitivity training instead of fighting for wages (which to be honest are pretty high as they are). So would it be about workplace safety? Probably not. Military projects? My deepest sympathy to everyone that is critical here, but maybe not really a classical union topic to be honest.

I guess Google also employs low wage workers for some tasks. Maybe they could use a union the most.

[mleonhard]

I took Google's sensitivity training. The class is called "Unconscious Bias". I learned a lot. I would not have learned those things in my day-to-day life. My social skills improved. You should take sensitivity training if you get the chance. You won't regret it.

A Google union would probably focus on problems that affect most employees:

- Employee compensation (perf) is decided in secret by managers. There is no transparency and therefore no accountability. Getting rewarded for effort is unnecessarily stressful. Some managers are bad and exploit their team members. The lack of accountability creates dysfunction across the entire organization: Google managers reward people for completing projects that make the managers look good on paper. Nobody checks that the projects meet needs for users. The managers do not align incentives with shareholders (long-term profitability), customers, users, or the rest of society. This is the root cause of Google's dysfunction. Many employees feel dissatisfaction with it, even if they don't talk about it.

- The noisy & crowded workspaces. This is a direct result of the first problem of mis-aligned incentives. The office management division (REWS) is not incentivized to make Google offices actually meet the needs of workers.

- Most Google jobs are located in an area with extremely high cost of living and terrible commutes.

[raxxorrax]

I don't think a union is a vehicle against unloved management, it would just be piling discontent on people that were singled out. If you believe you can make the case your manager works against business interest you should talk to him about that first. If that doesn't net results, you can talk to his supervisor with a reference to the meeting you have had and what you were talking about.

I agree on the noisy work spaces. That could be a union issue indeed. Maybe the problem of living costs too, but this has probably numerous reasons and it would be difficult to get everyone behind a common position.

Everyone has biases and it is okay to have some for that matter.