Google DeepMind employees in the UK have asked the government to intervene in a push to unionize the artificial intelligence lab.
\n\nOn Thursday, the Communication Workers Union and Unite the Union—put forward by Google DeepMind staff as joint representatives—filed an application to the Central Arbitration Committee, a government body that resolves disputes between employers and unions.
\n\nThe application, which was seen by WIRED, asks the CAC to confirm the unions have enough support from workers to trigger a unionization ballot. The company would be required by law to respect the results. If successful, roughly 1,000 staff working in product-focused roles at Google DeepMind would qualify for union membership.
\n\nThe escalation follows a series of meetings between employees, the unions, and company representatives over voluntary unionization, which left staff with the impression their demands weren’t being taken seriously.
\n\n“They’ve been ignored. They feel like their problems have been minimized,” John Chadfield, national officer for technology at the CWU, tells WIRED. “Management has refused to come to the table. They sent it to the HR and labor relations people, who dealt with it as an administrative box-ticking exercise.”
\n\nGoogle DeepMind did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment.
\n\nThe push to…
Original source: https://www.wired.com/