Google Fiber workers begin voting on whether to unionize

Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge

Voting is open for workers in Missouri who are deciding whether to join the AWU, a division of the Communication Workers of America. If successful, the AWU would be the first bargaining unit to be recognized by the National Labor Relations Board.

The workers have to mail their ballots back to the NLRB by March 24th, when they will be counted.

The AWU has filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board, but the petition does not mention the company by name.

On Friday, BDS did not reply to a request for comment.

The workers wanted to have the company of their parent company listed as a joint employer on their petition, but later changed their minds.

The group did not think they would be able to get recognition from the National Labor Relations Board for their entire workforce, but knew they wanted to include temps, vendors, and contractors.

All of us at AWU are very proud of the workers at Google Fiber who decided to unionize after speaking to each other about their working conditions.