Almost 50 Democratic Congress Members Urge NLRB to Act on Suspicious YouTube Contractor Layoffs

By Giuliano De Leon

May 30, 2024 03:06 PM EDT

Over 50 Democratic Congress members are urging the National Labor Relations Board to investigate YouTube's suspicious layoffs of contractors. Specifically, they want the NLRB to act on the cases filed by affected YouTube workers against Google.

Almost 50 Democratic Congress Members Urge NLRB To Act on Suspicious YouTube Contractor Layoffs — The YouTube and Netflix app logos are seen on a television screen on March 23, 2018 in Istanbul, Turkey. The Government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan passed a new law on March 22 extending the reach of the country's radio and TV censor to the internet.
(Photo : Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

NLRB Urged To Act on Suspicious YouTube Contractor Layoffs

The Verge's latest report, 46 Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to NLRB. Some of the US lawmakers that signed the letter are the following:

Congressional Labor Caucus co-chair Donald Norcross (D-NJ)
Mark Pocan (D-WI)
Ilhan Omar (D-MN)
Reps. Greg Casar (D-TX)
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)
Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI)

The Democratic Congress members said that they are writing to express their serious concerns about Google's alleged retaliation and other coercive actions, which were reportedly taken because those workers were unionized.

"This is not the first time that Google workers have been fired after attempting to organize their workplace," they explained in the letter.

Google fired almost 100 members of the 119-member team after Google Content Creation Operations members tried to unionize their workplace in 2023.

What US Lawmakers Want

The response of the NLRB regarding the suspicious YouTube worker terminations allegedly linked to unfair retaliation against unionization could set an important precedent for American employees, as explained by US lawmakers in the letter.

They added that they greatly support the NLRB's ongoing efforts to investigate unfair labor practice cases and urge the labor agency to thoroughly review them.

Democratic members of Congress, in the letter, asked the National Labor Relations Board to take action to protect Google employees and other companies across the US against unfair retaliation.

They explained that workers should be able to unionize without worrying about getting laid off by Google, Cognizant, and other giant firms.