Illustration : Sarah Grillo/Axios
Workers at an Austin tech company dedicated to connecting people in need to welfare services are trying to unionize.
Why is this important: The union effort reflects unrest among workers amid a wave of layoffs in the tech industry.
Driving the news: More than 150 Findhelp company employees — including engineers, business analysts and production support workers — have filed for National Labor Relations Board union elections, according to a press release issued this week by the group. .
- They are seeking representation with Local 1010 of the Office and Professional Workers International Union.
What they want: Workers aim to force management to fix what they see as internal pay inequalities, unequal return-to-work policies and overbearing workplace monitoring software, according to Keith Young, a software engineer at the company. who is part of the union organizing committee.
To note : Findhelp, formerly known as Aunt Bertha, is a free online platform that aims to make it easy for anyone in the United States to find and apply for government and nonprofit assistance with housing, transportation, education, food and legal issues, among other needs.
- “It was originally a play about Uncle Sam — Aunt Bertha picks up where Uncle Sam leaves off,” company founder Erine Gray told TEDBlog in 2014.
What they say : “People come to work at Findhelp because they care about their communities, their neighbors and each other,” Young told Axios. “This is exactly the kind of setting where people would be inclined to pursue a collective bargaining agreement that helps strengthen their colleagues in the workplace and sets a model in the tech industry for what the modern workplace might look like. . »
The other side: In a statement, Gray said the company will abide by federal labor rules so workers have “time to learn as much as possible about … the impact unions have on start-up businesses.”
- “We look forward to making the case to our colleagues that a direct relationship is best,” he said.
Source: www.axios.com
