Google agrees to union recruitment access at UK offices
Prospect aims to recruit enough employees to seek formal recognition, following a UK law granting unions access to workplaces.
Google will allow Prospect to recruit employees at its British offices, Bloomberg reported, under an agreement covering locations including the company’s headquarters in London’s King’s Cross. The arrangement permits both face-to-face and online contact with staff.
Prospect can also run workplace sessions about union membership. Google employs more than 7,000 people in the UK, and the union wants sufficient membership to pursue formal recognition. Recognition would give Prospect a role in discussions about pay, flexible working arrangements and the deployment of AI.
The agreement comes after a provision in the Labour government’s Employment Rights Act took effect, establishing a legal right for unions to enter workplaces for recruitment. Employers repeatedly denying access can be fined up to £500,000.
Google said the arrangement builds on its existing engagement with internal groups representing employees. Prospect general secretary Mike Clancy described it as evidence that the union could negotiate with major global technology companies.
In September, Prospect reached a comparable agreement with Meta covering about 5,000 employees in the UK. Separately, DeepMind researchers voted in April to unionize over Google’s AI work for the Pentagon.
