Above photo: @notechforapartheir via Instagram.
Unionizers oppose using their company’s tools to facilitate Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
And reject Google’s increasing connections with the Pentagon
On 6 May, Google DeepMind workers in the UK asked management to recognize the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Unite the Union as their workplace representatives, as staff prepare to challenge the use of Google AI technology by the US and Israeli militaries.
“We don’t want our AI models complicit in violations of international law, but they already are aiding Israel’s genocide of Palestinians,” one DeepMind employee said.
“Even if our work is only used for administrative purposes, as leadership has repeatedly told us, it is still helping make genocide cheaper, faster, and more efficient. That must end immediately, as must harm to Iranians and human lives anywhere.”
The push follows an internal April vote, in which 98 percent of participating CWU members at DeepMind backed unionization, as workers demand an end to the use of Google AI tools in military operations, including systems made available to Israel and the Pentagon.
Unionizers are demanding that Google restore its abandoned pledge not to build AI weapons or surveillance tools, set up an independent ethics body, and allow employees to refuse projects on moral grounds.
The letter gives Google 10 working days to voluntarily recognize the unions or enter mediation before a formal legal process begins.
Union officials say recognition would cover at least 1,000 staff members tied to Google DeepMind’s London office.
The move comes days after the Pentagon reached an agreement with Google and six other major tech firms — Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia, OpenAI, Reflection, and SpaceX — to use their AI systems across classified military networks.
The US Department of War said the deal would help “augment warfighter decision-making in complex operational environments.”
More than 600 Google employees had signed a letter opposing the use of the company’s AI systems for classified work.
The campaign follows years of internal protest at Google, including staff opposition to Project Nimbus, the $1.2 billion cloud contract with the Israeli government, and earlier protests against Project Maven, the Pentagon drone analysis project that Google did not renew in 2019.
For years, US big tech firms have provided AI systems, near-infinite cloud storage, surveillance tools, and data processing infrastructure that have amplified and accelerated Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and, more recently, supported Washington’s illegal war of aggression on Iran.
