Alphabet Workers Union-Communications Workers of America, which seeks to represent directly employed and contingent workers at Google, on Nov. 3 filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board alleging Alphabet and two of its staffing vendors prohibited contract workers from accessing an internal pay transparency spreadsheet.

The union’s announcement comes after it reported earlier this month that it filed for bargaining rights for a group of workers in Austin, Texas.

In last week’s filing, the union claimed Alphabet and staffing providers Accenture Flex and Crowd Staffing violated federal labor law by withdrawing access to a spreadsheet created by temporary, vendor and contract workers at Alphabet to ensure pay transparency across various subcontracted roles within the company.

The union claims the workers created a “Share My Salary” spreadsheet in 2021 where contract workers across the globe could submit their job titles and hourly wages or salaries. However, on July 11, 2022, and July 14, 2022, Alphabet withdrew access to the spreadsheet.

The union estimates 50,000 workers are now locked out of the file; those employed directly by Alphabet continue to have access to an employee-run “Share My Salary” spreadsheet.

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