OPEIU’s Tech Workers Union Local 1010 is pleased to today join a coalition of tech industry employees, unions and solidarity networks in presenting the Tech Workers’ Bill of Rights, a set of principles to create an equitable future by raising the standards for all workers across the industry — whether full-time office workers who deserve a say in the products they build, warehouse workers facing unsafe conditions or gig workers seeking security in tech’s competitive landscape.
A collaboration of the Tech Workers Coalition, the Tech Workers’ Bill of Rights outlines protections all tech workers deserve and is based on the core values of equity, empowerment, representation, accountability, safety, autonomy, fairness and freedom. It covers a variety of issues specific to tech, including inclusive workplaces free from discrimination, freedom to speak one’s mind without retribution and protection from company surveillance.
The last few years of organizing in tech have taught us many important lessons. Tech workers need protections at work, whether it’s to prevent retaliation toward activists or pay and benefits equity in the workplace. The issues tech workers care about are vast, and tech workers are ready to make their voices heard and raise standards across the industry.
“At OPEIU, we’ve seen these trends take shape and have been fielding calls from workers wanting to organize, not just with the intention of forming a union, but to hold leadership accountable, to protect themselves and their co-workers and to advocate for changes across the industry,” OPEIU Lead Organizer Grace Reckers said. “We believe strengthening the labor movement in tech will require widespread endorsement of demands laid out in the Tech Workers’ Bill of Rights so we can then collectively push for the basic rights all tech workers deserve.”
Tech Workers Union Local 1010 is here to help raise industry standards and provide all tech industry workers a better future in their workplaces through collective bargaining. The tech industry is incredibly vast, so securing these rights across the industry will require a diversity of tactics from a variety of players. With Tech Workers Union Local 1010, we are focused on how we can build strong unions and hardcode these protections in legally binding contracts. The Tech Workers’ Bill of Rights will help guide those efforts.
The full text of the Tech Workers’ Bill of Rights can be found here: https://www.techworkersunion-1010.org/tech-workers-bill-of-rights
ABOUT OPEIU AND TECH WORKERS UNION LOCAL 1010
The Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), AFL-CIO, represents more than 103,000 working people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada. Representing employees in nonprofit organizations, credit unions, hospitals, insurance agencies, colleges and universities, hotels, administrative offices and more, OPEIU is committed to advancing economic justice for working people no matter their occupation. Professional organizations and guilds affiliated with OPEIU are a diverse group that includes podiatrists, registered nurses, hypnotists, teachers, Minor League Baseball umpires, and helicopter pilots. OPEIU is an affiliate of the 12.5 million-member strong AFL-CIO.
OPEIU’s Tech Workers Union Local 1010 is organizing workers for a better future through collective bargaining in their own workplaces and beyond. Local 1010 is a local union within OPEIU created for and run by tech workers. Local 1010 is formed around a core of engineers, community support agents, designers, trust and safety analysts, product managers, salespeople, operations specialists, finance administrators and every other person that makes tech companies run.