Why Are Unions Not Common in the Tech Industry? 67% Would Join

Tech workers of the world, unite!

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 10% of American workers belonged to a labor union in 2023, a rate which has been decreasing over time. Workers in education, training, library and protective service occupations had the highest rates of unionization in the U.S. Noticeably absent are white-collar professionals in the private sector, but new data from the professional social network Blind suggests many, especially those in the tech industry, do not think that should be the case.

Two out of three professionals said they would be “very likely” or “likely” to join a labor union if their company had one, according to Blind’s survey of 1,901 verified professionals in the U.S. Union interest was highest among tech professionals, including nearly every verified Intuit (94%) and General Motors (92%) professional surveyed by Blind.

Union support was the lowest at Google, with 40% of verified Google professionals in Blind’s survey likely to join. Notably, more than 1,000 professionals in the U.S. and Canada across Alphabet already belong to the Alphabet Workers Union, which represents professionals at Google and other Alphabet subsidiary companies, such as Calico, Verily, Waymo and more.

Similarly, tech professionals had among the most positive views of labor unions. Nearly three out of four (73%) professionals surveyed thought unions primarily help their members, including every survey participant from Intuit and Atlassian.

A majority of professionals at every company polled by Blind thought unions were good for workers, except at Google, where 52% believed they mostly hurt workers who belong to them.

Many verified Google professionals in Blind’s survey believed unions were unnecessary given the tech giant’s compensation structure, which includes generally high salaries and generous stock-based compensation.

“Unions are antithetical to many tech workers’ values, particularly [the] high-income upside. Unions would be a sure-fire way to stymie… high upsides and variable compensation structures,” said one verified Google professional when asked why they thought unions were rare in the tech industry.

Another verified Google professional agreed, noting, “People are compensated by going above and beyond, and unions are more structured for commonality in compensation structure.”

Others at Google were more blunt, saying there was “no benefit on average” in joining a union, “we are well compensated,” “we get paid well already” and “TC is good,” referring to the company’s total compensation packages.

In contrast, when Blind asked professionals why they believed that unions are rare in their industry, many survey respondents believed they could earn high wages in the job market on their own “merit” without collective bargaining or that labor unions are “not meritocratic,” “prevent innovation” and “hold back earnings of top performers.” Some also mentioned concerns about perceived “anti-union practices,” “union busting,” or “union suppression” at their respective companies and disinterest in being intermediated from management by a labor union.

Methodology

Blind conducted an online survey of 1,901 verified professionals in the U.S. on its platform from Aug. 19 to 21, 2024, to understand how white-collar professionals perceive labor unions.

Survey respondents answered the following questions:

If your company had a labor union, how likely would you be to join it?