Google DeepMind Unionization Talks Stall After First Meeting
Negotiations between Google DeepMind and its London employees over union recognition hit a snag, with union representatives calling the first meeting a waste of time due to the absence of senior management.
Initial Meeting Lacks Senior Leadership
Unionization talks between Google DeepMind and its London-based employees have stumbled after an initial meeting left union representatives frustrated. In May, DeepMind employees requested that Google recognize the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Unite the Union as joint representatives. The company denied the request but agreed to third-party arbitration.
The initial meeting on Wednesday included union officers, DeepMind employees supporting unionization, a third-party arbitrator, and DeepMind HR representatives. Those advocating for unionization were disappointed by the absence of DeepMind leadership.
“Recognition talks not being attended by senior management at the opening stage is a leading indicator that a company isn’t engaging in good faith. It’s just a time-wasting exercise,” said John Chadfield, a CWU officer who attended the meeting. “Negotiations have stalled at an early stage.”
DeepMind denies that negotiations have stalled. “The first step in the process is to define who the unions want to represent and the parties agreed on next steps to do this,” said Al Verney, a Google DeepMind spokesperson. “The appropriate representatives attended this initial meeting.”
Employee Letter and Allegations of Intimidation
During the meeting, a DeepMind employee read a prepared letter on behalf of colleagues who support unionization. “Instead of having meaningful dialogue with its employees about our concerns, Google DeepMind workers have been treated as a problem handed off to HR,” the letter stated. According to multiple sources, the employee reading the statement was interrupted twice by DeepMind HR representatives.
The letter also alleged that Google attempted to suppress open dialogue and crack down on dissent by shutting down or reconfiguring internal chat venues and preventing staff from responding to company-wide communications about the unionization bid. Employees who tried to circumvent restrictions were “reprimanded” by HR, the letter claimed.
“The intention was to intimidate,” said a DeepMind employee involved in drafting the letter, who asked to remain anonymous. “These are well-established union-busting techniques.”
Verney responded: “We’ll continue to engage constructively in the process and have open dialogue with employees. For topics outside of this, we continue to offer employees a variety of other channels and opportunities to discuss their views.”
Background and Union Drive Context
The push to unionize at DeepMind began in February 2025, when Alphabet removed a pledge not to use AI for weapons and surveillance from its ethics guidelines. “Those principles were a big part of why I joined DeepMind,” said a second anonymous employee. “We basically just got rid of them all.”
Employees across the AI industry have raised concerns about the militarization of models they develop. In late February, staff at DeepMind and OpenAI signed an open letter supporting Anthropic after the US Department of Defense sought to designate the lab a supply chain risk for refusing to allow its technology to be used in autonomous weapons and mass surveillance.
In April, The New York Times reported that Google had entered a deal allowing the Pentagon to use its AI for “any lawful government purpose.” About 600 US-based Google employees signed a letter protesting the deal’s permissive terms. The US Department of Defense later confirmed deals with seven leading AI companies, including Google, SpaceX, OpenAI, and Microsoft, to use their models on classified networks.
Google has previously defended its government deals. “We are proud to be part of a broad consortium of leading AI labs and technology and cloud companies providing AI services and infrastructure in support of national security,” Jenn Crider, a Google spokeswoman, told The New York Times in April. “We remain committed to the private and public sector consensus that AI should not be used for domestic mass surveillance or autonomous weaponry without appropriate human oversight.”
Next Steps
In 2021, US-based Google employees formed the Alphabet Workers Union, which is not recognized by Alphabet for collective bargaining but has successfully negotiated agreements for Google contractors.
If negotiations in London do not progress, employees will ask an arbitration committee to force Google to recognize the unions, said Chadfield. “We’re hoping that Google genuinely comes to the table and we can agree something amicably. But both sides have to come with some concessions. Google is coming with no concessions whatsoever.”
