×
Wednesday, October 21, 2026

A New Document Reveals More of Google's Anti-Union Strategy - WIRED

Caitlin Harrington

Business

01.10.2022 10:00 AM

A New Document Reveals More of Google's Anti-Union Strategy

An administrative law judge orders the company to turn over more documents, including one that describes an effort to convince employees that “unions suck.”

    Save this story for later.

A newly released document sheds light on Google’s efforts to quash activism, including for a union, among its employees. In an order submitted Friday, an administrative law judge for the National Labor Relations Board told Google to turn over to the attorney representing a group of current and former employees documents related to its “Project Vivian,” and its hiring of a consulting firm that advises employers battling unionization efforts.

Google launched Project Vivian to dissuade employees from unionizing after worker activism began heating up in late 2018. In the order, Michael Pfyl, Google’s director of employment law, is quoted describing Project Vivian’s mission as “to engage employees more positively and convince them that unions suck.” The context for Pfyl’s description isn’t clear from the order, which also references an effort to use the media to quietly disseminate Google’s point of view about unionized tech workplaces.

The judge, Paul Bogas, ordered Google to comply with portions of a subpoena for documents related to Project Vivian, as well as Google’s hiring of IRI Consultants, the anti-union firm. In November, Bogas issued a similar order for other documents concerning...



Read Full Story: https://www.wired.com/story/document-reveals-more-google-anti-union-strategy/