Kabar dari lini Front—unionisasi di Google DeepMind lagi nggak smooth banget. Buat yang belum tau konteksnya, sekitar Mei 2025 lalu, karyawan DeepMind yang berbasis di London nge-request Google buat recognize Communication Workers Union (CWU) dan Unite the Union sebagai joint representatives mereka. Tapi Google tolak request tersebut dan malah setuju buat ikut proses negosiasi yang diarbitrase pihak ketiga.
Nah, ini yang bikin frustrasi. Meeting pertama yang dilaksanakan Rabu kemaren attend-nya cuma union officers, DeepMind employees yang terlibat push unionisasi, arbitrator pihak ketiga, sama DeepMind HR. Where's the senior management? Mereka nggak hadir. "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," tegas John Chadfield, CWU officer yang ikut meeting. Negotiations literally stalled di tahap awal.
During the meeting, seorang DeepMind employee bacain prepared letter on behalf of colleagues yang support unionisasi. Surat tersebut—yang udah direview WIRED—keluar banget dari jalur diplomatis: "Instead of having meaningful dialogue with its employees about our concerns, Google DeepMind workers have been treated as a problem handed off to HR," bunyi salah satu kutipannya. Red flagged banget kan? Yang makin parah, employee yang lagi baca surat itu malah di-interrupt sama DeepMind HR reps dua kali. Belum cukup, surat itu juga allege bahwa Google:
- Shut down atau reconfigure internal chat venues buat quash open dialogue
- Prevent staff dari respond ke company-wide communications tentang unionization bid
- Reprimand employees yang coba dance around restrictions tersebut
"The intention was to intimidate. These are well-established union-busting techniques," klaim anonymous DeepMind employee yang ikut drafting letter.
Lantas kenapa karyawan DeepMind ngotot mau unionisasi? Short story, karena Alphabet nge-hapus pledge buat nggak pakai AI buat weapons development dan surveillance dari ethics guidelines mereka di Februari 2025. "Those principles were a big part of why I joined DeepMind," akuilah seorang karyawan anonim. "We basically just got rid of them all."
AI industry workers across the board lagi concern parah soal militarization of AI models mereka develop. February lalu, staff DeepMind dan OpenAI bahkan cosign open letter in support of Anthropic after US Department of Defense designate lab itu sebagai supply chain risk. April lalu, The New York Times melaporkan Google masuk deal dengan Pentagon yang ngizinin use of AI-nya buat "any lawful government purpose." Sekitar 600 US-based Google employees reportedly nge-sign letter buat protest deal tersebut.
Google sih udah deny negotiations stalled dan bilang "appropriate representatives" attend meeting. Mereka juga klaim bakal continue engaging constructively. Tapi kalau udah kayak gini—HR doang yang dateng, management nowhere to be found, internal comms di-silence—it feels like a classic union-busting playbook. Kalau negosiasi nggak juga jalan, Chadfield bilang mereka bakal ask arbitration committee buat force Google recognize the unions.
Geek Opinion: Buat industry yang seharusnya lead innovation dan ethical AI development, ini kinda sus banget. Union-busting techniques di tahun 2026? C'mon, we can do better than that. Kalau kamu seorang AI researcher atau engineer, this should be a wake-up call. Your labor rights matter, dan nggak ada salahnya nge-solidarize sama coworkers yang concerned sama direction sebuah company. AI bakal shape future humanity—weaponizing it without proper oversight? That's a hard no from me.
