Google opens its UK offices to union recruiters after a change in the law

Google has agreed to let the Prospect union speak to its UK staff in its offices, including its King’s Cross headquarters. It follows a new UK law, in force since Friday, giving unions a right to access workplaces. Prospect signed a similar deal with Meta in September.

Google has agreed to let the trade union Prospect into its UK offices to recruit staff, including its King’s Cross headquarters in London, Bloomberg reported.

Under the deal, announced on Monday, Prospect can talk to Google employees in person and online, and hold sessions on joining a union at its workplaces. Google has more than 7,000 staff in the UK.

Prospect wants to sign up enough members to seek formal recognition from Google. That would give it a say over pay, flexible working and how the company rolls out AI.

“This access agreement is a powerful signal of intent that we can successfully negotiate agreements with even the biggest global tech companies,” said Prospect general secretary Mike Clancy.

A Google spokesperson said the deal “builds on our established work with internal employee representative groups.”

The agreement follows a change in UK law. Since Friday, unions have had a legal right to enter workplaces to recruit members, as part of the Labour government’s Employment Rights Act. Employers that keep refusing access can face fines of up to £500,000.

Prospect struck a similar deal with Meta in September, covering about 5,000 UK staff. Google’s UK workforce has also pushed back before: DeepMind researchers voted to unionise in April over Google’s Pentagon AI work. In the US, Alphabet Workers Union members rallied in July for job protections.