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Negotiations between Google DeepMind and its employees are based in London over Possibility of joining unions It faltered this week, after initial talks left union representatives feeling they wasted their time, WIRED has learned.
In May, DeepMind employees he asked Google recognizes the Communications Workers Union and unites the union as joint representatives. The company later rejected this request, but agreed to participate in negotiations arbitrated by an external body.
The initial meeting on Wednesday was attended by union officials, DeepMind employees involved in the union campaign, a third-party arbitrator, and DeepMind HR representatives. Those advocating for unions have been frustrated by the absence of leadership figures at DeepMind.
“Senior management not attending recognition talks at the opening stage is a key indicator that the company is not engaging in good faith. It’s just an exercise in wasting time,” says John Chadfield, a CWU official, who attended the meeting. “Negotiations stopped at an early stage.”
DeepMind denies that negotiations have stalled. “The first step in the process is deciding who the unions want to represent, and the parties have agreed on the next steps to do that,” says Al Verney, a spokesperson for Google DeepMind. “The appropriate representatives attended this initial meeting.”
During the meeting, a DeepMind employee read a prepared letter on behalf of colleagues who support unionization, which was reviewed by WIRED. “Instead of having a meaningful dialogue with its employees about our concerns, Google DeepMind workers were treated as a problem and turned over to HR,” the letter said. The employee reading the statement was interrupted twice by DeepMind human resources representatives, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the meeting.
The letter goes on to allege that Google attempted to suppress open dialogue among DeepMind employees and suppress dissent, by closing or reconfiguring internal chat spaces, and preventing employees from responding to company-wide communications about offering to unionize. The letter claims that employees who sought to circumvent the restrictions were “reprimanded” by HR.
“The intent was to intimidate,” says a DeepMind employee involved in drafting the letter, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. “These are well-established union-busting techniques.”
“We will continue to engage constructively in…the process and have an open dialogue with employees,” Verney says. “For topics outside of this, we continue to offer a variety of other channels and opportunities for employees to discuss their views.”
DeepMind’s unionization drive began in February 2025, when Alphabet, Google’s parent company Remove pledge Not using AI for purposes such as weapons development and surveillance in accordance with its ethical guidelines, WIRED previously reported.
“These principles were a big part of why I joined DeepMind,” says another DeepMind employee, who requested anonymity for the same reason. “We just got rid of them all.”
