YouTube Music contract workers won an historic union election by a 41-0 vote Wednesday and will now bargain for a labor contract with Google and subcontractor Cognizant, SFGATE reports.

This will force Google to come to the bargaining table for the first time in the technology giant’s history. It is also noteworthy because it creates a union that will bargain with Google and its contractor as joint employers.

At issue for a group of contracted YouTube workers in Austin, Texas, was Cognizant’s order to return to the office. The workers, some of whom make as little as $19 an hour, have argued that sudden relocation, child care and other costs aren’t affordable.

The workers also maintain that Cognizant engaged in union-busting practices by displaying messages on TV screens in the Austin office telling workers they should not unionize but communicate directly with the company, Yahoo! Finance reports.

An internal Cognizant memo to the workers said that even if they were successful in forming a union, they would not get the same pay or benefits as workers directly employed by YouTube owner Google. The memo said that if Cognizant and Google were found to be joint employers, Google would only be minimally involved in contract negotiations.

Google maintains that Cognizant is the workers’ sole employer and that it should not be forced to negotiate with the contract workers. A Google spokesperson said the company has no objection to the union vote but reiterated that Cognizant is the workers’ employer.

Alphabet Workers Union

The election has created a bargaining union affiliated with the Alphabet Workers Union, itself a member of the Communication Workers of America. Alphabet is the parent company of Google. Until now, AWU has only represented one office of unionized Google workers.

That office is a fiber retail shop in Missouri that has since decided to drop Google from its petition. The Austin workers eradicate software bugs from Google’s YouTube Music to ensure that it runs smoothly.

One of the Cognizant YouTube contractors, Maxwell Longfield, issued a statement through AWU: “My coworkers and I have spoken, time and time again—we want, and have won, a protected voice on the job to bring both Alphabet and Cognizant to the negotiating table so that we can win the fair working conditions we deserve.”

Google and Cognizant have until May 3 to object to the union election.

Google has filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to overturn one of its regional divisions’ ruling that both Cognizant and Google are joint employers of the newly unionized workers.

The Austin workers’ complaint with the NLRB says that after they filed a petition to form a union, Cognizant changed its order for workers to return to the Austin office and moved work to other offices.

Struggle Since 2021

AWU was launched in 2021 to represent full-time workers employed directly by Google as well as its part-time contract workers, who number in the hundreds of thousands.

Some of Google’s contract workers earn high salaries, but most, like those at Cognizant, earn very little. For years, Google contractors have complained of being treated like second-class citizens.

While the movement to unionize in the U.S. has risen in recent years, only 10% of the workforce is unionized. Apple workers have also pushed for labor organization and better working conditions, as have employees of Starbucks and Wells Fargo.