I went to the Angela Cornell talk this week about the Google Walkout and found it very enriching. We talked about how the last few years have seen an uptick in job action whether that be teacher activity, NFL protests, the Google Walkout we focused on, or even the MeToo era at large. She described the GoogleWalkout wherein employees chose to organize and leave the job for some hours )in some offices, for some days) in order to protest not just the sexual misconduct of top executive Andy Rubin, but largely to protest the “punishment” he received: a severance package of over $90 million.

Though many of the elements of the event at Google highlighted by Ms. Cornell were interesting, I believe the point that stood out to me the most was that of the power of collective action. We discussed how there was change after the walkout as workers were able to assert their desire for the riddance of mandatory arbitration and were successful at having this policy changed. We talked about the process of such organizing, how much of it took place through social media, showing that workers can possess power by simply picking up their phones to call for change. We lastly discussed how mutual aid and protection is actually provided in the NLRA, meaning that workers can take measures like these if trying to create a better workplace. This one was a large eye-opener for me because it truly drove home just how powerful workers can be in the process of creating and changing employment conditions. Overall, I walked away very enlightened about just how much impact and power labor can possess in workplace struggles, and it can be done through knowledge of the rights that they, or we, all have. When we wield those rights, we can possess more power than we think.