YouTube Uses Return-to-Office Push to Hurt Union, Group Says (2)

Alphabet Inc. is illegally using return-to-office policies as a tool to try to derail YouTube contract workers from organizing in Texas, a union alleged in a National Labor Relations Board complaint.

In the filing Tuesday, the Alphabet Workers Union accused the tech giant and a staffing firm of responding to a YouTube unionization campaign by announcing new stricter rules. Under the restrictions, set for February, refusing to return to the local office in Austin will be considered “job abandonment” and “voluntary termination,” the union said.

The policy change will punish workers who have grown accustomed to doing their jobs remotely ...