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Once thought of as a barrier to quick decisions and an unnecessary additive for a cushy sector, sweeping job insecurity and a burnout epidemic have turned the tide on unionization in tech.
At the end of May 2025, unionized quality assurance (QA) workers at the Microsoft-owned video game holding company ZeniMax announced a tentative contract agreement, marking Microsoft’s first-ever union contract in the US. It’s the latest wave in a sea change surrounding labor-union membership in tech – an industry that has historically been hostile to unions.
The shift is several years in the making. Since 2020, tech workers have formed unions at a diverse array of companies, including Alphabet, Glitch, Kickstarter, Medium, the New York Times, and, as of this spring, the Washington Post. On top of the ZeniMax QA workers, more than 2,000 Microsoft video game professionals now belong to the CWA union.
While tech’s strides toward unionization are significant, they are also relative. Overall, union participation has fallen sharply from one in three to less than one in ten among wealthy democracies over the last 70 years, particularly in the US.
Despite strong indications that pro-union sentiment is gaining momentum, US union membership dipped to a record low 9.9% in 2024, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Within this already diminished framework, workers in technical and professional services accounted for only 1.2% of the unionized US-American workforce.
Though actual union membership numbers remain low, tech leaders tell LeadDev that they have witnessed a change in attitudes firsthand. Amid a volatile labor market and the ever-changing whims of bosses, more tech workers are receptive than ever to the potential benefits of collective action.
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A shift in tides for the tech sector
Some say the tides have shifted quickly. Chandrakanth Puligundla, tech lead for data analysis, data engineering, and data governance at food and drug retailer Albertsons Companies, moved to the US from his native India shortly before beginning a computer science graduate program in January 2022. In just three and a half years, he says he has noticed “a significant shift” in the way tech workers in the USA view unions. “What was once considered incompatible with the ‘move fast’ ethos of tech is now being reevaluated in light of burnout, layoffs, and widening gaps between leadership decisions and worker needs,” Puligundla says.
Puligundla tells LeadDev that engineers – especially those in mid-career – used to dismiss unions as a hindrance to innovation. Now, the engineers he knows are much more likely to see unions “as a potential safeguard for fairness, transparency, and long-term sustainability in a volatile industry,” he says. “The recent waves of abrupt layoffs at otherwise profitable companies have only amplified that sentiment.”
Puligundla’s observation is somewhat supported by an August 2024 Blind survey of 1,900 verified tech employees, in which 67% of respondents said that they would be likely to join a union.
Joosep Seitam, the cofounder and CEO of the New York City e-commerce platform, Icecartel, echoes Puligundla’s view that a rising sense of insecurity is driving the change in perspective. When tech jobs were synonymous with sky-high salaries, unbeatable perks, and unparalleled work-life balance, it was easy to dismiss unions as irrelevant. But now, those days can seem like a distant memory.
“A lot of young developers, designers, and engineers are looking at unions as a way to fight burnout. Workers are no longer shy about questioning their bosses on job security, fair wages, and work-life balance,” Seitam says.
Kyle Sobko, the CEO of medical equipment company SonderCare based in London, Ontario, speaks from the perspective of both an entrepreneur and a personnel director for tech teams. He tells LeadDev that he has not only witnessed attitudes shift among his tech teams but has had a similar change of heart himself.
“In my earlier years, I viewed unionization as a barrier to quick decisions,” Sobko says. “My opinion changed over time, sometimes because I had staff bring up their own conversations about burnout and pay equity, and these moments helped me recognize that organized labor can provide real representation when others fall silent.”
Tech unions have a challenging road ahead
Despite some notable wins, tech unions continue to face an uphill trek.
Powerful CEOs have repeatedly shown they are unafraid to test the limits of union busting. Among others, the NYT has been found to pressure workers to side against their union, next to organizations like Apple, which have threatened retaliation against those considering unionization.
Some companies have gone so far as to take illegal action against their workers over union activity. In recent years, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) – the US federal agency responsible for enforcing labor laws – has ruled both Amazon and Tesla to be in official violation of US labor laws for meddling in their respective workers’ union organizing efforts.
Now, under the Trump administration, the NLRB itself stands on unsteady ground. The US president fired both the agency’s general counsel and a Senate-approved board member shortly after taking office in January, leaving the board without the necessary quorum to exercise its authority. This leaves workers with little recourse for labor violations, including illegal union retaliation from employers.
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Where do engineers themselves stand?
Tech workers also remain skeptical of how much unions can realistically accomplish for every company.
Puligundla believes that unions aren’t necessarily the best solution if an organization’s culture is already transparent, collaborative, and worker –centric – especially in smaller startups or founder-led teams where leadership is accessible and employees have a hand in shaping the company’s direction.
In those environments, he believes that unionization risks creating needless bureaucracy or slowing down decision-making. But he considers those cases to be the exception and not the rule, “especially as companies grow and hierarchy becomes more rigid.”
While Puligundla has never been a part of a tech union himself, he says he has worked for organizations where the idea was seriously discussed after workers were rocked by a devastating series of layoffs. “Even though we didn’t unionize, the discussion alone sparked more openness around contracts, severance, and working conditions,” Puligundla says. “It made me realize that just having the option on the table can shift the power dynamic in a healthy way.”
For leadership, this meant adapting to a culture of collaborative decision-making, where workers were given input on processes that directly affected them. For junior developers, it created a stronger foundation to advocate for fair treatment, setting the stage for long-term stability.
Seitam sees it as a matter of simple business sense. “Founders should always keep in mind that happy teams deliver better products,” he says. “Sometimes, having structured dialogue facilitated by unions will ensure just that.”
