Just over a year ago, I spent some time in Austin meeting with Google contractors. They had been hired through Accenture to moderate some of the most disturbing content on YouTube: videos that contain violent extremism, including murders and acts of terrorism. Several told me they had either been diagnosed with or were suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. The people I talked with made about $37,000 a year, and several had immigrated to the United States from the Middle East. Many found their working conditions intolerable, but they feared speaking out publicly for fear they would be fired.
They were, in short, the sort of people who benefit from membership in a union. But with a handful of exceptions, the labor…