The Future of Tech Labor: How Workers are Organizing and Transforming the Computing Industry

The tech industry's shifting landscape and the instability of its labor force have spurred unionization efforts among tech workers. Tech workers turn to collective action to improve their working conditions and protest ethical concerns within their workplaces. To better understand this movement, we interviewed 44 U.S.-based tech workers to examine their motivations, strategies, and challenges in unionizing. We analyzed how these efforts shape their perspectives on the tech industry and their identities as tech workers. These workers included engineers, product managers, customer support, QA analysts, logistics workers, gig workers, and union staff organizers. Our findings reveal that, contrary to popular narratives of prestige and privilege, tech workers face fragmented and unstable work environments, which contribute to their disempowerment and hinder their organizing efforts. Despite these difficulties, workers lean on community building and a growing sense of political consciousness, laying the groundwork for a stronger tech worker movement across borders and more equitable technological futures. By situating these conditions within broader structural and ideological forces, we identify ways for the CSCW community to build solidarity with tech workers who are materially transforming our field through their organizing efforts.