UNI statement on Tech Inquiry controversy 

The Intercept’s characterization of UNI Global Union’s decision to not publish research commissioned from Tech Inquiry is fundamentally incorrect. 

UNI did not censor the report, in fact, we released Tech Inquiry to publish the report independently. That is not censorship or suppression. It was a green light for publication on Tech Inquiry’s own terms. The truth is that the report we received did not meet our requirements or fulfil our objectives for this research.

UNI has no obligation to publish reports that do not meet our needs or our standards. In this particular case, UNI determined it was unhelpful to publish the research product as presented because it was not useful to our ongoing global effort to hold Amazon accountable.  

Moreover, we did not find anything particularly compelling in this report. If the research contained revelatory information, we believe The Intercept would have covered the content of the report itself rather than UNI not wanting to be associated with it. Unfortunately, rather than letting the research product stand for itself, on its own, Tech Inquiry manufactured a controversy.  

Additionally, any claim that the CWA intervened in UNI’s decision making is absolutely false. CWA had no knowledge of this research and had no role in UNI’s decision to disassociate ourselves from it. CWA is a valued affiliate of UNI and has never asked UNI to put its interests ahead of workers globally.

The UNI staff person quoted by the publication did not make this decision regarding this research, misrepresented UNI’s reasons for walking away from it, and was not speaking on behalf of the organization.

UNI Global Union has published multiple reports denouncing corporate greed, violations of labour rights and policy recommendations to advance the rights of working people worldwide, and we will continue to do so. 

Please see CWA’s statement on its commitment to exposing corporate harm here.