Employees of a google contractor in the eastern US city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania voted to Unionize in a historic action for white collar tech workers that could have ripple effects across the tech world.

Contract workers employed by HCL America voted to organize with the United Steel Workers (USW) under the name Pittsburgh Association of Tech Professionals (PATP).  It came despite HCL America's deputy general manager of operations Jeremy Carlson sending at least a half dozen emails urging the workers against it, attempting to use class warfare to divide workers.

"The Steelworkers are typically 'blue collar' workers, not workers in a tech industry like us," Carlson wrote, "Do you really think the Steelworkers understand our needs, our industry, our business, or even what you do on a daily basis?  I don't."

The vote was 2-to-1 in favor of creating the new Union.

AFL-CIO organizer Christian Sweeney said the outcome was expected:  "It's not a big surprise; we've seen this trend emerging," adding that he has seen "a lot of militancy amongst pretty highly educated and high-skilled workers."