| Welcome to the Thursday edition of the CityLab newsletter, focused on the changing nature of work — and the repercussions for the places and spaces we inhabit. Send your feedback and ideas to sholder6@bloomberg.net The people shaping borderlines, updating traffic and responding to user complaints on Google Maps have been doing it at home for the past two-plus years. But in April, they were given a deadline: The days of remote work were coming to an end in June. The group of around 200 workers operate out of an office in Bothell, Washington, and aren't employed directly by Google but by a third-party vendor called Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. They're paid between $16 and $28 an hour, and lack the same benefits Google provides to its direct employees. Now, with the support of the Alphabet Workers Union, which organizes for labor issues at Google's parent company, more than half of the Bothell contractors have signed a letter lobbying management for a more flexible return to office policy – one that takes into account high commuting costs, child care burdens and Covid vulnerabilities. When and whether to go back to in-person work for five days a week has roiled workplaces large and small, but the fight at Google is significant because it's taking place among the lower-paid contract staff that in 2018 made up more than half of Google's workforce. "No worker should be paid so little that they cannot afford gas to show up to work," Ashok Chandwaney, a Google software engineer and a member of the Alphabet Workers Union's executive committee, said in a statement. Read my story from last week, in CityLab: Google Maps Workers Clash With Management Over Remote Work Policy | 
No comments:
Post a Comment