A new group, Workers for Workers, is trying to build a coalition to improve conditions for Facebook’s staff and contractors alike.
There’s a growing divide in the tech sector, as well as the larger American workforce, between formal employees and contractors who often do the same work for less money, fewer benefits, and scant perks. The unequal treatment of contractors and temps was one of the issues raised by organizers of the Google Walkout on November 1, as well as at other companies in Silicon Valley, where more and more activists are demanding change. That includes Facebook, where Casey Newton’s recent exposé revealed that some contracted content moderators are paid just $28,000 a year, almost a tenth of the total compensation of the average Facebook employee ($240,00)