Apr 22, 2021 16:00:00

Non-regular employees working at Google are forced to leave their jobs every two years for six months

Google is famous for its good treatment for employees, such

as a free health-friendly employee cafeteria and a system that supports employee side projects. On the other hand, it has been pointed out that non-regular employees are not treated well, such as the health hazard of YouTube content moderators becoming a problem. Protocol , an IT news site, conducts interviews with non-regular employees working in Google's data centers about the working environment and treatment.

Google contractors at data centers face forced unemployment --Protocol — The people, power and politics of tech
https://www.protocol.com/google-contractors-forced-unemployment

Google collectively refers to non-regular employees such as temporary employees, vendors, and contract employees as TVCs. According to the Protocol, TVCs working in Google's data centers will sign a two-year employment contract after being recruited under the name of 'no knowledge or experience' through the staffing service 'Mobis'. The work of TVC and regular employees is almost the same, and TVC may be in charge of training new employees.

However, TVC is not allowed to renew and continue working after the two-year contract, and must wait at least six months before applying again through Mobis to work in the data center again. .. One of the TVCs, whose contract is about to expire in July 2021, said, 'I'm dissatisfied with having to leave the data center for six months. If you ask Google or Mobis why, I haven't received an answer, 'he said, questioning and complaining about the need for a six-month turnover.

American law prohibits non-regular employees from being treated differently if they work the same as regular employees. 'Google is likely trying to make a difference from regular employees by leaving TVC every two years for six months,' said lawyer Barbara Philligal.

According to Google's regular employees who work in data centers, TVCs often do exactly the same job as regular employees in Google's data centers. However, TVC does not have access to some tools to improve operational efficiency. Also, regular employees said, 'T-shirts distributed by Google to regular employees are not distributed to TVC. There is a very clear difference in treatment between regular employees and TVC, and they are like second-class citizens. ”, Emphasizing that there is a huge difference in treatment between regular employees and TVCs.

Shannon Waite, who has been working as a TVC in Google's data center since 2018, said that regular employees earn more than double the salary of less than half the physical labor of TVC and that they have a new coronavirus infection (COVID-). I was angry that the extra benefit was not paid to TVC due to the spread of 19), and posted a complaint on Facebook about working conditions and wages in Google's data center. As a result, Mr. Waite will be terminated from Modis.

Mr. Waite, whose employment contract was canceled, attended a meeting of Google's labor union 'Alphabet Workers' Union' formed in January 2021. The Alphabet Workers' Union then accused Google and Mobis of abolishing Mr. Waite's employment contract, based on a law that 'guarantees employees the right to discuss working conditions and wages.' In April 2021, we successfully made Google and Mobis declare (PDF link) that they would allow employees to discuss working conditions and wages.

'Some TVCs working in data centers are raising children. If you're forced to leave your job every two years for six months, you can't raise your children well,' said Waite. With this accusation, it became known all over the world that Google is using the temporary staffing service, 'he said, calling on Google to improve the treatment of TVCs.