YouTube Contractors To Strike Over Forced Return To Office (axios.com)
- Reference: 0170262139
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/23/02/03/2119243/youtube-contractors-to-strike-over-forced-return-to-office
- Source link: https://www.axios.com/2023/02/03/youtube-contractors-strike-return-office-google
> All of the 43-person team of contractors for YouTube Music voted to strike, following an edict that they report to an office in Austin starting on Monday. The workers, who are technically employed by Cognizant, were notified of the Feb. 6 return to office date in November. That came after workers had filed the prior month for union recognition, leading some to conclude the move was being made in retaliation. The workers are also seeking to have Google and Cognizant recognized as joint employers. The vast majority of the contractors were hired during the pandemic -- and have always worked remotely. Nearly a quarter of them live somewhere other than Austin. Workers say their pay, which starts at around $19 per hour, isn't enough to cover the costs of relocating to -- and living in -- Austin. Some also care for a child, spouse or parent, which complicates a shift to the office.
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> Cognizant says that the workers' contracts have always stated that the jobs were in-office jobs and that it communicated to workers since Dec. 2021 that it would provide 90 days notice when employees were expected back in the office. "Cognizant respects the right of our associates to disagree with our policies, and to protest them lawfully," the company said in a statement to Axios. "However, it is disappointing that some of our associates have chosen to strike over a return to office policy that has been communicated to them repeatedly since December 2021."
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> "My goal is to keep my friends employed," said Katie Marschher, who has worked at Cognizant on YouTube Music for nearly two years. Like many on her team, Marschher said she works more than one job to make ends meet. Although she lives in Austin, one of her other jobs is helping bands on tour, which requires her to travel. That works well remotely but she would have to scale back if required to be in office. "Our hope is we can actually have a dialogue where we are listened to," said Neil Gossell, who joined the YouTube/Cognizant team last year. He took the job specifically because it allowed him to work from home close to his spouse, who has post-traumatic stress disorder.
The YouTube Music STRIKE press conference has been [2]shared on Facebook and [3]Twitter .
[1] https://www.axios.com/2023/02/03/youtube-contractors-strike-return-office-google
[2] https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=917192873060803
[3] https://twitter.com/AlphabetWorkers/status/1621558458549178368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1621559435884896257%7Ctwgr%5E9812eb628513a2769f9bbb5d2dbeecae3520a9cf%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.engadget.com%2Fyoutube-music-strike-austin-union-awu-cwa-184713199.html
$19 an hour? (Score:1)
That wouldn't even cover my coffee expenses :(
Re: (Score:2)
I guess the labor market will decide. Looking at [1]the laws that create the right to strike, [nlrb.gov] this sounds like it would be classified as an "economic strike" :
> Economic strikers defined. If the object of a strike is to obtain from the employer some economic concession such as higher wages, shorter hours, or better working conditions, the striking employees are called economic strikers. They retain their status as employees and cannot be discharged, but they can be replaced by their employer. If the employer ha
[1] https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/your-rights/nlra-and-the-right-to-strike
Why that obsession with "office"? (Score:3)
C'mon, spill it, C-Levels of the world, why do you want to waste money on office space when your workers are not only willing but happy to provide that to you for free? It just doesn't make any sense from an economic point of view, or what am I missing here?
Re: (Score:3)
> or what am I missing here?
The fact that C-Levels are the type of old morons who think presence = performance. The reality is many companies don't have proper performance management systems in place. They are incapable of monitoring employees based on output and delivery, and thus monitor employees based on web browsing habits and looking over their shoulders while they are working.
Re: (Score:2)
There are a lot of benefits to people physically interacting during the work day. Thinking back to when I started my career, I learned so much from that contact. Building relationships that led to mentoring. Contact with people in other functions that exposed me to different facets of the company -- learned a lot about the business side, marketing side, sales side, etc. Perspectives that help with decision making and finding compromise when different company objectives collide. I feel for those just st
Re: (Score:2)
> Thinking back to when I started my career, I learned so much from that contact.
All of that is not only possible, but dead simple and efficient to do remotely for those who are technologically literate. I've been writing software for nearly 38 years, and everything I've learned about company organization was more efficiently done over electronic communications.
In-person communication is extremely overvalued. I'm hard pressed to conceive of a less efficient way to convey information. It's like verbal history vs written history. The latter is far more efficient than the former. The same
Re: Why that obsession with "office"? (Score:2)
Simple. Most people are not responsible enough to sit at their desks 8 hours a day.
I have one guy who is idle on teams and rumor it he is working 2 jobs. To end this management wants us all back in the office to keep on eye on us so we have to work when eyes are on us.
Another guy I can tell us driving during meetings. You can tell.
I hate to break it to you but studies show hours worked go up and productivity per hour goes down when work at home is available.
respect right of Cognizant to not commit fraud (Score:4, Interesting)
The statement
> "Cognizant respects the right of our associates to disagree with our policies, and to protest them lawfully," the company said in a statement to Axios. "However, it is disappointing that some of our associates have chosen to strike over a return to office policy that has been communicated to them repeatedly since December 2021."
is profoundly shitty. It's disappointing you're putting those sentences together implying what they're doing is illegal or unethical. I guess 2 can play at that game:
I respect the right of Cognizant to not illegally embezzle funds from their customers. It's disappointing some of their associates have been caught doing so.
I respect the right of Cognizant to not illegally state information for immigration purposes. It's disappointing some of their associates have been caught doing so.
I respect the right of Cognizant to not commit blatant fraud on invoices. It's disappointing some of their associates have been caught doing so.
Cognizant is a shitshow on a good day...the lowest bidder low-end shop. Every line of code I've seen them deliver has been supremely expensive, low-end, and painful to acquire. I have been called in to clean up after their Indian offshoring operations many times throughout the years. I've never seen a customer save money by hiring them. They hire shitty 22yo Indians who could never get hired elsewhere, lie about their credentials (he's got a master's from the "MIT of India" and 5 years of experience...but somehow looks like he's 20 and tells stories about graduating from college 2 years ago) and then the client foots the bill for them to train up and become not useless, often flying them onsite...and by the time he/she is competent, they leave and get a real job from a company that treats Indians with respect.
No one saves money by hiring them. Had you just hired someone locally for more, the job would have been done for half the cost in half the time. Most have figured this out.
It's 100% legal to strike. It's 100% legal for these employer to tell you to fuck yourself. It's 100% illegal for Cognizant to lie about their candidates credentials, which I have caught them doing multiple times or submit false billing statements, which I have also caught them doing.
I literally caught them frauding the company when my boss asked me about something they said they were working on. I found evidence they never submitted the code they said they did. My boss asked me to never speak of it again....because she was getting kickbacks from Cognizant...and it would make her look bad. They billed about 10k for something they didn't actually do...which I ended up doing in 2h in 10 lines of code. My boss was eventually fired because she advocated for hiring Cognizant and everything was overbudget and overschedule and of TERRIBLE quality...in fact all the code they delivered was buggy and not within requirements and had to be thrown away....but my boss got a lot of free trips, sponsored conferences, and they helped place her at another company....so she can pitch outsourcing the entire development team to Cognizant.
Offshoring was a huge scam and Cognizant was one of the biggest names in one of the biggest grifts I've personally ever seen firsthand.
2-3 Months Notice (Score:3)
So, they were notified in NOVEMBER. They've had plenty of time to make their decisions. They are fighting way too hard for a $19/hr job.
There is no controversy.
Re: (Score:3)
They were notified in 2021 prior to their accepting the job. The notice in November was a reminder of what they already agreed to which included the date the transition would take place on.
Let me guess (Score:4, Funny)
> YouTube Contractors To Strike Over Forced Return To Office
> ... The YouTube Music STRIKE press conference has been shared on Facebook and Twitter.
They were going to put the video on YouTube, but there's no one in the office to post it. :-)
Re:Let me guess (Score:4, Insightful)
> They were going to put the video on YouTube, but there's no one in the office to post it. :-)
And why the heck does YT need anyone present in the office to post videos? Why the heck do an INTERNET company need anyone physically in an office to function?
Re: (Score:2)
Anybody who has to deal with maintenance for one. Also, it's entirely within reason that software developers and IT personnel that support the underlying infrastructure be in the office to resolve incidents that can degrade services. In most cases, especially when it comes to incidents involving networking equipment and servers, that cannot be done remotely.
And when the shit really hits the fan and there's a major outage, it would be really problematic if suddenly you needed much of your staff to head to th