Meta and unions
The social media platform Meta Platforms services 3 billion users across its subsidiaries Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Threads. Meta employs an estimated 60–80,000 employees as of 2023.[1] Facebook subcontracts an additional estimated 15,000 content moderators around the world.[2] The majority of unionized workers at Meta in the United States are subcontractors working as security guards, janitors, bus drivers and culinary staff. In Germany and Kenya, content moderators have formed unions and a works council in 2023.
Germany
[edit]There are 5,000 content moderators in Germany employed by Telus International, Majorel and TikTok.[3]
Cengiz Haksöz is employed by Telus International, moderating content for Facebook and Instagram. Shortly after giving a testimony on June 27, 2023, to the Committee on Digitization of the German Bundestag on his working conditions, Haksöz was placed on paid-leave and banned from company premises in Essen. The company alleges he violated his non-disclosure agreement. As the chair of electoral board, Haksöz is responsible for facilitating the works council election which was ongoing. Ver.di union filed an objection against management's obstruction of the election.[4] The Essen Labour Court ruled in favor of Haksöz and ordered the company to let him return.[3] The works council election commenced on July 7, with ver.di list receiving 80% of employee votes, or 14 of 17 seats on the works council.[5]
Kenya
[edit]150 content moderators, who contract for Meta, ByteDance and OpenAI gathered in Nairobi, Kenya to launch the first African Content Moderators Union on May 1, 2023. This union was launched 4 years after Daniel Motaung was fired and retaliated against for organizing at Sama, which contracts for Facebook.[6]
United States
[edit]Meta employees are not unionized. Subcontractors not directly employed by Meta including security guards, janitors, bus drivers and culinary staff are largely unionized.[7] Previous efforts to unionize content moderators and mail room sorters were unsuccessful.
Culinary and cafeteria staff employed by FlagShip, serve Facebook offices in Menlo Park, Fremont, Seattle and New York City.[8] At Facebook's headquarter in Menlo Park, 500 cafeteria workers voted to unionize with UNITE HERE in 2017.[9] Facebook contracts multiple IT outsourcing providers including Accenture, Cognizant, TaskUs, Wipro to subcontract hundreds of content moderators within the United States.[10] With the support of Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (Communications Workers of America), moderators at Wipro organized in 2020 for better working conditions including pay-parity with employees of Facebook. Workers left due to alleged retaliation.[11] In the smallest NLRB election at Meta, in April 2022, 46 mail room sorters employed by Canon Production Printing (Canon Inc. subsidiary) voted on whether to affiliate with Teamsters union. 46 workers voted, 23 in favor and 23 against.[7] In October, the NLRB ruled that the election was not succesfull.[12]
References
[edit]- ^ Isaac, Mike (March 14, 2023). "Meta to Lay Off Another 10,000 Workers". New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
- ^ Bernal, Natasha. "Facebook's content moderators are fighting back". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
- ^ a b Hanfeld, Michael (July 1, 2023). "Telus: Wie ein Content-Moderator für seine Rechte kämpft" [Telus: How a content moderator fights for his rights]. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved September 26, 2024.
- ^ Beuth, Patrick (June 23, 2023). "Facebook-Moderator kritisiert Jobbedingungen – und darf nicht mehr arbeiten" [Facebook moderator who criticizes job conditions – must stop working]. Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
- ^ "Bedeutender Erfolg für Content Moderator" [Important success for content moderators]. ver.di (in German). October 26, 2023. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
- ^ Perrigo, Billy (May 1, 2023). "150 AI Workers Vote to Unionize at Nairobi Meeting". Time. Retrieved July 21, 2024.
- ^ a b Sumagaysay, Levi (August 27, 2022). "This obscure band of Facebook workers is in the middle of a heated union fight". MarketWatch.
- ^ Ho, Vivian (July 22, 2019). "'It's a crisis': Facebook kitchen staff work multiple jobs to get by". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
- ^ Garrett, Brianne (July 24, 2017). "Facebook cafeteria workers vote to unionize". CNET. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
- ^ Satariano, Adam; Isaac, Mike (October 28, 2021). "The Silent Partner Cleaning Up Facebook for $500 Million a Year". New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
- ^ O'Donovan, Caroline (June 6, 2020). "Facebook Contractors Wanted Better Working Conditions. They Lost Their Jobs Instead". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
- ^ "Certification of Results". National Labor Relations Board. October 12, 2022.
External links
[edit]- Content moderators manifesto(Germany)