Facebook running a 21st century version of sweatshops as contractors keel over dead while other workers fear for their lives
by: JD Heyes
NaturalNews.com
Wednesday, June 19, 2019
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, many small tenement apartments inhabited by European immigrants often doubled as workplaces and living spaces. There, men and women toiled away as contractors for larger corporations, churning out clothing, parts, and other products.
Wages were low and hours were long, but because they were immigrants and were trying to make their way in their new country, they accepted the work eagerly. These work-and-living spaces were often miserable, and they earned the nickname “sweatshops.”
While “some immigrants began working in small shops, eventually owning large clothing firms,” the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute notes, “others succumbed to disease, malnutrition, and exhaustion, and never found the path from tenement sweatshop to a better life.”
Labor laws passed in the 20th century sought to eliminate such working conditions, but they seem to be making a comeback in the 21st century, thanks to the out-sized and outrageous demands of the big tech giants.
The stress is ‘unworldly’
As reported by The Verge, Facebook is a particularly egregious offender, working contractors to the point of exhaustion and, in at least one case, death.
The news site related the story of Keith Utley, a veteran Coast Guard officer who landed a job as a moderator for Facebook after retiring from the service:
Utley worked the overnight shift at a Facebook content moderation site in Tampa, FL, operated by a professional services vendor named Cognizant. The 800 or so workers there face relentless pressure from their bosses to better enforce the social network’s community standards, which receive near-daily updates that leave its contractor workforce in a perpetual state of uncertainty. The Tampa site has routinely failed to meet the 98 percent “accuracy” target set by Facebook. In fact, with a score that has been hovering around 92, it is Facebook’s worst-performing site in North America.
The job was extremely stressful, The Verge noted, and it weighed very heavily on Utley, according to co-workers at the Tampa site.
“The stress they put on him — it’s unworldly,” one of Utley’s managers told The Verge. “I did a lot of coaching. I spent some time talking with him about things he was having issues seeing. And he was always worried about getting fired.”
During his March 9 shift, Utley slumped at his desk, alerting co-workers that something was wrong after he began sliding out of his chair. While two co-workers began CPR, a manager called for an ambulance. There was no automatic defibrillator in the building.
‘We are bodies in seats’
The Rest…HERE
