By Yasmeen Abutaleb
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Facebook <FB.O>
raised wages for its contract workers, such as cafeteria staff and
janitors, to a minimum of $ 15 per hour amid rising tension over the
wage gap between the technology sector’s elite and the lower-paid
workers.
Contractors will also receive a minimum of 15 days of
paid vacation days and a $ 4,000 new child benefit for parents who do
not receive parental leave, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said
in a Wednesday post on Facebook.
“Taking these steps is the right thing to do for our business and our community,” Sandberg wrote.
Facebook
implemented the wage increase for some workers at its Menlo Park
headquarters as of May 1. It will work to expand the policy within the
year to its substantial vendors, who have more than 25 employees and are
based in the United States, she said.
The company declined to say
how many contract workers it employs or name any of its vendors. It
initially had planned to announce the change on May 1, when Sandberg’s
husband, SurveyMonkey CEO Dave Goldberg, died unexpectedly during an
exercise accident.
As debates rage in Congress and state
legislatures over whether to raise minimum wages and help mitigate a
growing income gap, several corporations have taken steps to improve
compensation for service workers, including Walmart, Costco
<COST.O> and Starbucks <SBUX.O>.
Facebook’s announcement drew praise from the White House, unions and family groups.
“Corporate
America is beginning to step forward to adopt these policies – in
Facebook’s case, by saying the company won’t be party to poverty wages
and practices that force workers to choose between job and family,”
Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and
Families, said in a statement.
Silicon Valley has come under
increasing pressure to close the income gap given California’s high cost
of living, the sixth most expensive in the country in 2014, according
to data from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center.
Google
<GOOGL.O> took similar steps last year when it raised the minimum
pay to $ 15 per hour for its service workers, including bus drivers,
parking attendants, security guards and cafe workers in Northern
California offices. It also expanded health care coverage to all service
workers on U.S. Google campuses.
(Editing by Dina Kyriakidou and David Gregorio)
Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
SRN News » Business
No comments:
Post a Comment