The Rev. Jesse Jackson has written to Apple CEO Tim Cook to urge the company to create “world-class working conditions” for low-paid contractors like security guards, requesting a meeting with Cook to discuss the issue, reports the San Jose Mercury News.
The paper reports a growing debate about the widespread use of contract workers by tech companies for low-paid roles, contract staff having none of the protections or perks afforded to direct employees …
The contrast with often highly-paid tech employees is, says the paper, stark.
Contract workers […] do everything from driving shuttle buses to cooking in the cafeteria. But as the tech workers they serve are showered with eye-popping perks, service workers often struggle to make ends meet in the pricey Bay Area, advocates say.
Rev. Jackson has expressed concerns about the way in which Apple’s security guards are treated by contractors Security Industry Specialists. While SIS pays above-average wages for the work, guards say that unstable hours and high staff turnover make for a poor working environment.
Jackson praised Apple’s leadership on issues like gay rights and the environment, and said that ensuring equitable treatment of service workers was another issue where the company could set a high standard.
Part of the narrative of their firm is equitable and first-class leadership. As they grow at such a rapid pace, they should have world-class working conditions for their workers from the bottom up.
Google, which previously used the same contractors for its security guards, last month announced that it will in future employ its guards directly, giving them the same benefits as other Google employees.
Tim Cook tweeted earlier this month that Apple had achieved a 100% score on HRC’s Corporate Equality Index for the 13th year in a row. Apple issues an annual Supplier Responsibility Progress Report on working conditions among its supply-chain partners, but this focuses on contractors outside the US.
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read=unions
I’m not a big fan of unions but in some areas of employment unions are needed to help improve the lives of poorer workers. Without unions nothing will be done.
i totally agree. Union are not what most people make them out to be. My only concern here is the unions would probably be just as corrupt as the government in China. there would be no real winner in the end until there is real reform in China.
Also from what i have read wages in China have been going up. which in result some manufacturing has come back to the states. i think that would be the general result in most non-tech industry manufacturing as wages go up in China.
Jesse Jackson is nothing but a race peddling poverty pimp. Nothing he says should be taken seriously. Tim Cook should tell him to piss off.
Spoken like a true racist.
Don’t confuse racism with the truth.
I don’t Rev. Jackson. What I do know is he has spent his life speaking for those who would be otherwise ignored. Of course people like yourselves could care less about the poor.
I don’t know Rev. Jackson. What I do know is he has spent his life speaking for those who would be otherwise ignored. Of course people like yourselves could care less about the poor.
No, spoken like a capitalist! Nice job!
You don’t even know what that word means. Pathetic.
The sharks sure do know a good piece of meat when they smell it. First Icahn, now this caricature.
Jesse Jackson trying to remain relevant with any issue he can. Why doesn’t good ole Jesse give away some of his millions to the poor. not gonna happen.
Tim Cook would be wise not take the meeting.
Why doesn’t he meet with the contractors that Apple is hiring instead of Apple? Why do we treat Apple like all the worlds problems are their doing?
Apple is one of the rare companies that may actually listen to that headlines seeking politician… Walmart doesn’t care, contractors don’t care…
I can see why someone wanting to enact change at a company would go first to a powerless group of contract workers rather than a top executive who could actually implement those changes. Makes sense when you really think about it!
I don’t think he was talking about the contract workers themselves but rather the company that employs them. Apple, as the client, doesn’t really have a lot of control over the working conditions aside from threatening to go with another contract company if they don’t change. But I think the answer to Nate’s question is that no one knows or cares about the contract company whereas Apple is very visible, and that visibility makes them a target.
ACCESS DENIED. Jackson hasn’t done anything meaningful for the lower paid in decades. Cook should respectively decline.
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If he even partly succeeds in improving labor conditions for these contract workers, then he will have done something meaningful for the lower paid, so what’s the problem?
I doubt the labor conditions are an issue. There’s no risk of danger or sanitation so issues. This is about the amount they’re paid.
They earn a wage, not get a handout. Go becoming a tech worker as they call it and earn a better income. But don’t whine. The apple cafeteria isn’t a Chinese sweatshop.
Reading these comments is like accidentally turning on Fox News.
Note that it is possible to disagree with Jackson’s argument without resorting to racist attacks and bashing lower middle class folks. But that’s not easy to do when one is filled with hate, fear, and anger.
http://youtu.be/d9Bwn-g16LA