A decision by about 500 cafeteria workers at Facebook's Menlo Park campus to unionize led the Guardian to do this piece profiling a husband and wife who work in the cafeteria and are currently living in a garage with no running water with their three children. Nicole and Victor, who do not give their last names, live in a two-car garage that belongs to Victor's parents, and they've lived their with their kids for the past three years.
They are technically employees of Facebook's food service contractor, Flagship Facility Services, and they say they make decent hourly wages Nicole makes $19.85 per hour as a shift lead, and Victor makes $17.85 per hour.
Says Victor to the Guardian, "Back in the day, [that hourly wage] would have been a great number. But because of Facebook moving in [to Menlo Park], everything is so expensive. I have to get payday loans sometimes. We barely make it."
Nicole says she feels uncomfortable at Facebook and like she's looked down upon. "They look at us like we’re lower, like we don’t matter," she tells the Guardian. "We don’t live the dream. The techies are living the dream. It's for them."
Nicole also notes that the company recently held a bring-your-kids-to-work day, but cafeteria workers' children weren't invited.
A spokesperson for Facebook responded to this in the Guardian saying that none of the company's contractors participate in bring-your-kids-to-work days or have access to other company amenities like gyms, or the company medical clinic. The statement further said, "We are committed to providing a safe, fair, work environment to everyone who helps Facebook bring the world closer together, including contractors."
The couple hopes that by unionizing, which neither Facebook nor their employer Flagship opposed, they may get higher wages and get to share in the company's wealth a bit more. "Our motivation is not to bash either company,” Nicole tells the Guardian. "It’s for our families. Why do we have to live like this, when the company we work for has the resources to make it better?"
As Business Insider reports, the union's business manager Enrique Fernandez is looking to negotiate some higher wages for the cafeteria staff, who by Facebook's own rules must all make a $15/hour minimum wage. "We are pleased that Facebook and Flagship have been cooperative partners in this organizing process," Fernandez said in a press release. "We look forward to sitting down to negotiate a contract that addresses some of the challenges workers are going through.”
Previously: Facebook Now Officially Used Monthly By More Than One Quarter Of Earth's Population