this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2023
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I want to, but I can't shake off the feeling that Google does have a point here: it's like requiring Amazon to bargain with DHL's drivers. It's kind of not their issue: they pay DHL for their services and DHL commissions their employees to do particular tasks.
Yes, I think that's the reasonable argument Google's lawyers and PR will use - but your example kind of demonstrates why that argument falls flat. The service DHL is providing to Amazon is logistics and shipping. This is an established, well-regulated industry all its own.
Meanwhile, at Google, this contractor's services are listed in the article:
That sounds an awful lot like running the service to me. These employees perform key YouTube-specific work on an ongoing basis. For all intents and purposes, they work for Google, in Google's offices, on Google's systems, but their paycheck comes from Cognizant. The services being rendered aren't on the level of "you make the widget and we'll transport it to stores around the country because we're a shipping company". This is more like "we employ people for you, but provide a flimsy air gap so you don't have to treat them like actual employees. We sell legally plausible deniability as a service."
this could really mean anything from running the entire service to merely scraping lyrics. and since it's a group of 49 people, I wanna say it's probably something along the lines of the latter. but yeah, your point in general stands.
Absolutely fair. But as one of those IT dudes who used to be a contractor but now work for the same megacorp I was contracting for - I wouldn't bet on it being super menial stuff. I love my job and my employer, but it's very well understood that the agencies are essentially a cover for some fairly serious labor law violations.
according to Times, Cognizant workers in Dublin were previously contracted for verifying business listings in Google Maps. this is far from "running the service" I'm afraid