Google eliminates minimum wage and benefits rules for suppliers and staffing agencies
ExpandingWritten by Daniel Wisner
(Reuters) – Alphabet Inc.’s Google said on Friday it would eliminate requirements for U.S. suppliers and staffing companies to pay workers at least $15 an hour and provide health insurance and other benefits. This could allow tech giants to avoid negotiations with unions. .
A spokesperson for Mountain View, Calif.-based Google said the repeal of the 2019 policy, along with other measures such as restricting access to internal systems by temporary workers and vendors, will be implemented in the United States related to contingent workers. and is designed to comply with changes in global labor regulations, he told Reuters.
“These updates bring us in line with other large companies and only make clear that Google is not, and has never been, an employer of our supplier employees.” said the spokesperson.
The announcement comes after the U.S. Labor Relations Board ruled in January that Google is a so-called “joint employer” of workers provided by staffing firm Cognizant Technology Solutions and must negotiate with labor unions. It was done after the lowering. Google is appealing this decision.
The board said it relied in part on the 2019 policy, which allows Google to manage its employees even though it does not directly employ them.
Last year, the Labor Relations Commission made it more difficult for companies to avoid negotiations with temporary and contract workers, including by adopting a rule that says companies that indirectly control working conditions can be considered employers of contract workers. We are moving towards making things more difficult. A federal judge blocked the rule from taking effect in March.
A Google spokesperson said Friday that the company will continue to enforce its Supplier Code of Conduct, which requires vendors and staffing agencies to provide safe working conditions and meet existing legal obligations.
Most of the company’s suppliers operate in states that require a minimum wage of $15 or higher, a spokesperson said.
(Reporting by Daniel Wisner in Albany, New York; Editing by Louise Heavens)
