It's an even more tenuous position than full-time employee and frankly I think it's good that contract workers were laid off ahead of any full time workers. I'm not sure why some people are trying to frame this as bad or immoral. It's the entire point of contract workers and you know that coming in as a contract worker. It's disappointing but that's the reality of the situation.
contractors should not expect long-term employment unless they have a contract that specifies that.
The other day I saw a position to work at Google as a contractor. It said undetermined duration.
>According to one estimate from the nonprofit think tank Economic Policy Institute, reported and unreported wage theft could amount to as much as $50 billion per year owed to workers. > >That number dwarfs criminal offenses such as robbery, which accounted for just under $500 million in losses in 2019, according to FBI data. Burglary accounted for about $3 billion in losses that same year, and motor vehicle theft made up about $6 billion.
is time theft a $50 billion problem?
Does this still fall in the domain of independent contractor misclassification?
They sometimes have a choice between unemployment, true.
Discuss.
The system is basically a middle finger to the bottom 50% of the country — by increasing poverty, by accentuating the consequences of poverty, and impeding the upward mobility of people in poverty.
If they are looking for a permanent position, they should find a job with a permanent position. If those jobs aren't available or they aren't qualified for them... are you saying they deserve a permanent position anyway?
>You are lying and putting words in my mouth.
Ok, lets just use your own words to work through this.
>they should accept this reality.
How about "I took offense to his line of reasoning that contract workers should just accept this reality."
Is that better for you?
You're also entirely missing the nuance of this conversation wherein a system exists for Apple to exploit a labor force and avoid the extra costs associated with fulltime employment (healthcare, benefits, etc). In your worldview, this is entirely reasonable and the trillion dollar company exploiting these workers is entirely above reproach. It is in fact the fault of the employees for either being too shortsighted with their contract employment or just not good enough to qualify for things like healthcare.
See why that might come across as gross to someone?
Yes, this is better. They need to accept their reality. They can't accept a temporary job and they cry when their temporary job gets cancelled. It's the reality of their situation. They shouldn't be happy about it in the same way that coal miners shouldn't be happy about working in a coal mine, but sometimes that's just how life works out.
> a system exists for Apple to exploit a labor force
I completely disagree they are being exploited. Some jobs are permanent and some jobs are temporary. That's reality. Do you expect waiters and cab drivers to be full time employees as well? Should M&A consultants working on a project be made permanent employees as well? Should football players be permanent employees? I certainly don't.
Exploit (Oxford def.): "make full use of and derive benefit from (a resource)." Contractor (Oxford def.): "a person or company that undertakes a contract to provide materials or labor to perform a service or do a job"
Did Apple mislead these people into thinking their contracts were indefinite or not potentially bound by some end date? Did Apple retract guaranteed equity in the company?
This is literally what the contractor market is for: provide resources in increasing and decreasing amount due to market demands.
I certainly sympathize for the long tenured full time tech employees getting laid off. I really sympathize with the fact that contractors tend to be non-native or immigrant demographics, or out-sourced to other countries. Maybe that's what you were talking about, but seems like an intentionally generaliezd critique of the contracting industry.
Regardless, are you saying that the company owes these people a permanent position?