Google workers demand equal abortion benefits as state bans go into effect

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: CNBC

TECH

Google workers demand equal abortion benefits as state bans go into effect

PUBLISHED THU, AUG 18 2022 * 9:00 AM EDT * UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Jennifer Elias
@JENN_ELIAS
https://twitter.com/JENN_ELIAS

KEY POINTS
-- Google’s employee union sent management a petition requesting abortion care benefits be extended to contractors.
-- A data center technician said her coworkers are seeking sterilization options as their state’s abortion ban goes into effect.
-- The company in June announced benefits to employees but it only applied to a portion of its workforce.

Bambi Okugawa is a data center technician in one of Google’s data centers in a U.S. state with one of the strictest abortion bans in the nation: Tennessee. The state will ban abortions as early as six weeks, with no exceptions for rape or incest, on Aug. 25 due to a “trigger law.”

If needed, Okugawa, could get an out-of-state abortion and could even request a permanent transfer to a different Google office due to the health benefits she gets as a full-time Google employee. However, her colleagues — many of whom are contractors — don’t get those same options. ... “Some of my TVC coworkers are scared,” Okugawa told CNBC, referring to a Google term that stands for temps, vendors and contractors. “Some told me they have been seeking sterilization options because they know there won’t be access to abortions in the state.”

Okugawa is one of several hundred Google employees who have signed a petition sent to the company’s management this week asking that contractors get the same benefits in obtaining abortion and healthcare services after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

The letter, which is written by members of the Alphabet Workers Union-CWA, is addressed to Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Google chief people officer Fiona Cicconi, Bobby Dhanoa, who oversees Google’s “extended workforce,” and Google’s chief diversity officer Melonie Parker.

{snip}

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/18/google-workers-petition-management-for-equal-abortion-benefits.html

[FBaggins]

1. The problem is that they aren't really "Google workers"

They are working on Google projects (likely at a Google facility), but they work for some other company. Their pay and benefits come from that company, not Google.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Thanks for pointing out that distinction. NT