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YouTube Music layoffs: Watch moment employee finds out his team was fired over…
YouTube Music layoffs: The contractors were employed by Google as well as its subcontractor Cognizant.
A team of YouTube Music which included 43 contractors were ousted from their jobs after they asked for better pay and benefits, it was reported. The contractors were employed by Google as well as its subcontractor Cognizant but Google said that it wasn't responsible for the layoffs. In a video which has been widely shared on social media, YouTube data analyst Jack Benedict was seen pushing Austin City Council to support his union's negotiations with Google.
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During his address, he was informed that his 43-person team including himself had been laid off. Jack Benedict told The Washington Post that he was “speechless, shocked and didn’t know what to do” but most importantly, he felt “anger" as the workers asserted that they had been shown the door following their advocacy and made an example of in order to ensure that more employees don't make similar demands. As per the report, the workers also said that they had not received any prior notice about their layoffs.
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Meanwhile, a Google spokesperson said in an email statement to The Verge, “Contracts with our suppliers across the country routinely end on their natural expiry date” while Cognizant said that their contract ended “naturally” and layoffs were a part of their business operations. The employees who have been fired will be given seven weeks of paid time to explore other roles within the company, it said.
This comes after YouTube Music contract workers had voted to unionise last year, demanding better pay and benefits. Workers also sought flexible return-to-office policies but Google had then refused to negotiate with the contract workers since they were “not Google employees.”
