Prolétariat chez #Google - ANDREW NORMAN WILSON
http://www.andrewnormanwilson.com/portfolios/70411-workers-leaving-the-googleplex
a fourth class exists at Google that involves strictly data-entry labor, or more appropriately, the labor of digitizing. These workers are identifiable by their yellow badges, and they go by the team name ScanOps. They scan books, page by page, for Google Book Search. The workers wearing yellow badges are not allowed any of the privileges that I was allowed – ride the Google bikes, take the Google luxury limo shuttles home, eat free gourmet Google meals, attend Authors@Google talks and receive free, signed copies of the author’s books, or set foot anywhere else on campus except for the building they work in. They also are not given backpacks, mobile devices, thumb drives, or any chance for social interaction with any other Google employees. Most Google employees don’t know about the yellow badge class. Their building, 3.14159~, was next to mine, and I used to see them leave everyday at precisely 2:15 PM, like a bell just rang, telling the workers to leave the factory. Their shift starts at 4 am.
I found this social arrangement interesting, and at a certain point I decided to investigate the rationale behind Google’s decision to exclude the yellow badge class from most privileges the company has to offer, despite the fact that their labor takes place in a Google building with a Google sign out front and are being contracted to Google by another company just like my team, and just like other informational laborers, the kitchen staff, the shuttle drivers, the custodians, and more.
#travail via @karlpro
