I'm not here to give too much of a wet-kiss to Facebook, which, to my way of thinking, plays a misleading game about its "social networking" process (i.e., its algorithm requires that you basically have to buy ads to actually move content to your own "Friends"). That said, today, at least it gets credit for pushing at least some pay standards higher--and showing, yet again, how Democrats are pathetically behind the energy in the streets on pay.
Facebook will now require a higher wage for many of its contracted workers--$15-an-hour:
The social network announced plans Wednesday to require its U.S. contractors and vendors to pay their employees at least $15 an hour and offer paid time off for sick days and vacation.
Facebook will also require contractors to offer a $4,000 "child benefit" for workers that don't already get parental leave.
The move comes amid a growing push to raise the minimum wage, with fast-food workers and others in low-wage jobs calling for at least $15 an hour.
"Taking these steps is the right thing to do for our business and our community," Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, wrote in a blog post.
Sandberg, an outspoken advocate for women in the workforce, said the changes are particularly important for women, since they make up the bulk of minimum-wage workers nationwide. She added that providing benefits contributes to "a happier and ultimately more productive workforce."
By contrast, the Democratic Party, and the White House, started its own "progressive" legislation on a federal minimum wage at a pathetic $10.10-an-hour, and only upped the offer to
$12-an-hour recently--largely, in my view, because the energy in the streets around The Fight For 15 showed where the debate should be.
I have argued for a long time that, just based on economics,the minimum wage should be $20-an-hour, and that the $10.10-an-hour was a really bad idea, on economics and politics. That seemed high to a lot of people when politicians and bloggers were pimping for a poverty-level $10.10-an-hour.
Maybe Facebook will actually start a trend--a good one that goes beyond people staring at their phones for hours on end.