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TFA is absolutely worthless. Better one here: https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/9/24/20880727/google-workers-unionized-contractors-hcl-tech-activism https://www.

TFA is absolutely worthless. Better one here: https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/9/24/20880727/google-workers-unionized-contractors-hcl-tech-activism https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/9/24/20880727/google-workers... > These 80 employees who work as analysts and trainers for Google’s shopping product To me, this sounds like low skilled labor. > Most of the employees organizing hold college degrees, get paid as little as $40,000 a year, and don’t receive sick days or many of the other perks that direct Google employees get. "perks that direct Google employees get" is irrelevant at best. The first COL calculator I found (ie, first google hit, let's assume google didn't suddenly game this result) says pittsburgh is 1/3 the cost of SF. $40k = $120k. This is not bad at all (?) for such low skilled labor, if the "COL curve" is linear down to $40k. Also, they say "as little as", so we know that's the floor, not the median. (Shame on the editor for presenting it that way.) The lack of sick days isn't that bad if the employees have health benefits and are not penalized for sick time off. (Just take away 1-2 weeks of salary -- the typical amount of sick days one would get.) However, if they don't have sick days, I have doubts about the quality of their health benefits and maybe they don't even have 401k?

sdinsn 7y ago
Using Nerdwallet's COL calculator, 40k in Pittsburgh is roughly 78k in SF. The HUD defined the lower income limit in SF to be 82k.
bluGill 7y ago
COL is a terrible indicator. 1/3rd COL isn't really 1/3rd. If you have a large family the requirement of a large house/apartment will make your cost of living much worse in SF than 3x - while if you sleep in your car and cook on a camp stove your COL is the nearly the same in both places (car registration might be slightly more in CA). Both are extreme cases, but they get the point across. While I would expect a somewhat lower salary outside of SF, it wouldn't be 1/3.
- jiveturkey 7y ago
  > If you have a large family the requirement of a large house/apartment Thanks. That's why I qualified that bit by noting that the COL curve may not be linear. Due to regressive taxes, housing minimum, etc. But without hearing from folks actually in pittsburgh, it's hard for me, sitting here in SV, to know how good or bad $40k is. But the relativity to SF isn't the most important part anyway. If the pay is below market, shouldn't HCL quickly find themselves without employees?
  - cfallin 7y ago
    I lived in Pittsburgh for 8 years. It was eminently livable as a single grad student on a ~$30k stipend, but I wouldn't want to raise a family on that or thereabouts. Also, apartments may be cheaper but COL is an average over the whole metro area, and decent apartments or houses in a neighborhood you'd want to live in are a bit more. (Say $1000/mo for a nice 1-bed, or $300k for a decent house.) Keep in mind that cars, electronics, health insurance, and myriad other consumer goods aren't cheaper just because the city COL is cheaper. I'd probably want to make $60k or so to actually be comfortable and put some money away (edit: as a single person, and more than that with a family). (Fortunately, software engineers in Pittsburgh generally make quite a bit more than this, from what I've heard.)
  - bluGill 7y ago
    I'm not clear on what these people were doing. $40k is probably more than you can make in fast food in SV. I would expect any programming job in the US would start at (just out of college) 60-70k, with quick raises to around 100k - if you are not making that much you can find a different job or work from home to pay that. Based on that (and other comments here) I'm guessing the people involved are not programmers and so not worth as much.

sdinsn 7y ago

Using Nerdwallet's COL calculator, 40k in Pittsburgh is roughly 78k in SF. The HUD defined the lower income limit in SF to be 82k.

bluGill 7y ago

COL is a terrible indicator. 1/3rd COL isn't really 1/3rd. If you have a large family the requirement of a large house/apartment will make your cost of living much worse in SF than 3x - while if you sleep in your car and cook on a camp stove your COL is the nearly the same in both places (car registration might be slightly more in CA). Both are extreme cases, but they get the point across. While I would expect a somewhat lower salary outside of SF, it wouldn't be 1/3.

jiveturkey 7y ago
> If you have a large family the requirement of a large house/apartment Thanks. That's why I qualified that bit by noting that the COL curve may not be linear. Due to regressive taxes, housing minimum, etc. But without hearing from folks actually in pittsburgh, it's hard for me, sitting here in SV, to know how good or bad $40k is. But the relativity to SF isn't the most important part anyway. If the pay is below market, shouldn't HCL quickly find themselves without employees?
- cfallin 7y ago
  I lived in Pittsburgh for 8 years. It was eminently livable as a single grad student on a ~$30k stipend, but I wouldn't want to raise a family on that or thereabouts. Also, apartments may be cheaper but COL is an average over the whole metro area, and decent apartments or houses in a neighborhood you'd want to live in are a bit more. (Say $1000/mo for a nice 1-bed, or $300k for a decent house.) Keep in mind that cars, electronics, health insurance, and myriad other consumer goods aren't cheaper just because the city COL is cheaper. I'd probably want to make $60k or so to actually be comfortable and put some money away (edit: as a single person, and more than that with a family). (Fortunately, software engineers in Pittsburgh generally make quite a bit more than this, from what I've heard.)
- bluGill 7y ago
  I'm not clear on what these people were doing. $40k is probably more than you can make in fast food in SV. I would expect any programming job in the US would start at (just out of college) 60-70k, with quick raises to around 100k - if you are not making that much you can find a different job or work from home to pay that. Based on that (and other comments here) I'm guessing the people involved are not programmers and so not worth as much.