https://en.sputniknews.africa/20230501/kenyan-content-moderators-form-labor-union-to-address-rights-violations-1058974784.html
Kenyan Content Moderators Form Labor Union to Address Rights Violations
Kenyan Content Moderators Form Labor Union to Address Rights Violations
Sputnik Africa
Kenyan moderators working for Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Chat GPT have joined their efforts by organizing a labour union in order to urge their employers to improve working conditions, local media has reported.
2023-05-01T19:08+0200
2023-05-01T19:08+0200
2023-05-01T19:08+0200
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Kenyan moderators working for Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and ChatGPT have joined efforts by organizing a labor union in order to urge employers to improve working conditions, local media has reported. About 200 content moderators from Sama and Majorel, subcontractors of the above-mentioned companies, held a meeting in Nairobi. They gathered on Labor Day to vote to create a union to address issues they are facing on a daily basis as workers of big tech enterprises, including mistreatment, discrimination, low payments, unfair and unjustified layoffs, and union-busting. It is not the first time the employees tried to organize a union. In 2019, Nairobi-based workers from Sama, the largest outsourcing partner of Meta in Africa, attempted to unionize in order to jointly demand better working conditions and higher salaries.According to Daniel Motaung, a former content moderator who was sacked following the attempt to form a union, content moderation is experiencing a serious crisis, while the employees "are paying for it with their lives."In May last year, he filed a lawsuit accusing Meta and Sama of union busting, wage theft, racial discrimination, psychological torture, unequal pay for equal work, human trafficking, and other offenses.* Meta and Facebook are banned in Russia over extremist activities
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east africa, kenya, labour union, acebook, youtube, tiktok and chat gpt, content moderators, right violations
east africa, kenya, labour union, acebook, youtube, tiktok and chat gpt, content moderators, right violations
Kenyan Content Moderators Form Labor Union to Address Rights Violations
The establishment of the labor union comes amid rising public and worker outrage over activities of certain technology companies in African countries and in particular in Kenya. Earlier this year, 184 Facebook* content moderators sacked in January filed a lawsuit against the parent company Meta* for unfair dismissal.
Kenyan moderators working for Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and ChatGPT have joined efforts by organizing a labor union in order to urge employers to improve working conditions, local media has reported.
About 200 content moderators from Sama and Majorel, subcontractors of the above-mentioned companies, held a meeting
in Nairobi. They gathered on Labor Day to vote to create a union to address issues they are facing on a daily basis as workers of big tech enterprises, including mistreatment, discrimination, low payments, unfair and unjustified layoffs, and union-busting.
It is not the first time the employees tried to organize a union. In 2019, Nairobi-based workers from Sama, the largest outsourcing partner of Meta in Africa, attempted to unionize in order to jointly demand better working conditions and higher salaries.
According to Daniel Motaung, a former content moderator who was sacked following the attempt to form a union, content moderation is experiencing a serious crisis, while the employees "are paying for it with their lives."
"They serve as the first line of defense against harmful content, yet they face hazardous work conditions without hazard pay. Mental health support is severely lacking, job security is scarce, and some moderators feel silenced by strict non-disclosure agreements," he said, as cited by local media.
In May last year, he filed a lawsuit accusing Meta and Sama of union busting, wage theft, racial discrimination, psychological torture, unequal pay for equal work, human trafficking, and other offenses.
* Meta and Facebook are banned in Russia over extremist activities
