• Bloomberg Businessweek: Microsoft Bug Testers Unionized. Then They Were Dismissed

    Posted on August 23, 2018 at 07:14 CDT by • Comment in the Forums

    A truly damning indictment of the tech contract labor scene.

    Definitely a must-read.

    Josh Eidelson and Hassan Kanu at Bloomberg Businessweek.

    Four years ago, Boucher says, he hoped to force Microsoft to improve working conditions for the Lionbridge temps, who were testing apps at a Microsoft office in Washington state. In 2015, after the union was formed, Microsoft began requiring Lionbridge and other contractors to provide workers with at least three weeks of annual paid time off. But the union’s negotiations with Lionbridge broke down, and in 2016 the contractor told Boucher and his colleagues it planned to lay off some of them in response to reduced demand from Microsoft.

    Counterpoint: The bug testers may have been involved exclusively with Windows Store apps:

    Throughout the proceedings, Microsoft maintained it had no involvement in the decision, and that it could be explained innocently enough. The number of apps in its Windows Store had dwindled to 13 percent of the 1.1 million offered in 2014, the company said, and it needed less bug testing from Lionbridge

    Guess we’ll find out soon enough.

    Thx @SimonZerafa

    Windows Patches/Security
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