I work in Facebook and live in the garage: Silicon Valley weekdays

Employees Facebookliving in one of the most expensive places in California, want their boss Mark Zuckerberg to know about the problems of their employees. They are trying to make ends meet and live in the garage when he travels around the USA.

26-year-old Nicole and 29-year-old Victor work in cafeterias in Facebook, live in a two-car garage in Menlo Park, California. They have three children - girls aged nine and four, and an eight-year-old son. The family shares a garage with Victor's parents.

They often wonder if their main boss of the technology giant wants to visit them?

“He doesn’t need to travel around the world,” Nicole said in an interview with the publication The gurdian. “He needs to find out what’s going on here first.”

The family has lived in this close space next to Victor’s parents for three years. Three beds are by the back wall, and a sofa and coffee table are in the front of the room. Clothing neatly suspended on the "path" of the garage door.

If you need a bathroom or a kitchen, they knock on the neighbors, on the main house. “It’s not easy,” says Victor. “Especially when it rains.”

Nicole and Victor recently voted to join the union "Unite Here Local 19»With 500 other employees Facebookwho hope to find better living conditions for their families. Neither Facebooknor a food service contractor, Flagship Facility Services, did not oppose joining the union.

Work in the cafeteria Facebook is an enviable job in many ways. Nicole makes $19,85 an hour, while Victor makes $17,85—well above the minimum wage of $15 an hour.

But in a region where software engineers earn four times as much, the family cannot make ends meet. They earn too much to qualify for public health, but not enough to afford the health insurance offered by their employer.

They often have to seek money in order to feed and clothe their children. Recently, Viktor had to borrow money from his mother to please his daughter for his birthday, and borrowed from a friend for the services of a dentist.

From time to time the couple is nostalgic for the days when Facebook I have not had time to move to Menlo Park. Victor's father, when he was still a child, was able to buy a small house with the money he received for his work as a landscape designer.

Previously, Nicole and Victor earned about $12 an hour as managers at Chipotle and could afford their own apartment. “I felt more confident in my other job. We didn’t have people looking down on us,” Nicole said.

“They look at us like we’re inferior,” Nicole said. - We are not living a dream. Technicians are living the dream. This is for them."

At the end of each shift, Nicole sees how a large amount of food from the cafe is processed into compost. The food she is not allowed to take home. In addition, cafeteria workers cannot access clinics. Facebook. The company recently spent the day “Bring your children to work”, but the children of the workers in the cafes were not allowed to attend the event.

The representative Facebook reported that none of the cafeteria or contract workers has access to facilities such as clinics and gyms.

“We are committed to providing a safe and fair working environment for all who help Facebook bringing the world, including contractors, closer together,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.

Representative Flagship said he “expects positive and productive relations with the union.” The company declined to comment on campus policy Facebook.

“People think, oh, you work at Facebook, you make great money,” Victor said. “We’re not asking for millions,” he added. “I just want to not be afraid that I won’t be able to pay for the doctor.”

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