The treatment of contract workers, who became the majority of Alphabet's global workforce in 2018, has been a flashpoint for activism at the company and a major focus for the AWU, part of the Communications Workers of America.The latest complaint names Alphabet as a "joint employer" of the subcontracted staff, meaning it exercises enough control over working conditions to be legally liable for the employees' treatment.Google contract worker Laura Greene learned about the spreadsheet in July from the AWU and quickly shared the link with co-workers on her team, who had previously had some success securing raises after informally comparing their pay with each other, she said in an interview.Last month, it asked the labor board to hold a unionization vote among a group of subcontracted YouTube Music workers and to deem Alphabet as a joint employer in that case.Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC."