Google's 'raters' are pushing for $15 an hour

Part-time employees at RaterLabs, an artificial intelligence vendor whose only known client is Google, are campaigning to get the minimum wage increased.

According to Yahoo Finance, the quality raters who only evaluate the search and ad results for accuracy don't qualify for the benefits the company provides for its TVCs. The same year it was revealed that the majority of the workforce was not directly employed by the company, base pay was increased.

A number of RatersLabs employees believe that their work is so important to the company that they should be paid more than their peers. Christopher Colley told Yahoo Finance that he only earns $10 an hour and hasn't qualified for a raise over the five years he's worked at RaterLabs. The Communications Workers of America subgroup of the AWU-CWA is focused on organizing full-time and part-time workers of the company.

The raters work from home, use their own devices, can work for multiple companies at a time, and do not have access to the systems and badges of the company they work for.

Minimum 30-hour workweek is one of the hurdles that workers need to jump in order to get a pay boost. RaterLabs contractors are capped at only 26 hours.

RatersLabs profile describes low pay and an unclear feedback process, with one bad review potentially costing you the job. Guidelines can change the week before the review and you can begraded based on them despite doing the work the way before, according to a former RatersLab employee.

This isn't the first time that the raters have spoken out about low pay, no opportunities for advancement and subpar working conditions. Leapforce, a company that also hired raters for search and ad products, formed RatersLabs. At least three contractors were fired and two of them claimed their separations from the company were acts of retaliation, after Leapforce raters spoke out about chaotic working conditions. A number of Leapforce workers filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board which were eventually resolved. Leapforce was acquired by Appen in May of last year.