Google cafeteria employees, many of whom are contractors, have unionized by the thousands during the pandemic.

Google is well-known for its long list of company perks employees enjoy, not the least of which is its free cafeterias. Unfortunately, the individuals responsible for cooking and serving the food in those cafeterias are mostly contractors that don’t enjoy the same benefits. As a result, thousands of them joined unions during the pandemic, according to a report by The Washington Post.

Many of the contractors are employed by companies Compass and Guckenheimer. Union Unite Here has been targeting Silicon Valley companies and estimates some 90% of Google’s food service workers are unionized. The organization is now turning its attention to Google’s Atlanta offices, where the food service personnel are employed by Sodexo.

Although unions often have a tough sell in the South, Sodexo and Unite Here reached an agreement that Sodexo will not object if a majority of its employees want to join.

“We are hopeful that we can quickly reach an agreement on a union contract that will bring these workers up to the same good standard enjoyed by union food workers at other Google cafeterias nationwide,” said D. Taylor, the president of Unite Here.

Unite Here is specifically targeting tech companies because of the disparity between how their own workers are treated and how contractors sometimes are. The issue becomes worse as tech companies’ presence in new areas grows, driving up the cost of living. For contractor workers without the pay and benefits of full-time employees, the rising costs can quickly become untenable.

“We wanted to focus in on the tech companies because they clearly have been very beneficial to certain workers,” Taylor said. “We didn’t think that should be confined to white collar workers.”