Workers marched from a modest red-brick office on a residential Dublin street to the gleaming campus of Meta’s European headquarters. They beat drums. They blew whistles. They chanted. “We trained the bots. We did the grind. Now we’re being left behind.”
The date was May 29, 2026. More than 150 contract workers employed by Covalen, an outsourcing firm that performs content moderation and data labeling for the social media giant, gathered to protest impending layoffs. Signs waved. Traffic slowed. Onlookers stopped to watch. Some even applauded. Yet the security guards at Meta’s gates stood firm, arms crossed.
This wasn’t the first time. Strikes had already hit Covalen’s offices on May 15 and May 22. Further action loomed. The dispute stretches back months, with roots in earlier cuts from November 2025. But the scale this spring shocked many. Covalen told staff and the Irish government that around 720 jobs tied to Meta projects faced redundancy. The Journal first detailed the workers’ vote to strike after that announcement.
Covalen, owned by CPL Resources, supplies essential but often invisible labor. Employees annotate data to train Meta’s AI models. They review material generated by those models for illicit content. They craft prompts designed to test and bypass safety guardrails. The work is grueling. One former employee, Nick Bennett, described days spent “pretending to be suicidal or a pedophile” to improve the systems. (WIRED)
Now those same workers face the end of their roles by late June. Many will receive nothing. Irish law requires two years of service for statutory redundancy payments of two weeks’ pay per year of employment. More than half the affected staff fall short of that threshold. The rest get the legal minimum. Union leaders call it crumbs.
“We’re just getting the crumbs here,” said Aadel Obaid, a Covalen team manager facing layoff. “Give us a little bit of the pie.” He spoke to reporters outside the protest. (WIRED)
The contrast with Meta’s own staff cuts could not be starker. In April the company announced plans to shed about 8,000 roles globally, or 10 percent of its workforce. Full-time employees reportedly stand to receive four months’ pay plus two weeks for every year served. Covalen workers get far less. And they aren’t even Meta employees. “These workers exist in a situation where they’re constantly using Meta tools, they’re on Meta platforms,” noted John Bohan, a CWU organizer. “But they’re denied all the privileges and benefits of Meta staff.” (WIRED)
Meta itself is shifting strategy. The company told WIRED it would reduce reliance on third-party vendors and strengthen internal systems. A spokesperson, Erica Sackin, emphasized that the protesters were not Meta employees and that staffing decisions belonged to Covalen. In March the company had already signaled it would lean more heavily on advanced AI for content moderation, reducing the need for human suppliers. RTÉ reported those details alongside the first strike.
Union demands go beyond pay. The Communications Workers’ Union, or CWU, wants recognition for collective bargaining. It seeks double the current severance offer. It also calls for an end to a six-month cooldown period that bars laid-off Covalen staff from taking jobs with other Meta contractors. Amine Mouhouvi emigrated from France for a data annotation role only to learn he would be laid off a month later. The cooldown, he said, “is virtually forcing me to be unemployed for six months. If you’re not going to give us benefits, at least let us work.” (WIRED)
Workers who still have jobs joined the pickets in solidarity. Owen O’Reilly, a content moderator whose position is safe for now, called the situation infuriating. “It makes us feel as if we really have no worth.” He spoke during the May 15 strike. (The Irish Times)
Covalen has moved some affected staff into other roles. Yet the bulk of the cuts remain. The firm’s headcount stands to drop by nearly half across the two rounds of layoffs. In a statement the company said it continues to consult proactively, follow legal processes, and offer access to an employee assistance program for wellbeing. It declined invitations to meet at the Workplace Relations Commission. That refusal drew sharp criticism.
“The fact that the company has simply declined more than one invitation to engage at the WRC shows how the procedures can be easily ignored and are therefore worthless,” said Ian McArdles, CWU deputy general secretary. (The Irish Times)
Seán McDonagh, CWU general secretary, went further. The current legislation, he argued, exposes a fundamental flaw. The phrase “with a view to agreement” creates no real obligation when a union lacks recognition. Management holds an effective veto. “The result is stark: a hugely profitable company offering only statutory payments that leave workers with less than two years’ service with nothing.” (The Irish Times and RTÉ)
Fionnuala Ní Bhrógáin, CWU head of organising, tied the cuts to broader AI-driven change. “These workers carried out essential work for Meta every single day. Yet when their jobs are threatened and disappear, they are treated as somebody else’s problem.” Outsourced labor, she added, cannot keep serving as shock absorbers while corporations protect profits and government looks elsewhere. The union wants a review of Ireland’s collective redundancy rules and supports for a just transition. (The Journal)
Legal experts agree the deck is stacked. Michael Doherty, a labor law professor at Maynooth University, described Irish rules as leaving employers with wide latitude. “The big weakness in Ireland is this utter inability even to get the employer to sit down. It’s pretty much open season.” He expressed skepticism that appeals to corporate morality would succeed. “Call me cynical, but I don’t believe much in morals when it comes to labor rights.” (WIRED)
Tulio Dias de Assis, a quality analyst representing affected workers, remained resolute. “We’re here because it’s the right thing to do. We still want to prove our point, so that Meta is aware of what’s going on.” (WIRED)
The protests have drawn political attention. Lawmakers from various parties have met with workers outside the Dáil. Some voiced concern that Ireland’s economic reliance on tech multinationals leaves outsourced staff exposed when restructuring hits. Recent RTÉ coverage captured the latest march to Meta’s headquarters, underscoring how the dispute refuses to fade.
This episode reveals tensions at the heart of the AI transition. Companies celebrate efficiency gains and record profits. Meta posted strong quarterly results even as it cut staff. Meanwhile the humans who trained the systems, scrubbed toxic material from feeds, and endured psychological strain find themselves expendable. Their replacements are the very models they helped build.
Escalating action is planned. The CWU has signaled more strikes in coming weeks. Workers demand not just better pay but recognition that their contribution mattered. They want the cooldown lifted so they can seek similar work rather than face months of forced idleness. They seek acknowledgment that two-tier treatment of direct employees and contractors cannot continue.
So far Covalen and Meta show little sign of yielding. Irish law offers limited leverage for unions without voluntary recognition. The government points to existing dispute mechanisms but has not intervened directly. And yet the chants echoed through Dublin streets on a warm spring afternoon. “We scrub the feed. We take the pain. Meta profits from our strain.”
The message was clear. Contractors who powered Meta’s AI ambitions refuse to disappear quietly. Whether their stand forces change remains uncertain. But the images of drums and vuvuzelas outside one of tech’s most powerful companies will linger. The grind that built today’s models may be ending. The fight over what comes next has only begun.
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