# NYT: At WeWork, an Idealistic Start-Up Clashes With Its Cleaners

**URL:** <https://forum.coworking.org/t/nyt-at-wework-an-idealistic-start-up-clashes-with-its-cleaners/5635>\
**Category:** Messy Stuff\
**Created:** [September 14, 2015, 11:15pm UTC](https://forum.coworking.org/t/nyt-at-wework-an-idealistic-start-up-clashes-with-its-cleaners/5635 "2015-09-14T23:15:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Leif\_Utne](https://forum.coworking.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/l/97f17d/32.png) [@Leif\_Utne](https://forum.coworking.org/u/Leif_Utne)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 11:15pm UTC](https://forum.coworking.org/t/nyt-at-wework-an-idealistic-start-up-clashes-with-its-cleaners/5635/1 "2015-09-14T23:15:07Z")

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In case you missed this piece in Sunday’s NYT, despite the communitarian ethos of the sharing economy, coworking is not immune to labor disputes, especially when practiced as a big business, a la WeWork (52 spaces in 16 cities). I’m sympathetic to both sides of this dispute, though I tend to favor the cleaners over WeWork’s owners, with their $10 Billion valuation (you read that right). I like the way WeWork responded, hiring many of the out-of-work cleaners from its former contractor, and paying them $15-18/hr + healthcare. But it’s complicated.

I’m curious to hear others’ opinions, and whether any other coworking companies – whether chains or single-location shops – have had labor troubles, and how you/they have handled them.

Discuss.

-Leif

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> Leif Utne
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