Report: Local Cat Jobs Being Outsourced at Alarming Rate

Labor activists say feline employment is declining at an accelerating rate due to outsourcing. A report out today from Cat Workers United tells the story of Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, NY where over 40% of the cat labor force has been laid off over the past five years.

“This stretch of Brighton Beach,” said Tom Fouts, communications director for CWU on a recent walking tour of the neighborhood, “was a thriving area for cats. Almost every business was cat-owned.”

But that all changed in the mid-2000s, when the recession hit the area particularly hard.

“You had these big landlords from Manhattan come in and buy up a lot of the property for a pittance, push out the cats who’d been here for years,” he said. “Now look at this block. Only a few cats still work here, and the rest of the jobs are outsourced to companies that bring in these cheap cat facsimiles.”

The group is pushing for a legislative package that would give incentives to local businesses for hiring more cats.

Via breakno.