Facebook pushes to improve pay for contractors

New York - Facebook is pushing for higher pay and improved benefits for the janitors, cooks and other workers who support its employees.

The world's largest online social network says it is implementing a set of new standards for its US-based contractors who do a "substantial amount of work" with Facebook.

Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, announced the changes in a blog post late on Tuesday.

The new standards include a minimum wage of $15 an hour, at least 15 paid days off, and for those who don't receive paid parental leave, a $4 000 "new child benefit" for new parents.

Facebook had originally planned to announce the changes last Monday, as the standards are already in place for some teams. The announcement was delayed following the sudden death of Sandberg's husband, David Goldberg.