Silicon Valley is an area of contrasts. When you stop at a traffic light in Silicon Valley you will often find a Maserati or Tesla on one side of you and a beaten up, 15-year-old Accord on the other. It seems there are more high-end Mercedes, Jaguars, Bentleys or the occasional Maybach than in other areas.
Silicon Valley companies, many run by stock-billionaires, pay a lot at the top, and squat at the bottom. There are the lucky employees, and a huge number of “contractors” – employees who are not called employees. The employees that reach over a certain age are discarded.
There are not a lot of people in the space between Silicon Valley’s top and its bottom. One in three Silicon Valley workers cannot even afford to live anywhere within a one-hour drive. The regular three-bedroom house costs a million dollars and don’t even ask about the rents (starting at more than $2,000 a month for a one bedroom apartment), but on the streets in working-class neighborhoods there are so many cars parked that you can barely pass – because there are so many people and families crammed into the housing. And, of course, the traffic is terrible, but you have to use a car because public transportation is cut back due to tax-dodging by giant companies like those in Silicon Valley.
The blatant lack of diversity in Silicon Valley companies is a big part of the problem. At the top of these companies it’s disproportionately white males. At the bottom it’s mostly people of color. In fact, according to the report “Tech’s Diversity Problem: More Than Meets the Eye,” “Among the companies who have released data – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Yahoo, Google and eBay – the portion of their U.S.-based tech workers who were either Black or Latino ranged between 3 to 4 percent.”
Meanwhile 74 percent of grounds workers are Hispanic/Latino and 41 percent of security guards and 71 percent of janitors are Hispanic/Latino or Black.
Repeat: the portion of their U.S.-based tech workers who were either Black or Latino ranged between 3 to 4 percent, 74 percent of grounds workers are Hispanic/Latino, 71 percent of janitors are Hispanic/Latino or Black.
And, of course, the pay reflects this “occupational segregation.” The San Jose Mercury News reports that workers with high-skill jobs have a median income of $118,700. Workers holding low-skill jobs have a median income of $27,000. There is also a sharp gender divide. “For those with a bachelor’s degree, male workers in Silicon Valley have a median yearly income of $90,000 and female workers are at $56,000 – meaning male wages are 61 percent higher. For those with a graduate degree, male workers were at the $125,000 median income level, and female workers were at $83,000 – a 51 percent difference.”
Repeat: High-skill (tech, mostly white) jobs, median pay $118,700. Low-skill jobs (mostly not white) median pay $27,000. Men with undergraduate degrees get 61 percent more than women with the same degree, and 51 percent more with graduate degrees.
Silicon Valley Rising
In the midst of all this, a number of labor, faith and community groups have joined together to address income inequality, create affordable housing and urge corporate responsibility among tech companies. On Friday I attended the launch of the new coalition, called Silicon Valley Rising, which will engage in a comprehensive campaign to “raise wages, create affordable housing and build a tech economy that works for everyone.” From their website:
While tech companies make massive profits, the workers who keep them running smoothly have been left behind.
Silicon Valley Rising is here to fix that by raising wages, creating affordable housing, and growing our middle class.
The launch event took place at McDonnell Hall, Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church. As significant as this event was, the location of the event amplified its significance. Two blocks from the event I passed this sign:
McDonnell Hall, the building where the coalition launch event was held, is in line to become a national historic landmark.
Chavez met there with other members of the Community Service Organization in the 1950s and 1960s to plan voter registration drives, civil rights lawsuits and legislative campaigns. They also taught citizenship and literacy classes. He later employed those skills to organize the United Farm Workers union and the famous grape boycott that launched him to national prominence as a civil rights leader and advocate of nonviolent protest.
Read the full story HERE.
Dave Johnson is a freelance journalist, a contributor to Campaign for America’s Future, Huffington Post and other progressive blogs.
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