The San Francisco Bay Area's KCBS radio ran a story last week contrasting Silicon Valley's "unimaginable riches" with its "heartbreaking poverty."
"Half of the kids in our schools are either receiving free or reduced lunches," Meghan Fraley, of the Mountain View-based social justice group Politically Inspired Action, told KCBS.
Gail Nyhan, also of Politically Inspired Action, pointed out that "these are the children of the people who feed and clean and clothe all these dot-com millionaires." Mountain View, of course, is also home to Google.
The report then interviews Silicon Valley security officer Michael Johnson. "I get by by the grace of God," Johnson says. "I have a lot of friends that will give me food during the week, so that saves me a lot of money on dinner."
Something is desperately the matter with Silicon Valley. Tens of thousands of people are being shut out of the prosperity that they are helping to create.
That's why Michael Johnson and 5,000 security officers--all subcontracted to protect people and property at wealthy corporate facilities--are coming together to form a union. They hope to win good, full-time, stable jobs for their communities, the ones that are somehow struggling to get through Silicon Valley's unbelievably prosperous times.
The tech companies' response to KCBS? "Technically, the guards are not our employees."
Tech companies, here's what's happening in your own backyard: • Food stamp participation is rising--hitting a 10-year high. • Homelessness is soaring-- up 20 percent in two years. • Poverty is skyrocketing--with the share of households paid less than $35,000 rising two percentage points, to 20 percent.
These are serious questions. "They are not our employees" is not a serious answer.