Poverty in the Midst of Plenty

7/28/2019 Poverty in the Midst of Plenty

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This study focuses on the livesof Silicon Valley security officers

who play a vital role in protectingthe Valleys greatest assetsprospering tech giants, glitteringoffice buildings and cutting edge

biotechnology campuses. Yet, theseofficers struggle every day to makeends meet at home.

The story of these officers struggles is not that different

from the story of other low-wage workers and even middle-

class families throughout the region. Ultimately, we are all

being held back from prospering by a lack of cooperation

and collaboration between wealthy companies and the

communities where they are located. A just model for growth

must be developed in Silicon Valley to reduce incomeinequality and spur wider economic prosperity.

Silicon Valleys 3,000 security officers are coming together

to join SEIU, United Service Workers West to raise industry

standards and to transform part-time, sub-contracted work

into good jobs that support a family. Creating good jobs in

the regions security service industry could help stimulate the

local economy by bringing needed dollars into low-income

neighborhoods and struggling local businesses.

April 17, 2013 1 Prepared by SEIU United Service Workers West

THE SECURITY INDUSTRY AND RISING INCOME INEQUALITY IN SILICON VALLEY

I used to think I was the only one who

couldnt get enough hours to survive onflex-time, but then I learned others share

the same problem and realized its a

structural problem. The recession may be

over for people at the top, but for people

like me its still hard. I am a flex worker

which means I work whatever hours they

give me. I cant count on making enough

to live on, so I had to move in with my

mom. And because I am not full-time,

I dont have paid sick days or health

insurance. As a result I had to sign myfour-year old daughter up for Medi-Cal.

Manny Cardenas, Security OfficerSecurity Industry Specialists

Poverty In the Midst of PlentyThe Security Industry and Rising Income

Inequality in Silicon Valley

Poverty In the Midst of PlentyThe Security Industry and Rising Income

Inequality in Silicon Valley

United Service

Workers West

SEIU USWW, 1010 Ruff Drive, San Jose, CA 9511


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Silicon Valleys Remarkable Prosperity and Extreme Inequality

Silicon Valley is a powerful economic engine, home to

dozens of world famous companies such as: Apple,

which last year became the most valuable firm in corporate

history; and Google, a brand that has reshaped our everyday

lives and understanding of technology. Standing beside

these well-known companies are hundreds of other financial,

legal, technology, and other specialist firms, driving the

Valleys seemingly endless waves of innovation and prosperity.

Despite the Great Recession, Silicon Valley prospers. Gross

Domestic Product, the standard measure of the value of

goods and services, has steadily increased to a remarkable

$168 billion. And publicly traded companies headquartered

in Silicon Valley sit on a stunning $244 billion in cash.

Silicon Valley recently ranked second highest in concentrationof wealthy people with 16 percent of Santa Clara County

households make at least $191,000 each year, putting them

in the top 5 percent of income earners. All of the greater Bay

Area ranked high on the wealth concentration list, but whos

left out of the wealth equation?

As stocks soar and fortunes rise for the elite few, record

numbers of hard-working Silicon Valley residents slip into

poverty. According to the 2012 and 2013 Silicon Valley

Indices, reports issued by local business and philanthropic

interests, the gains experienced by the region are not

reaching all residents. Small businesses are clearly not out

of the rough; the public sector is still in the throes of a fiscal

crisis; and median household income continues to fall as the

gap between those suceeding and those struggling grows

wider and wider. Its as if were living in two valleys.

The 2013 Silicon Valley Index reported problems from the

previous year had deepened, including a large and growing

education deficit, rising high school drop-out rate and a

steady fall in average income for Hispanics ($19,000 a year)

and African Americans ($25,700 a year). It doesnt end there,

food stamp participation hit a 10-year high, median incomesfell throughout the region and homelessness rose 20 percent

over two years.

How can a region recently ranked as THE best economically

performing metro area in the United States by the Milken

Institute also suffer such growing disparity? And perhaps

more seminalwhat can we do to join the two valleys

back into one?

1980s 1990s 2000s19802000

1980s 1990s 2000s19802000



Source: Working Partnerships USA, Saving theMiddle Class: Lessons from Silicon Valley

Real GDP, Silicon Valley, 2001-2010(Billions of 2005 Dollars)

Source: PERE analysis of 1990 and 2000 Census data, and2010 ACS data, Dr. Chris Benner, U.C. Davis

Change in Percent Below Povertyin Silicon Valley 1980-2010

Source: PERE analysis of 1990 and 2000 Census dataand 2010 ACS data, Dr. Chris Benner, U.C. Davis

Change in Silicon Valley Income GapMeasured by the 80-20 household income ratio

2001 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 20

$180

$160

$140

$120

$100

$80

$117

4.3% 0.6%

39.3%

46.2%

5.7%

13.7%

25.9%

34.8%

$110 $112

$121

$130

$138

$149$152

$148

$16


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Security Officers in Silicon Valley

Private security is a growing industry globally. Private sector businesses, governments, universities, cultural and

other institutions of all kinds contract with private security firms to provide armed and unarmed officers for

protection. Some of these security contractors are reputable, and others are not, relying on cutting corners and

breaking the law to turn a profit.

Security officers and other lower-wage workers contribute to Silicon Valleys growing wealth and provide the

essential service of keeping people and property safe. But officers do not share in the ability to achieve better lives

for themselves and their families. The median hourly wage for a security officer in Silicon Valley is $14.89 an hour,

with many making $912 an hour. If full-time work is available, the mean annual wage officers earn is $32, 850.

However, full time work often isnt to be found and contracted officers interviewed at Apple and Google report

their employers keep them at reduced hours (ironically called flex-time) on purpose and avoid providing any

benefits such as paid sick leave or health insurance.

Even those who are offered full-time work, earn too little to make ends meet in Silicon Valley. According to the

Insight Center for Community Economic Development for a family of four, covering basic needs such as food, rent,

childcare and transportation comes to almost $90,000 a year. Median home prices alone rank at $550,000 a yearin Santa Clara County and $635,000 in San Mateothe two main counties encompassed in Silicon Valley. Rents

for the region average just under $2,000 for a two bedroom apartment.

Silicon Valley officers are coming together to win better pay and meaningful benefits. Raising industry standards

would greatly improve the lives of security officers and their families along with the well-being of communities

where Silicon Valleys working-class families live.

The Stand for Security Model Works

In cities across the country 40,000 officers have joined SEIU Stand for Security, winning guaranteed wage increases,

paid sick days, paid holidays and vacation days, employer paid health care and job security. Stand for Security

members work through a model of employer/employee partnership to raise wages in the industry market-wide

so no single employer is placed at an economic disadvantage.

The contrast between the working conditions of security officers in San Francisco and Silicon Valley is striking.

Union officers in San Francisco protect the prospering financial district as well as many technology companies. They

earn decent but modest salaries: an experienced office earns about $18.00 per hour. And most importantly they

and their families enjoy affordable healthcare benefits. Turnover is low and many officers have 10 or more years

experience in the industry.

Our union is growing in California and throughout the United States through partnership with workers from all

walks of life, religious and community leaders, elected officials and others to protect ourselves and our cities.

Drivers of Prosperity or Income Inequality?

Silicon Valleys economy is driven by globally oriented high technology companies which prosperbut do they give

back to the local population and businesses where they are located? Many of these companies gained fame for

the generous treatment given to their technology workers: stories abound of young programmers and developers

bused to work in luxury shuttles, lunching on catered meals in employee cafeterias, and lavished with six-figure

salaries, onsite childcare and handsome benefits packages.

Beyond the glitz of that world, however, one finds tens of thousands of low-wage service sector workerssecurity

officers, janitors, building maintenance staffwho also contribute to the regions vitality, yet go unrecognized.




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Despite the importance of their daily work for company operations, these workers do not experience the same

generous treatment. According to the recent Milken Institute report, for each job added in the tech sector, five jobs

are created in other industries. As an exampleApple has an estimated 34,000 employees in the metro area but it

is responsible for another 170,000 in the region. Dont Apple and other tech companies bear some responsibility to

ensure that all these jobs are good jobs?

CONCLUSION

Silicon Valley needs a transformation of low-wage service

work into good jobs that provide decent wages,

affordable healthcare, strong quality standards and training

that provides career development opportunities. Blue collar

service jobs could serve as the good jobs backbone of the

regional economy. While a simple idea, this shift could directly

address the Valleys extreme inequality, while properly

rewarding service workers for their contributions to the

Valleys economic success.

In the worlds best known hub of innovation the top CEOs of tech companies like Apple, Google, ebay and others

know innovation is rarely an individual actit requires a critical mass of talented workers ready to take on complex

problems, bringing their multiple perspectives to bear in creating a solution. Everyone who makes our prosperity

possible, needs to be at the table to shape policies and initiatives that will shape our region. Creating social equity

is not simply a beneficial social goal, it is also an important component of economic development policy and

practice.

We believe that unions are a critical part of a strategy to assure low-wage service jobs are transformed into good

jobs. This much is undeniable: In Silicon Valley, union janitors have moved themselves and their families forward

while the security officers continue to struggle; and across the Bay Area, San Franciscos union security officers are

sharing more fully in the regions prosperity than their colleagues in Silicon Valley. All it requires is the collective will

and good faith to work together to raise standards.



SEIU USWW calls on the Silicon Valley security industry to:

I Generate the good jobs our communities need;

I Foster safe and humane workplaces, where all are treated equally;

I Honor security officers as heads of households and families;

I Create comprehensive standards for training; and

I Reduce costly turnover.

Poverty In the Midst of Plenty

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Poverty in the Midst of Plenty