After the Internet giant Google released data on its employment diversity that showed a predominance of white male workers (c.f. article No.8484) the question now is has this launched a new wave of socially oriented announcements by the Silicon Valley giants? The question is all the more valid given that at the beginning of October Google announced that some 200 security guards operating at its Mountain View headquarters in California would, going forward, be bona fide Google employees and would no longer be subcontractors to the firm. The new employment status gives these workers rights to parental leave and a whole series of other social benefits such as health insurance and pensions – benefits for the most part absent for service provider workers. Silicon Valley remains a hub for wealth creation and retains its position as one of the most unequal places in the United States. This is why trade unions and local organizations have decided to make it the epicenter of their campaigns.
A tense social context. Since the municipality of San Francisco reserved parking places for the privately operated shuttle bus services to Silicon Valley, employees of technology giants who operate out of Silicon Valley have been the targets of a series of demonstrations that took place at the end of 2013. ‘Googlers’ and other employees of eBay or Yahoo! have been accused of taking over public spaces without giving anything back. They have also been accused of displacing local residents because of their ability to pay higher and higher residential prices in the Golden Gate city.
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