I spent 20 years in industry before entering politics, and my first job was with a Canadian company called Northern Telecom. It championed the principle of valuing employees as partners, viewing workers as “the primary source of productivity gains”.
But when it came to rights – well, it was hardly a bastion of socialism. When I asked where I should go to join a union the look on the HR woman’s face has stayed with me to this day.
Over 20 years on and hundreds of miles south of the Canadian border, it is a similar story. Much like Nortel, the tech titans of Silicon Valley like to portray themselves as fostering a positive working environment. Google’s co-founder Larry Page said it should be “like a family”, and it has been rated by CNN and Fortune as the No 1 place to work in the world.
But as I learned when visiting last month, the rhetoric does not match up to the reality. Google perks, such as gourmet food and on-the-job massages, aren’t extended to the thousands of contractors who work for the company. Google says it is the biggest provider of public transport in the Bay Area – but its sleek, wifi-enabled buses are only for Googlers. It is a similar story for other tech companies that increasingly rely on outsourcing to keep their businesses clean and safe.
When Silicon Valley first began to merit the title – in the 60s and 70s – cleaners and bus drivers were employed in-house. Tech created good jobs for everyone, not just those at the top of the food chain. In the past few decades this has changed dramatically. Between 1990 and 2014, the private-sector workforce in Silicon Valley grew by 18%. But much of this was growth in low-wage subcontractor jobs, which increased at three times the rate.
Today, over 1 million people in the Bay Area are on low-wage jobs that pay only $18 an hour – well below the living wage of $22 an hour. And there is a racial dimension: black and Latino workers comprise 58% of the cleaners, bus drivers, caterers and other subcontractors working for big tech firms, but only 10% of the core tech workforce.
And the benefits and economic security of the better-paid programmers and product managers who make up the “techies” are curtailed by an employment structure that affords different rights to different groups of workers. There have been well-documented attempts by large tech firms to suppress wages and prevent their employees from getting better job offers. And, crucially, many tech workers are also subject to outsourcing – and therefore cannot collectively bargain because it would violate anti-trust laws.
With wages stagnating, good jobs only for the privileged few and housing, and transport and schooling costs rising, more and more ordinary people are seeing the need for action. Working people have been organising for decades in Silicon Valley, but the past few years have seen a surge of activity. While in California I met Silicon Valley Rising, a movement that has brought together trade unions and community groups to fight for a Silicon Valley where all workers are valued. And last year the Teamsters union managed to win higher wages for the bus drivers who shuttle white-collar tech workers to their jobs.
These developments are promising, but more needs to be done. There needs to be blanket recognition from large tech firms that employees can and should join trade unions. And white-collar tech workers need to ally themselves with this growing movement and assert their rights, ending divide-and-rule tactics and bringing the fight to the bosses.
This side of the Atlantic, the weather may be worse but the challenges are much the same. Productivity has stagnated since the financial crisis, with Britain the only country to have seen a fall in wages over the past few years despite a growing economy. And with the rise of the “gig economy” threatening workers’ rights, high-profile campaigns such as the Deliveroo drivers’ strike and the GMB union’s legal challenge to Uber are striking back.
The Labour party is committed to tackling the scourge of low-paid jobs, raising the minimum wage to a true living wage of £10 per hour and creating over a million good jobs. With our shadow secretary of state Rebecca Long-Bailey, I’m developing and championing Labour’s challenge-led, mission-oriented and values-driven industrial strategy that will create a high-skill, high-wage, high-productivity economy.
Labour is also fighting to defend and extend rights at work, guaranteeing them after our exit from the European Union and ensuring they are maintained in the face of technological change. And Labour is actively investigating alternative models of ownership that will ensure workers are truly in control.
As a labour movement in the UK we need to collaborate with and take inspiration from our colleagues in the US fighting for a more just tech economy. Their struggle matters – because tech is increasingly not only the economy of Silicon Valley but of the world. By working across geographic boundaries we will be better able to make tech good news for everyone.
• Chi Onwurah is the Labour MP for Newcastle upon Tyne Central
