This Changes Everything #5: Doing Business in California - The Workers' Point of View

California Groundbreakers

With recent headlines about scandals and snafus at Big Tech companies like Google and Facebook, tech workers in Silicon Valley are fed up with doing business as usual, and they’re fighting back. Software coders and engineers who earn six-figure salaries are joining forces with the lower-paid workers who make their tech campuses run and embracing the idea of labor unions. in this episode, we’re talking with two people who believe in the power of collective action to make Silicon Valley a more equitable place. GUESTS * Maria Noel Fernandez, director of Silicon Valley Rising (https://siliconvalleyrising.org) * Christopher Schmidt, software engineer at Google and a founding member of the Alphabet Workers Union (https://alphabetworkersunion.org) PODCAST PLAY-BY-PLAY * 0 to 5:10 min - Intro to "This Changes Everything," this specific episode, and our guests * 5:10 min - Fernandez and Schmidt describe their organizations, the missions, and what they're focusing on now * 14:20 min - Are tech companies responsive to these groups, and making change? * 19:20 min - How Google's planned mega-campus in San Jose -- and the concessions it's giving to people living there -- could be a model for the rest of California and the U.S. * 24:05 min - How have the past 12 months of shutdowns, business crises and remote workforces changed the groups ' missions and tactics? * 29:35 min - Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama recently voted against unionizing - why did they decide that, and what does that say about working for a Big Tech company? * 34:30 - How has the pandemic changed the meaning of work, and what it means to be a worker? * 41:15 min - Fernandez and Schmidt give advice to both management and employees on how they can work together to run a business that benefits everyone