“As organized labor expands its efforts in Silicon Valley, a local union and civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson are pushing for better working conditions for the security guards who work at Apple’s campu,” Julia Love reports for The Mercury News.
“United Service Workers West, a regional arm of the Service Employees International Union, hopes to unionize security guards who work on Apple’s campus, and in the short term is asking Apple to use a different security contractor,” Love reports. “The campaign comes amid a growing debate about the valley’s sweeping use of contract workers, who do everything from driving shuttle buses to cooking in the cafeteria. But as the tech workers they serve are showered with eye-popping perks, service workers often struggle to make ends meet in the pricey Bay Area, advocates say.”
“Jackson, whose Rainbow PUSH Coalition helped prompt Apple and other tech companies to share diversity statistics earlier this year, wrote a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook this month raising concerns about how the company’s security guards are treated by the contractor, Security Industry Specialists. Applauding Cook’s leadership on issues like the environment and gay rights, Jackson urged him to take a stand for service workers,” Love reports. “‘Part of the narrative of their firm is equitable and first-class leadership,’ Jackson said in an interview. ‘As they grow at such a rapid pace, they should have world-class working conditions for their workers from the bottom up.’ Jackson requested a meeting to discuss the issue with Cook but said he has yet to hear back from Apple.”
Read more in the full article here.