Tech & Trump

Technology
Silicon Valley Rising marches at Intel on March 27th, 2016. Photo Credit: Tri Nguyen/Working Partnerships USA

As Tech CEOs meet Trump, Silicon Valley Rising urges companies to stand for human rights, be a model of inclusion and opportunity

On Wednesday December 14th, executives from Silicon Valley’s largest technology companies including Apple, Alphabet, Cisco, Facebook, Intel, Oracle and Tesla met with President-Elect Trump to discuss collaboration with the Trump Administration and the role of the industry in the nation’s economy.

Silicon Valley Rising, a coalition of community and faith-based organizations and labor unions representing service workers who support the tech industry across the Bay Area, is calling on tech companies to take a stand and resist threats to the rights of workers, consumers and the communities they live in and to take proactive steps to become a model for economic inclusion and opportunity. The Coalition released the following joint statement:

We believe President-Elect Trump’s campaign commitments to deport millions of people, ban Muslims from entering the country and create a registry of Muslim Americans stand in stark contrast with the values many tech companies and industry leaders purport to uphold while also directly threatening workers within the sector.

President-Elect Trump’s policies present a dire threat to the lives and well-being of workers and contractors across the tech sector whose hard work day in and day out makes the success of these industries possible, and to millions of their customers — be they immigrants, women, workers or Muslim Americans.

Now is the time for the tech industry to step up as leaders, speak truth to power and live out the values of freedom, inclusion and opportunity. In doing so, the industry has an opportunity to be a beacon of hope for millions of Americans fearful of what comes next, and a model for how companies can begin to address the greatest economic challenges facing working families.

As leaders of community and faith-based organizations and labor unions who represent workers in the tech sector across Silicon Valley, we urge companies in attendance at Wednesday’s meeting to play a leadership role in resisting unjust policies if they are put forward by the Trump Administration. Specifically, we call on companies to refuse to cooperate in the development of any registry monitoring Muslim Americans, sharing user and employee information or otherwise collaborate with law enforcement agencies to investigate violations of federal immigration law.

Since 2014, our Coalition has been working to encourage the largest companies in the tech sector to build an economy that works for everyone. We believe now more than ever is the time for technology companies to take actions to improve the economic prospects for workers in their operations including adopting responsible contractor standards to raise wages, improve conditions and support workers’ voices in their supply chains.

The solutions that address economic inequality in the tech sector are not going to come from the Trump Administration delivering tax cuts or slashing regulation for the industry. Instead, tech companies can begin to address these issues by leveraging the enormous power of their companies, their platforms and their supply chains to raise wages and job standards for their workers and contractors, positioning the tech sector as an example for industries across the economy.

Millions of families — undocumented workers, union members, women, Muslim Americans, low-wage workers who could lose healthcare or affordable housing — are living in fear of what comes next. At a time when racism, bigotry and economic hardship are driving our politics, it’s time for leaders in the tech sector to stand up for our communities and use their immense power and resources for good.

More information can be found at http://siliconvalleyrising.org/.

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