Communist Web Tuesday 23rd May 2000 9.30pm gmt Conditions in capitalist 'paradise' By Wadi'h Halabi Silicon Valley, for the monopoly media, sits at the very top of capitalism's achievements, "the greatest wealth machine in history," "one of the greatest economic success stories the world has ever known." Silicon Valley is the name given to the region south of San Francisco with a high concentration of computer-related companies. 13 billionaires in the Valley have a reported combined worth of $45 billion and 17,000 people are said to be worth more than $1 million each - on paper. But what are conditions like for the workers who live and toil here? "Like virtual prisoners in paradise," is how Aaron Bernstein describes a single mother's life in the Valley, in an unusual article in Business Week on the deplorable conditions of workers in the region. The exploiters' interest in the subject is to assure a reliable supply of labor. The woman Bernstein refers to, a blue collar worker, moved to the Valley in 1999 with her 3-year-old child in an effort to find a better life. She quickly found work packing software for giant Oracle Corp. But it was as a "temp" for a subcontracting agency. Her pay, $8.25 an hour, could not cover rent, food and day care. Soon, mother and child were homeless, moving from shelter to shelter before finally leaving the area. They were not alone. Last year, 13,000 more people left Silicon Valley than moved in. Wages for the bottom third of the work force in the Valley, averaging $10.54 an hour, were 11 percent less in 1998 than in 1989. But home prices rose 65 percent just in the last five years. Caught between declining wages, "job churning" and rising housing prices, about 20,000 out of 1.6 million people "experienced a bout of homelessness last year" in Santa Clara County. The county encompasses most of Silicon Valley. On a typical night, 500 people are in the county's five homeless shelters, 1,000 more are sleeping on the street. Commonly, for every homeless person on the street, several are doubling up with friends, family or co- workers. Hunger stalks the Valley's working class. San Jose's soup kitchen alone served 83,000 people a month last year, up 27 percent from 1998. Inequality is... http://www.billkath.demon.co.uk/cw/conditions/conditions.html
