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TO NATIONAL, AND TECHNOLOGY EDITORS:
A Game That Techies Can't Beat: "Dream Crusher" Sheds Light on the
Hidden Lives of Tech Service Workers Who Struggle to Get By
SAN JOSE, Calif., April 28, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today SEIU
United Service Workers West is launching an interactive online game,
Dream Crusher, in which players face the challenge of making ends meet
on a security officer's income of roughly $22,605 a year-well below
the $77,261 that is needed for a family with two parents and two
children in Silicon Valley. The creators of the game intend to
transport techies away from their plush offices and into the Bay Area
communities that are locked out of the prosperity from the recent tech
boom.
Players are forced to make tough budget decisions that mimic real life
but are often overlooked by workers who are showered with perks in the
tech industry-such as choosing between covering childcare costs or
making a car payment.
Features of the game include:
-- The option to play under the constraints of a family or
individual's budget
-- Multiple opportunities to rearrange a worker's monthly budget to
meet his basic needs
-- Monthly household expenses derived from statistical data, including
housing and education
-- Video interviews with real-life security officers who struggle to
get by in Silicon Valley
"I care about the workers and communities I protect, but I don't know
if most people in the tech industry understand the hardships we go
through every day to provide for our families," said Silicon Valley
security officer Tom Gozzo. "I've done my part to contribute to the
success of Silicon Valley, but the prosperity from the recent economic
boom has yet to reach most families in our community. This game
reflects that reality."
The new website that houses Dream Crusher, www.TechCanDoBetter.org,
also aims to garner tech worker support for improving low-wage jobs in
Silicon Valley. While tech companies pride themselves on developing
innovative solutions to the global economy's most complex problems,
Silicon Valley still hasn't tackled the most glaring issue in its own
backyard: destabilizing income inequality amid rapid economic growth.
"Who is benefitting from the tech boom and who isn't? What can we do
to help members of our community who have fallen on hard times? Those
are the questions we want tech workers to ask when they finished
playing the game. This new website provides an opportunity for tech
workers to lend a helping hand by pledging their support for security
officers and their families who are paving the way for a better life,"
said Sam Kehinde, Stand for Security campaign director.
More than 5,000 Silicon Valley security officers have been coming
together to form a union. Bay Area security officers have repeatedly
called on Apple, Google and other tech companies to use a responsible
security contractor that will support good, full-time jobs and permits
its workers the freedom to form a union in order to win a contract
that will allow families to thrive and succeed.
Visit www.TechCanDoBetter.org to play Dream Crusher and learn more
about how tech-industry security officers are standing up for good,
steady jobs in the community.
SOURCE SEIU United Service Workers West
-0- 04/28/2014
/CONTACT: Alfredo Fletes, (562) 774-7544
/Web Site: http://www.TechCanDoBetter.org
CO: SEIU United Service Workers West
ST: California
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SU: AVO
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-- DC13557 --
0000 04/28/2014 10:00:00 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
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