Suggestions to AsAm Tech Workers in Silicon Valley

Get Organized to Win Equal Opportunity  A Recent NBC News titled "New Numbers Reveal Asian Wage Gap in Tech" reports that   "Asian Americans are well-represented among the tech ranks, making up 34% of Google's staff, 41% of Facebook's, and 57% at Yahoo. But researchers at the American Institute for Economic Research  found that Asian tech workers on average made $8,146 less each year than white workers in 2012,$3,656 less than Black employees, and $6,907 less than those who identified as "other." Women, as a group on average, earn $6,358 less than men each year."   "Many believe that part of the reason for the gap is that Asians are more likely to be foreign workers living in the United States on an H-1B visa. The study authors note that two out of ten employees in jobs "with a high H-1B demand is Asian" compared to eight percent of the general population." (Emphasis added)    Curious?   You should be!   Want to read 80-20's recommendations to the Asian tech workers? (1) Get yourselves organized as an "interest group" in respective companies.  Be sure to get as many people to join as possible.  This is where the hard work is.  The rest will be easy.  If you get close to 80% participation rate, your company will likely accommodate all your reasonable requests. (2) Create a leadership group to coordinate communication between the interest groups of Yahoo, Facebook and Google.  The larger your group is,  the more secure and the stronger you will be, (3) Resolve, as a group, to write to the top management of respective companies,while coping in your company's Board of Directors.  You may want to request  the same set of wage/salary data already released to American Institute for Economic Research, but broken down to H-1B workers and non H1-B workers.   (4) Use the data to find out if Asian tech workers, excluding H1-B workers,are still making less than other co-workers. (5) You may at the same time request information regarding Asian managers to find out if you have about the same % of managers in respective companies.     Be organized and win equal opportunity.  If 80-20 can be of service, let us know.     80-20 President, S. B. Woo, was the Founding President of the Faculty Bargaining Unit at the University of Delaware, its Chief Spokesman and Chief Negotiator. Later he was a member of the Board of Trustees of the same university, while still teaching.  Even later, he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Delaware. He knows something about organizing, management and government.       Remember 80-20.  It fights for EQUAL opportunity for Asian Americans.                                            - - - - - - - - - - A fun video urging you to vote: view http://youtu.be/1g30sHkc128 , "Rock the Vote."   It was recommend by Fiona Ma who was the Speaker Pro Tempore of CA's Assembly and is currently running for Board of Equalization, District 2. S. B. Woo, a volunteer President, 80-20 National AsAm Educational Foundation, Inc.  http://www.80-20EF.org

Useful political common sense

 Q: What's political common sense that some AsAms should have which may benefit our community?

A: Officials who face re-election every 4 or 6 years, e.g. US Senators or state senators, are to represent nationwide/statewide/region-wide interests.   Officials who face re-election every 2 years, e.g. Congress-persons and California's Assembly-persons, are supposed to represent LOCAL interests.   So if an Assembly-person has a lot of AsAm voters in his/her district, he/she is suppose to speak up for their interests, regardless of opposing statewide or national views.  There are too few persons speak up for Asian Ams to begin with.  If even our own elected officials don't speak up for us, then we are truly in bad shape.   California's Asian Am voters need to know this time-honored American political tradition to hold their Assembly-persons and Congress-persons accountable!        Don't let your Assembly-person grandstand on state-wide issues while abandoning your interest.   Q: How do I hold my Assembly/Congress persons accountable? A: With your vote!  If the elected official has GROSSLY ignored your interest, then vote against him/her the next time he/she runs.  Don't worship your elected AsAm officials.  They are your public servants. They are supposed to serve your rightful interests.  That is why we have officials who must face re-election every 2 years.  This is the American way!                                                   ANNOUNCEMENTS (1) We have 18 great candidates running Board of Donors (BOD).  15 of the 18 will be elected, since they have very difficult missions --  1) forging UNITY and 2) helping SELF reach $1 million/yr for 5 years by Oct. 21, 2015.  Date of election: Nov. 4, 2014 (Tuesday).  A candidate statement of 150 words or less will appear when a voter click on a candidates name. Please consider giving female & NON-Chinese Am. candidates an extra look. Diversity strengthens.  (2) The first anniversary of SELF is here.  WE are supposed to have raised $500,000/yr for 5 yrs already.  We are 22% behind target.  Want 80-20 Initiative to live after S. B. Woo retires?  PLEASE do YOUR share to donate to SELF.  To DONATE, click here. S. B. Woo, a volunteer President, 80-20 National AsAm Educational Foundation, Inc.  http://www.80-20initiative.net

Know the differences between apples & oranges

The Folly of a Professor    A Univ. of Calf., Riverside professor of public policy and political science, KARTHICK RAMAKRISHNAN, did a poll asking a question about affirmative action (AA): "Do you favor or oppose affirmative action programs designed to help blacks, women and other minorities get better jobs and education?"    He found 69% AsAms supporting AA.  Even among Chinese Ams. 60% are in support.    This professor THEREBY concluded that "These findings point to the likelihood that the opposition to SCA-5 was probably the result of selective mobilization among those Asian American voters opposed to the measure, rather than a sign of drastically shifting opinion among Asian American voters against affirmative action"    The above interpretation of the poll was actually published as an op-ed page article  at LA Times.       I was amazed & amused.  Does such a jump in logic pass as scholarly research now?  The following is my answer to the conclusions of this professor:    "Amazing.  This professor doesn't seem to know the difference between AA and "race conscious" college admissions.   The Stop-SCA 5 was focused on "race-conscious" admissions only.  It was NOT about AA in general.     Affirmative action is broad, it includes (1) employment, (2) government contracts and (3) college/school admissions.  AA is, as the poll has phrased it, "designed to HELP blacks, women and other minorities get better jobs and education?"   However, "race-conscious" college admissions is only one of the 3 components of AA.  In addition, it turns out to HURT Asian Americans, blacks and Hispanics.  Asian-Am students had to give white college applicants 140 points on the SAT in order to gain equal access to first-tier colleges. Black and Hispanics students were HURT by the "academic mis-match" phenomenon - needing to switch out of STEM & law majors.      In other words, the "race-conscious" college admissions policy is ANTI-affirmative.  That was why stop-SCA-5 succeeded.      The poll was done correctly.  The professor just doesn't know how to interpret it. There is a lesson here.  One needs to know the differences between apples and oranges."      Pass this e-newsletter to students at UC, Riverside so that they may know whose courses NOT to take, for his demonstrated lack of clear-thinking.  :-)                                             - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -     SELF (Self Empowerment Long-term Fund) has 2 years to raise $1 million/yr for 5 years so that MONEY will talk for us politically.  SELF is only 15 days from its first anniversary.   It has only raised $354,000/yr  for 5 years or is 25% behind the schedule.        Want to do your share to make sure that your children enjoy equal opportunity?  DONATE here.  Many thanks. S. B. Woo, a volunteer  President, 80-20 National Asian American Educational Foundation, Inc. http://www.80-20educationalfoundation.org