Tech Workers for Caste Equity congratulates the City of Seattle for banning Caste Discrimination
Tech Workers for Caste Equity — an interfaith, multi-racial, inter-caste collective of tech workers dedicated to ensuring caste equity in every tech workplace and on every tech platform — congratulates the City of Seattle for the historic passing of City Council Ordinance 126767 (CB 120511) to ban caste discrimination and explicitly add caste as a protected class to all aspects of Seattle's Municipal Code. By becoming the first city in the United States to explicitly ban caste discrimination, Seattle has a set an incredibly important precedent, which we hope, will inspire change all across the United States.
At the Seattle City Council hearing on February 21, we heard many testimonials from caste-oppressed folks about how such discrimination manifests for them in their daily lives. As tech workers based in Silicon Valley, the Seattle metropolitan area, and across the United States, we can also attest that such discrimination, in subtle as well as blatant forms, is unfortunately a reality for many at tech workplaces. The importance of this legislation cannot be overstated — as the city staff report notes, this legislation finally provides those subject to caste discrimination a "legal avenue to pursue a remedy" against such discrimination.
Some of the largest and most influential tech companies are headquartered in the Seattle metropolitan area. Many other tech companies, even if not headquartered in Seattle, have offices in Seattle or remote employees based in Seattle. This new municipal code protects all tech workers who live in Seattle, even if their employer does not have an office in Seattle. This is fantastic.
We urge all tech companies with employees who live in Seattle to take action immediately to comply with this law to make their workplaces safer, more inclusive, and more equitable. We also urge these companies to put policies in place to ensure that all their employees — not only their Seattle-based employees — have access to these same protections. Additionally, we urge companies to invest in educating their employees about how caste discrimination may manifest at work and what actions every employee can take to address it.
Finally, we urge every city, jurisdiction, and employer in the United States to follow Seattle's lead and to codify protections against caste discrimination into law and/or into their company policy.
Once again, we congratulate the City of Seattle for rising up against discrimination and helping to build a better world.
Contact: TechWorkersForCasteEquity@protonmail.com