[PLUG] Minnis bows to lobbyists of Microsoft

Jeme A Brelin jeme at brelin.net
Fri May 2 12:23:01 UTC 2003


On Fri, 2 May 2003, Kyle Accardi wrote:
> Speaking of which, is there a union to represent IT workers?

IT workers have traditionally been considered "white collar" and no unions
have existed.

Today, however, with so many telephone, on-line and floor technicians,
there is definitely a place for organizing among the laborers.  (It
certainly would have helped alleviate the problems of the dot bust when
senior technicians were laid off in favor of cheaper labor.)

I think SAGE had the potential to be a fantastic tradesman's guild, but
has since given up any such aspirations.  The closest they come to
collective bargaining and setting professional standards is a salary
survey and newsletter.  Pretty weak.

As we continue our race to the bottom, we'll see more and more need for
organization among the working classes (whether we see more organization
or not).

I've considered working to organize groups such as the NOC technicians of
the various telcos and data carriers (often, in my experience, as highly
skilled as the engineers they support but having less formal education and
uniformly lower pay).  I've been unable to do anything of the sort because
I've had to try to find ways to support myself and there's no money in
organizing.  (Of course, that's the great strength of the system:  It
forces us to concentrate on our own survival individually to prevent us
from working toward our own propserity collectively.)  If there were a
sponsoring union, it might be possible to get a paid organizer into some
of the shops and make some change.  Unfortunately, as you point out, many
of the unions today are weak and many others have degraded into purely
capitalist organizations that exploit their own members for the profit of
the management.

J.
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     Jeme A Brelin
    jeme at brelin.net
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