OC
02-12-2003, 08:47 AM
Why Don't Programmers Unionize?
http://www.corporatemofo.com/stories/030119union.htm
snippet:
So, what we have is a rather large group of people whose skills are absolutely indispensable to keeping the economy going, but who are getting continually exploited and pushed around by the same smarmy kids who used to flush their heads in the toilet after high school gym class, albeit now wearing Armani instead of letter jackets. And, thus far, no one's done anything about it except gripe on F***edCompany and cry into their beer.
A while ago, we asked the question, "Why don't office workers unionize?" The answer, of course, is that by going to college for four (or five, or six) years and working with your brains, instead of your hands, you're supposedly of a "better" class. Unions struggle under the unmerited working-class, blue-collar stigma of being associated with unsavory types like Teamsters and auto plant workers—even if teachers and police officers also have their unions.
In many ways, programmers and their ilk are victims of their own overeducation. They tend to be Ayn Rand-reading, Heinlein-worshipping, independent, antisocial, and libertarian in their political views. Put three programmers in the same room, and you'll get four opinions on everything from bombing Iraq to statutory rape. Trying to get them to do anything together—as anyone who's seen the vicious politics around a Star Trek convention or goth club can attest—is like herding cats.
Yet, prospectively, computer geeks, being well-connected both in the literal and figurative senses of the word, could organize more quickly and more strongly than the United Auto Workers or Garment Workers ever did. There would be a whole lot of benefits, beginning with health care and employment security. In a field where a university degree isn't worth the paper it's printed on and some of the most skilled workers are self-taught, the community itself could ensure that workers had the necessary skills to do a job—sort of like a guild system for the twenty-first century.
The only hope of improvement in the situation is when IT workers realize that their mutual exploitation gives them common cause, and that any group of people is stronger together than they are independently. Imagine if, one day, if the Local #404 asked every help-desk phone-answerer and javascript debugger in New York or San Francisco or Chicago to call in sick. The city would shut down.
http://www.corporatemofo.com/stories/030119union.htm
snippet:
So, what we have is a rather large group of people whose skills are absolutely indispensable to keeping the economy going, but who are getting continually exploited and pushed around by the same smarmy kids who used to flush their heads in the toilet after high school gym class, albeit now wearing Armani instead of letter jackets. And, thus far, no one's done anything about it except gripe on F***edCompany and cry into their beer.
A while ago, we asked the question, "Why don't office workers unionize?" The answer, of course, is that by going to college for four (or five, or six) years and working with your brains, instead of your hands, you're supposedly of a "better" class. Unions struggle under the unmerited working-class, blue-collar stigma of being associated with unsavory types like Teamsters and auto plant workers—even if teachers and police officers also have their unions.
In many ways, programmers and their ilk are victims of their own overeducation. They tend to be Ayn Rand-reading, Heinlein-worshipping, independent, antisocial, and libertarian in their political views. Put three programmers in the same room, and you'll get four opinions on everything from bombing Iraq to statutory rape. Trying to get them to do anything together—as anyone who's seen the vicious politics around a Star Trek convention or goth club can attest—is like herding cats.
Yet, prospectively, computer geeks, being well-connected both in the literal and figurative senses of the word, could organize more quickly and more strongly than the United Auto Workers or Garment Workers ever did. There would be a whole lot of benefits, beginning with health care and employment security. In a field where a university degree isn't worth the paper it's printed on and some of the most skilled workers are self-taught, the community itself could ensure that workers had the necessary skills to do a job—sort of like a guild system for the twenty-first century.
The only hope of improvement in the situation is when IT workers realize that their mutual exploitation gives them common cause, and that any group of people is stronger together than they are independently. Imagine if, one day, if the Local #404 asked every help-desk phone-answerer and javascript debugger in New York or San Francisco or Chicago to call in sick. The city would shut down.