Are American high tech workers obsolete?

[Jerry Feldman]

WRT: Unions. IMHO companies get the unions they deserve. 
like a corporation, a union is also an organization, and will act 
accordingly for its own good not necessarily for the employees' good. 
Unions with highly educated members (such as lawyers - yes some lawyers are 
unionized, Air Line Pilots, college faculty) tend to be a bit different 
from the normal blue collar unions because their constituency tend to be 
more realistic, more knowledgable, and less militant. In essence, what a 
union is supposed to be is an official voice of its constituency. 
Work rules (which purportedly protect workers) also may provide barriers.  
In a real case, one place I worked, we could not move a monitor from one 
side of our office to the other. We had to either find a friendly millright 
or put in a work order. Same went for light switches. Most of the lights 
were controlled by switches in switch boxes. Only electricians could touch 
them. (That was before computer controlled lights were common). Normally 
you find these strict work rules when there is an adversarial relationship 
or when there are jurisdictional issues. 
But, it all comes down to the repective unions developing a working 
relationship with management. 
-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Associate Director
Boston Linux and Unix user group
http://www.blu.org PGP key id:C5061EA9
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