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The Digital Working Class

from the digital-factory-floor dept

Wed, May 17th 2006 6:36pm — Mike Masnick

Whenever there's talk about how new technologies are costing jobs, people tend to ignore how those technologies often create new and different jobs as well. Business Week is examining the rise of the digital working class. These are the people who are helping to put all of that information online. Obviously, a good portion of those jobs are offshore, but it appears plenty are local as well. It's a reminder that not all online jobs are really "tech" jobs. While we still don't think unions make sense for tech workers, it does seem like these types of "rote" work jobs may be much more inclined to look to unionize. In fact, towards the end of the article, one of the workers talks about how she had to quit her job because of the "factory-type atmosphere" with a boss who would yell at her to type faster. It's not hard to see large groups of these types of workers eventually deciding to organize.

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12 Comments

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dorpus, 17 May 2006 @ 7:27pm

Solidarnosc
So the working class has the courage to organize, where techie nerds were too chicken to do it? They believed whatever their bosses told them about "global competitiveness", and their college educations didn't let them see the basic deception.
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Anonymous Coward, 17 May 2006 @ 7:54pm

I want to be a Techie Teamster
I want to be a Techie Teamster....
Not only would we be able to hack from the inside we can double our profits and be able to strick from our living room .....
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EdB, 17 May 2006 @ 8:28pm

Re: I want to be a Techie Teamster
You would be able to STRICK from your living room? Hey I got an idea for you. LEARN TO SPELL FROM YOUR LIVING ROOM. Loser.
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|333173|3|_||3, 17 May 2006 @ 8:35pm

Re: Re: I want to be a Techie Teamster
Be nice, you should know its bad manners to criticise someones typing unless it is completely undecypherable.
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Darknet, 17 May 2006 @ 9:18pm

Well someone has to do the monkey coding and data entry, it's certainly not classified as an executive position..
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Sarojin, 17 May 2006 @ 9:48pm

Re: Solidarnosc
Seems like it more that "tech" workers don't see themselved as exploited labor, but rather more closely aligned with management. Tech careers can also be very comfortable financially, leaving no motivation to pusure organizing.

One of the bigger and older companies is also very anti-union (my opinion, contrary to the official company line) and prohibits any sort of solicitation on company property (as in one is not allowed to bring in candy from a child's school event or brochures for a spouses small business) only because they would then have to let, gasp, Unions distribute information or post flyers on the cork board in the lunch room.

Not mentioning the name as they are also lawsuit loopy (though serial numbers on Jewish arms is a clue).

So any attempt to unionize would immediately result in hostile action leading to firing. If one doesn't feel terribly victimized, lives in a nice house, drives a nice car, and has some spending money left over, what's he need a union for?

Probably figure that one out too late to matter...

Times are changing though. People are getting fed up with the stagnant wages and outsourcing of jobs overseas. It will be interesting to see if that will only actually create enough fear to prevent speaking up and organizing.
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Taskmaster, 18 May 2006 @ 6:21am

Faster!!!
I want more comments! I want more stories! Get to work my slaves! Don't bother looking behind you, I am here!
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Ninja, 18 May 2006 @ 6:42am

Tech workers don't *need* unions
Unions give their members additional power over management by restricting hiring and firing practices (closed shops.) By not allowing so many workers to be hired, each individual workers becomes that much more powerful. While others are out of jobs, the united workers have more negotiating room than they would otherwise.

This is unnecessary for tech workers. They have a bargaining position from skills, college educations, and experience that unskilled labor doesn't have. It is *much* harder to replace a head programmer or network administration, for example, than a guy at Ford who puts the passenger-side door on an SUV.

Tech workers don't need to unionize - it would cost them some jobs for bargaining power they already have.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 May 2006 @ 7:26am

Re: Re: I want to be a Techie Teamster
Type faster, bitch.
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Anononut, 18 May 2006 @ 8:21am

Re: Tech workers don't *need* unions
I think your way of thought is focused on actual IT staff, such as programmers, network admins, etc.

The article is talking about a High School drop out who is willing to do a job a monkey can do. Better luck next time.
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Brian A., 18 May 2006 @ 9:40am

Somebody has to do it...
And it's not me. Data entry and content transcription is the 21st century equivalent of the typing pool. You can make money with a just a few skills but no one expects to make a real career out of it. At some point you’re going to get bored and either get more education or training and move on. If you don't then shame on you. Don't come bellyaching to me because you hate your dull, thankless job. No ammount of unionization is going to fix that.
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EH, 18 May 2006 @ 1:10pm

Courage?
"...working class has the courage to organize, where techie nerds were too chicken to do it?"

Since when is it courageous to get some goon to fight your battles for you? When did it become courageous to have such a low estimation of one's self-worth that it seems like a good idea to remove the possibility of differentiating oneself in any way? Courageous to intentionally try to destroy companies and economies? I think not.
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