Notes From the Epicenter: Fighting the Power
Sure, San Francisco want ads still scream “pre-IPO” in hopes of attracting young go-getters, but the formerly vaunted acronym is now more likely to be the punch line of a cocktail party joke than an actual hiring incentive. And as companies have less investment capital to go around, those mythical high-tech industry perks — the foosball tables, the free cappuccinos, the mid-day massages — have given way to more traditional workplace comforts: mandatory overtime, productivity quotas, disgruntled employees. Yes, it’s the end of an era, albeit a short one.
Testing the Lines
The high-tech industry has so far been the least unionized of any in the country, with only ten percent of workers in the Silicon Valley area represented by organized labor concerns. All of that may be about to change, starting with one of the biggest, and most celebrated, dot-coms on the Web: Amazon.com.
A couple of years ago, the grassroots group Washington Alliance of Technology Workers (WashTech), an arm of the Communication Workers of America (CWA) union, began looking into organizing the 400 plus customer service workers at Amazon’s Washington state office. The efforts bore little fruit, as employees equipped with lucrative stock options and productivity incentives didn’t feel the need for organized representation.
All that has changed. Amazon, which has yet to turn a profit despite expected revenues upwards of $2 billion this year, has seen its stock price drop to a quarter of what it was two years ago, and it has begun to use a lesser-paid customer service contingent in New Delhi to supplement the work of customer service reps in the states. Add that to a 150-worker layoff after the holidays last January, and you’ve got the seeds of worker unrest.
In addition to the CWA organizing push, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) is trying to organize workers at eight of the company’s distribution plants around the country. Both unions are hoping the threat of disruption to the holiday e-buying season will push Amazon to recognize them without a big fight. Nothing doing. Amazon is fighting the unions tooth and nail — from distributing anti-union materials to employees via its internal Web site to staging managerial pep talks where employees are reminded of their stock options and their status as part of the big Amazon family.
Meanwhile, here in San Francisco etown.com, a consumer electronics site, recently laid off 28 employees, 13 of which were customer service workers who had just decided to vote on union representation by the Newspaper Guild, which is a sector of the CWA. The company said the lay-offs were unrelated to the organizing efforts, but the move certainly helped throw a wrench into the union’s plans.
Where Do You Want to Unionize Today?
Though the current developments don’t look good for unionizing, there is hope. A few years back, thanks to a change in policy at the National Labor Relations Board making it easier for temporary workers to unionize, the legions of “perm-a-temp” workers at places like Microsoft, gained the option of labor representation. These workers, mostly programmers, make up almost a third of Microsoft’s Seattle-based labor force. And, as we are constantly reminded, as goes Microsoft, so goes the industry.
Will unionizing be a good thing for high-tech workers? We’ll have to wait and see. But with stock options no longer a money-making venture and with dot-coms closing down and laying off large portions of their staff regularly these days, it’s only natural for workers to look around for some sense of security. Plus, unions offer things like portable benefits packages (something I wish I had).
Wait and See
Creative workers in all manner of industries besides high tech are represented by unions — just about anyone working in Hollywood, not to mention most traditional media jobs like newspaper and television work. When might this trend make its way into the New Economy? The answer could lie with a few hundred customer services representatives at a certain online bookseller.
This article was last modified on January 6, 2023
This article was first published on December 11, 2000
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