COMP 2903A9 – Dilberts of the World,

Unite!Danny Silver

JSOCS, Acadia University

David SirotaThe Nation, June 23, 2008

• Bestselling author and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist – specialty is politics

• New book is The Uprising: An Unauthorized Tour of the Populist Revolt Scaring Wall Street and Washington (pub by Crown)

• Writes about populist uprising• “David Sirota writes about pockets of discontent that

are beginning to bubble and boil all over the country”- from a review on Amazon.com

Revenge of the Nerds – Part 2

• Late 1990s - dot-com celebrations • Nerds were the big men on campus• Party time• 2002 dot-com crash• Now the party is over• A white-collar uprising is on

WashTech

• WashTech = Washington Alliance of Technology Workers (Seattle organization)

• Tried to warn people of pending doom in 1999• Their current fight remains important:– Obvious: The white-collar sector is growing and wants

more political clout– Non-obvious: Politics and culture react to the upper

middle professional class– Can an uprising flourish in a demographic that questions

collective action

WashTech

• Began in 1997 with plight of “permatemps” (Marcus Courtney)

• 25% of MicroSoft in Seattle (6,000 employees)• MS arranged regulatory change that meant

temps could not receive overtime – Why?• Sold out by gov’t and labour unions• WashTech was born – mission: to get high-tech

works to vote to form unions so as to improve wages, benefits, job security

WashTech

• Big break in 2005 – 900 call-centre works join, now 1500 dues-paying members, email list of 17,000 others

• Will they expand ?– 221,000 US tech jobs lost 2000-04 to offshore– 2005 IEEE report first drop in tech worker income– Health care premiums increasing

ICT Professionals are Swingers

• Many hate unions – on principal• Liberal swing voters - 73% describe themselves as

independents (32%) or Republicans (41%)

• And yet they support …– Legislation to expand unemployment benefits– Prohibition of government contracts going two

companies that outsource jobs– The WashTech movement has not been able to

mature because of a quartet of storylines

The Fantastic Four Fables holding back WashTech

• Storylines that play to tech workers unique self image and discourage full participation in the uprising:

• Marlboro man fable• Legend of job security• Great Labour Shortage Lie• The Great Education Myth

Marlboro Man Fable

• Rugged individualism– “I am Nerd, hear me roar!”

• You can be Bill Gates too .. A kin to being the next Sydney Crosby for hockey players

• Ingrained in white collar workers psyche - toughest challenge to WashTech

• Entrepreneurism in this way has hurt ICT

Legend of Job Security

• Career ambitions predispose ICT workers to view the their company as always benevolent

• This is not always the case• Outsourcing happens• Programming jobs have moved to India

The Great Labour Shortage Lie

• False: You can’t find qualified Americans• True: You can’t find cheap qualified Americans• There is no ICT labor shortage that cannot be

solved by offering people more money• US Congress solution: H-1B program – allows

entry of temporary foreign workers for high-skill jobs

• Microsoft ranks third in hiring H-1B workers, paid $13,000 less than domestic workers

The Great Education Myth

• Get a college or university degree and you will have a job

• 2000-2004 graduate earnings drop by 5%• Due to change labor market situation and

norms, reducing bargaining power of workers• College-educated desk workers, looking more

outsourceable.[NB: he does not talk about rise in employment

and wages since 2005]

So, what is happening most recently with Washtech?

• Pair• Investigate• Report one major finding