Patrick, While I agree that intimidation and coercion have been used and are effective (at least in the short term) - I think that doesn't shine enough light on other factors that work. Off the top of my head, here are a couple: - Common goals - Solidarity with co-workers - workers in general - Sense of belonging What are others reasons to join together that people can think of? On 25Feb2011, at 9:39 AM, Patrick Anderson wrote:
The effectiveness of collective bargaining has always been threatened by independent peers who are willing to accept lower wages and endure poor working conditions.
For traditional manufacturing jobs, these 'alternate' workers can usually be kept from accessing the Means of Production by forming a physical barrier around the worksite or through various threats that can be carried out because it is easy to monitor who is actually entering the establishment.
Yet these valuable techniques of intimidation and coercion so vital to protecting Worker Rights are unlikely to be applicable in the realm of "immaterial production".
When it comes to something like Free Software, how can we, the International Programmers of the World, unionize effectively to *stop* independent programmers from creating the solutions that consumers need?
This is a catastrophic issue, as many of these independents are willing to work not just for a low Wage, but for Free! They often fix bugs and add features without any pay at all!
How can workers in the 'immaterial' sphere possibly "make a living" with such anarchy and disrespect for organized labor, and with no ability to stop that production?