[P2P-F] Unions for Immaterial Production?

Fri Feb 25 19:32:16 CET 2011

Patrick,

As a member of a unionized worker co-op who deals exclusively with 
software in the free & open source realm, I have not encountered many 
issues with the impact of unionization on projects we are involved in.

If anything, unionization in the open source realm could be helpful.  
Say, if the workers of Sun Microsystems were unionized, could they not 
have resisted the buy-out by Oracle through a strike?

You make a good  point though - that developers in the greater community 
could act as 'scabs' in these situations.  The thing is - as long as 
they aren't being paid by the company that the workers are striking 
against, then there is no issue, and they are not scabs.  If anything, 
they could be seen as acting in solidarity with the striking programmers 
by ensuring that their software is still stable once they get back on 
the clock.  Or they could assist them by forking the project and 
continuing development outside of the control of the company (like the 
document foundation did). The free and open source community is built 
around mutual aid, trust and solidarity (for the most part).

The reason I make such a big point of union organization in the open 
source software and hardware communities is that when starting new 
ventures that are worker-owned, that these folks can build economies of 
scale around collective benefits, group purchasing, training & shared 
services.  Having a union that is greater than your own shop is 
important when filing grievances and having a wider reach of agency and 
community.  When these institutions are worker-owned, and part of an 
appropriate economic ecosystem, the balance of power tends to shift away 
from moneyed interest and towards federation.  This means that there 
will generally be less likelihood of strikes and work stoppage.

Just a thought.

Richard

On 02/25/2011 12:39 PM, 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?