[P2P-F] Unions for Immaterial Production?

[Michel Bauwens]

Dear Patrick,

These are interesting remarks, though I suspect you are being ironic,  but
here a few counter-observations, that may even make it a non-problem:

- the ability of peers to produce freely shared commons is not a problem,
only the capability of netarchical capitalism to exploit the value without
return, is; that shifts the locus of the problem to the problems of those
peers as workers, instead of seeing them as 'scabs'

- this ability of autonomous production is also a weapon or tool against
employers, i.e. the locus of production can be changed to an autonomous site
(used by striking journalists already in the past)

- the ability to mobilize of traditional workers is also 'limited' by
physical locality, so 'immaterial' internetworking may be and actually is a
plus, see the great movement of the intermittents in France a few years ago
for an example of labour struggles, or the contemporary mobilization of Arab
working classes happening right now

A further observation of scabs is that most often these were NOT workers
from the striking factory, but outsiders, while in the case of free software
we are talking about people being part of the same community with often
shared values



On Sat, Feb 26, 2011 at 12:39 AM, Patrick Anderson <agnucius at gmail.com>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?
>



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