Time for a Re-Union?

Landismom, one of the most socially conscious people I know and proprietor of the Bumblebee Sweet Potato blog, has asked those in her network to blog about worker rights this weekend. This reminded me of a story.

In my job at one of the "big three" auto companies, I work with many people from India. One of these, whom I'll call Sunil, has worked for me for several years and recently became a U. S. citizen. One day, Sunil and I were walking down to the cafeteria when something got us talking about unions. He didn't understand why we need them.

I gave Sunil a brief history of management and labor relations in this country, particularly in the auto industry. Workers banded together to combat employer hegemony and unfair working conditions (pay, hours, environment) to get a better life for themselves. They did this at great personal sacrifice (loss of income and even life).

Sunil acknowledged this. However, he decried what he saw as abuses of union power. He had heard stories of union people just standing around not doing their jobs. There were contracts that bankrupted companies, inflexible work rules and so on.

I agreed that these were bad things. However, they are not exclusive to unions. We had both seen plenty of "management" people who didn't do their share of the work (see the song in the last post). I also told him that unions are very sensitive to how their contracts and work rules affects a corporate business success. Many of them (as in the sad case of United Airlines) gave up lots and lots of benefits to help a struggling company only to be undercut by tricks such as corporate reorganization, chapter 11 bankruptcy and dissolving pension plans.

I also argued the positive aspect of unions from a management point of view. They provided an interested (after all, they pay dues) and stable work force. They can make it easier for a company to communicate to workers and implement new plans to improve productivity. Yes, well-run unions can (warning: hackneyed business term coming) drive competitive advantage.

There is an oddity in all of this: I am not a union member at my "day job" (I do belong to the American Federation of Musicians for my musical gigs). Most IT people do not belong to unions. IT has always paid well. The people are very independent. IT didn't lend itself to unions (pun intended).

We may be paying the price for that now. Now our jobs are being outsourced. We are downsized. Companies make us accept new ways of doing business that may not be in our best interests.

Perhaps it's time for not only IT but also other "management" professionals to consider joining a union. In tough times, power must be met with power. You can try to do this yourself by becoming a superstar but, over time, others will knock you off the mountaintop. It may be a time to ally with those of like minds and collectively pursue common goals. Sacrifice the desire for only individual success and work as a team to achieve.

Come to think of it, isn't that what all of those project management books say?