Hi-tech Work Places no Better than Factories?

Anonymous Coward writes "A tasty bit of truth. Again, a Sociology Professor has found out what we all know. He wistfully comments on the state of geekdom in the modern corporation: "They face the lonely insecurity of the individual entrepreneur in a marketplace and culture that stresses, with macho imagery from war and sports, that they are ultimately alone" and adds that... "For many this may be the shape of work in the 21st century." You want to start a union? I mean how much is your boss making at your expense even if he did start the company long before you joined up?"

I can see it now.

[torre]

I can see it now a geek union which would certainly cater to the the ever important needs and issues of our culture...

And this great union would add a clause somewhere in the collective agreement with the employer that slashdot is a right that cannot be taken away during work hours! :)

Re:You wanna start a Union?

[Subcarrier]

HELL NO.

Damn right! For a geek a strike would mean not touching the computer for an extended period of time. Can you imagine abstaining from games and pr0n for that long? A few days and we'd be ready for a pay cut...

Re:You wanna start a Union?

[velco]

Damn right! For a geek a strike would mean not touching the computer for an extended period of time.

What a geek would one be without an own computer ?

Re:You wanna start a Union?

[0x0d0a]

If you work for a software company on a piece of software and go home and start writing an open source equivalent during your strike time?

Nah, I'd say that this would be significantly more influential than drinking beer at home or picketing or anything that the steelworkers did... :-)

Re:Dont like it?

[jgalun]

Not everyone has the skills to be a programmer either. Are you proposing that janitors be paid at the same wage as Unix sysadmins then?

Re:negative, much?

[david duncan scott]

God how I wish I still had my Beyond the Fringe albums. That wonderful Peter Cooke monologue comparing the life of a judge with that of a coal miner...I'd love to quote it correctly, but the line in question concerned that marked lack of falling coal in court rooms, such that judges often commented on it: "Well, no falling coal again today, eh?"

We've all met computer people with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, but I've met very few who've actually lost fingers due to a computing accident (although I did cut my finger rather badly on some case sheet-metal once -- had to wear a Band-Aid for several days.:))

Re:Dont like it?

[Waffle Iron]

Umm, no. They are employees. They have entered into a mutually agreed upon contract for set compensation. Employer gets employed's labor, employed gets employer's money, at an agreed upon rate. Don't like it? Go away. There are others that WILL accept the terms, and as long as there ARE others that will accept the terms, those terms are fair. Supply and demand.

Have you ever thought about becoming a motivational speaker? This is just the kind of thing that every manager would love to present to his or her staff during departmental pep talks. I've never seen it summed up so succinctly. This would really get the team fired up!

Re:Dont like it?

[the eric conspiracy]

Employees are not 'investors' because they are not taking any risks.

Tell that to the ex-employees of Enron, etc.