Sure, you can buy PCs assembled entirely by union labour. Two small companies, including an electrical contractor in suburban Chicago, sell machines created with the labour of employees represented by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
But outside of the wireless telecom arms of the Bells, where unions are extending their reach from strongholds of the traditional telephone business, organised labour has made few inroads into high-tech firms. Despite a beefed-up presence in Silicon Valley for the past three years, organised labor has been able to gain little traction in the economy's leading sector.
The only two real organising efforts that labour has undertaken are struggling. One is the much-publicised attempt to organise warehouse and customer service workers at Amazon.com, an effort strongly opposed by company management. The other, at a tiny San Francisco company called Etown.com, has erupted in controversy over layoffs, with the Communications Workers of America calling off a scheduled election at the company this month amid complaints of unfair labour practice.
Against that background, unions are demonstrating new flexibility, reinventing themselves and their missions to meet the challenges of New Economy industries. In one effort, union organisers have turned to the huge numbers of temporary workers upon whom the industry relies heavily, and have used public relations campaigns to improve their lot. And in a growing tactic, unions are creating partnerships with corporations to offer workers high-tech training in such areas as digital network skills.
"Obviously, the labor movement can't do things the way they did 60 or 70 years ago, especially in high-tech," says Marcus Courtney, co-founder of the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers (WashTech), a CWA affiliate.
