Labour unions face hard road in Silicon Valley

SAN FRANCISCO: Well paid and in high demand, it would appear that engineers in Silicon Valley have scant reason to join forces in labour unions.

And yet there are signs that interest is on the rise.

Engineer Bjorn Westergard and a dozen colleagues were fired early this year by Lanetix.

The startup specialising in professional software cited economic reasons for the staffing cut.

But axed employees suspect their effort to create a worker union was a factor in the move.

The dismissals came a few days after an application join with the Communications Workers of America was sent, Westergard told AFP.

“I think it is the first time that software engineers in a software company have filed (to unionise),” Westergard said.

“It’s not hard to find a job, and it pays relatively good so there is the idea that if you have any problem at all you just leave and get another job.”

Some 10.7 per cent of US workers are unionized, according to a January report by the Labor Department, about half the percentage from 1983.

The highest levels are in publicsector jobs, including teachers and firefighters.

The report found just 1.7 per cent of “professional and technical services” workers in the private sector are union members.

Silicon Valley talent is notorious for flitting from one wellpaying job to another, with high turnover in workplaces weakening the potential for worker solidarity.

Westergard contended that colleagues in the industry are giving increasing weight to the option of staying put and fixing what they see as problems in workplaces instead of quitting.

It’s not that engineers are antiunion, Westergard maintained, “they just don’t know anything about organized labour.” Tech companies, on the other hand, have long been cool to the idea of unions. — AFP