MoveOn is planning a sit in at Microsoft. (below)
One activist’s POV:
What needs to happen is organizing a union of Microsoft workers. You have to understand these software engineers. They have worked very hard in school to learn their skill and they have a one tracked brain.Start passing out cards to the workers or putting them on their cars at Mircosoft parking lots and bus Connector bus stops. We need to start a union for them and keep it covert and charge no union dues for the time being.It starts with a few workers from there. Once they know others are in, it helps with the courage factor.
A different POV:
To what purpose would the Microsoft workers form a union? For higher wages? They’re already paid quite a lot. Microsoft, google, and such tech leaders generally pay their workers the highest among employers.Would a Microsoft developer union oppose immigrants? Would such a union span other employers?If the union were aggressively populist like SEIU would they be useful.
My POV.
I think the answer is ALL unions have to come from within. Professional organizers sitting down with MS workers!
My guess is that the major issues would include:
1. role of workers in governance, esp. promotion.
2. MS use of temps.
3. overtime/professional pay issues.
4. ownership of intellectual property for work done on employee’s own time.
5. a role on the MS board of directors.
6. an equivalent of tenure or IP rights for workers making long term intellectual investments in MS.
ACTION FOR THE AMERICAN DREAM
THURSDAY, APRIL 26 ORGANIZED ACTION NEAR MICROSOFT CAMPUS BELLEVUE 3:30-5:00
ONE HUNDRED and TWELVE OF US did it last November when we Occupied Sammamish at 128th.
WE CAN DO IT AGAIN WITH YOUR HELP AND BRING A FRIEND!
The Sammamish/Issaquah MoveOn.Org House Group invites citizens of the Eastside to JOIN US Thursday, April 26 from 3:30 to 5:00 at the corner of 148th Ave. and NE 40 St. in Bellevue. Our signs will show the ten most critical steps to get our economy back on track and restore the American Dream…. Invest in Infrastructure, Create Energy Jobs, Invest in Education, Medicare for All, Make Work Pay, Secure Social Security, Fairer Tax Rates, End War-Invest at Home, Tax Wall Street, and Strengthen Democracy. Bring YOUR signs to help us capture the attention of the traffic leaving the Microsoft campus at this time. Sign ideas: support for Planned Parenthood, Women’s Health, Marriage Equality, Get out and vote for This American Dream, Immigration policies……
Americans who are willing to work hard and play by the rules should be able to find a decent job, get a good home, retire with dignity and give their kids a better life. Everyone of us has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That is our contract with one another. It can be fulfilled-but only if we work together. Too many at the top are grabbing the gains. The super-rich who got tax breaks should now pay full fare and help create jobs here, not overseas. Together we must rebuild our country; reinvest in our people and jump-start the industries of the future. (from MoveOn American Dream)
THIS IS OUR SPRING ACTION. WE NEED TO GET BACK ON THE STREETS. YESTERDAY IN SEATTLE FOR TAX DAY, foreclosure on Wells Fargo, THE CROWD WAS ONLY ABOUT 200 STRONG, AND NO COVERAGE ON TV. THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO. WE NEED TO WORK TO GET THE VOTE OUT IN SUPPORT OF A PRESIDENT WHO WILL GIVE US A PROGRESSIVE AGENDA.
“LET’S TREAT THIS BEAUTIFUL MOVEMENT AS IF IT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD. BECA– USE IT IS.” NAOMI KLIEN FROM HER SPEECH TO OCCUPY WALL STREET OCT. 6, 2011.