Compare the UAW with the Candian Auto Workers. Since they split in the 80s, the CAW has seen a net growth of full-time, union, automotive manufacturing jobs.
They make it a priority and the members of the CAW are mobilized enough to make it happen. It wasn't but a few years ago that they occuppied a factory to keep GM from removing key pieces of machinery. GM buckled - the factory is still there.
So unions CAN oppose globilization. It does take a degree of activism by union members and engagement with other social forces so that the unions aren't isolated but it can be done.
Couldn't agree more. Ever read "The Overworked American" by Juliet Schor? Seems like we've had incredible productivity increases since the early 50s but our work week has only increased - especially since the 80s. Wtf?
Employers take what they can get. We're not given the choice. We have to take it.
In 97' I worked at Samsung's fab in Austin, Texas as a chemical technician, troubleshooting and maintaining the pumps that sent liquid chemicals up to the fab. I also pushed a lot of drums and hooked up tanker trucks of sulfuric and other nasties to the hungry fab.
As the average slashdotter knows, every chip is composed of multiple layers, each masked and etched, bathed in various acids and bases and then neutralized and cleaned before the next layer can be applied.
Then these waste chemicals are pumped out, neutralized (in theory) and diluted before being dumped into the same waste water stream that eventually hits streams, rivers and ground water.
There's a whole lot of water indirectly consumed in the manufacturing process - but a whole order of magnitude more water consumed and dumped to dilute the hopefully neutralized (ie, salts) waste products.
So I believe the numbers - kgs (ie, liters!) of water per MB does not set off my bullsht detector.
To me, it also brings into question the whole drive of chip research. It's all focused on performance. There are some articles on research into environmentally friendy chips. But when did you hear of a chip marketed as enviro-friendly? We're tempted into buying the another chip just a tick faster but not even given the choice. For consumers to even be able to make the choice for a more sustainable product we have to have the information.
But companies don't even want us to know what we're injesting - that isn't important to them and is contrary to their creation of demand for more stuff. Why would we think they would tell us something against their own short-term interest?
I recommend purchasing a 1700 router and/or a 2900 switch from ebay. You can set up configurations, learn the CLI and play around. Flash the rom, reload the O/S. All that. The cost is less - be patient and you can get a 2900 for less than $400 like I did.
After the test you can resell it for what you got or you can keep it and use it in your home. Can't do either with a class.
There is a chemical component to process addictions. When you are getting a hit, your brain releases the opiates. You do go through withdrawl - trust me on this.
Yes, you can force them to pay you. In Texas, I helped out wage laborers that were screwed out of pay by contractors. There were hoops to jump through, but eventually the state could order bank accounts closed until the bill was paid. I'm sure different states have similiar offices. At the least if they refuse the bill you could file the claim in court.
Don't let the bastards walk over you. They have the cash, but as this incident clearly identifies, they need us to make more cash.
Know your rights, or you will have no rights. www.washtech.org
Actually, even by the measure of dollars paid per dollars of product (the manager's idea of productivity), according to this Bureau of Labor Statistics report - productivity goes DOWN with layoffs.
Quote:"Information technology professionals have been working longer hours but
achieving less throughout 2000 as the turnover rate has grown dramatically,
according to a study conducted by the Stamford, Conn.-based IT consulting
firm Meta Group. It found that information technology professionals in the
United States are working an average of 2,157 hours per year, up 36 percent
from 1999 levels."
That study is a bit out of date - 2000. But if we are working harder now - 2157 hours per year in 2000 is already an average of over 41 hours per week - without vacations. Didn't people die for the 8 hour day?
Productivity for whom? Working faster doesn't mean I like the code I'm writing, or that I'm able to do the best job I can on the servers I'm maintaining (just two right now as a consultant). The folks that are still doing tech support where I used to work are swamped and aren't able to do their job. Their customers are complaining but it isn't the lone customer service person's fault: management blew the business plan and the workers have to handle the heat.
In Grad school I used LabView to program a lot of data acquisition and even some control (it was kinda scary using a Mac Quadra to digitally control a $50,000 hydraulic press). This was obviously some time ago.
I think the two advantages of Labview were the visualization (as you stated) and of obliviating the need to remember arcane syntax (I was programming fortan prior to that... shiver). Today toys like visual studio catch most of my syntax errors, leaving me free to make others.
I still think some programming experience is required to get the most out of labview - you still need to know programming structures (comparisons, loops, etc). Its just a shorter trip from flowchart to program.
Our job conditions suck. Our pay is not really all that great except for a few of us, we don't have decent healthcare or retirement, we have to continually learn new shit on our own time/money.
When the company is through with us, what few benefits that we have leave with our job and we don't know when we'll find work again.
I've worked union - and I know the difference.
Yeah, if I dislike it so much, then why don't I find another job? That's why I'm an electrician and an admin. Course, right now there aren't jobs for either here in Seattle....
So yeah, I'm in www.washtech.org. When we finally get the overtime laws changed so that they apply to techworkers, will you continue to work at straight-time past eight hours? Or will you benefit from what you criticize?
Sure, some unions suck. But so often its because the workers have let the bureacrats run the show, instead of getting off their asses. You can vote in a union - unlike in a company. As for Boeing - if it hadn't been for the machinists union, all those planes would be built in China by now and Seattle would look like all those closed steel mills in PA. The issues they might be striking over (and they have a vote) is Boeing sending the jobs overseas.
But then, if you live in Seattle with top o' the nation unemployment, what choice would you have?
There are companies like Real Networks who are laying people off and enforcing overtime on the rest.
Employers get away with what they can, for as long as they can. These days, why not over-work your employees and then get more? (I'm describing their thinking - I fully feel this is insane given the need to maintain and continue projects).
So then you have the construction worker. Over 8 hours? Time and a half. Over 10? Double-time. Work on Sunday? Double-time. There is still overtime in the construction industry, but the employer has an economic incentive to use it wisely, if at all.
But then, here in Washington, the Washington Software Alliance gets laws past to exempt tech workers from overtime!
Result - no disincentive on the part of employers to not use overtime.
If construction workers are smart enough to read the writing on the wall, how come tech workers aren't?
Those employers didn't change their overtime policies because they wanted to - the workers forced the employers to sign a contract.
I just made a similar reply to another post - but it is still relevant to say this here.
Another industry with short-term projects is construction. These guys work themselves out of a job just like we do. The industry also has a cut-throat bidding process.
But there are some big differences on training!
Really - contrast the fate of most geeks to a union construction worker, like an electrician.
Geeks (most) pay for college. Union construction worker - employer paid apprenticeship program of class-room instruction and OJT.
So how many geeks start out their work careers paying off debt? How many construction workers have debt starting out?
Geeks have to continually upgrade skills to avoid being obsolete. You can check out the responses to this story as to what are chances are.
Construction workers have to upgrade their skills as well - whether mandated safety programs or for new tech. Union construction workers have zero out of pocket costs for this, paid from dues and from employer contributions.
That's why I'm a washtech member. Here's our training program - geeks training geeks.
Why do construction workers have company-paid training? The same reason microsoft forces dell to sell microsoft. The same reason the Washington Software alliance lobbies to kill premium overtime pay for tech workers and bring in more h1-b visas at lower than market pay. These folks organize and use their strength. Why don't we?
I just made a similar reply to another post - but it is still relevant to say this here.
Another industry with short-term projects is construction. These guys work themselves out of a job just like we do. The industry also has a cut-throat bidding process.
But there are some big differences on training!
Really - contrast the fate of most geeks to a union construction worker, like an electrician.
Geeks (most) pay for college. Union construction worker - employer paid apprenticeship program of class-room instruction and OJT.
So how many geeks start out their work careers paying off debt? How many construction workers have debt starting out?
Geeks have to continually upgrade skills to avoid being obsolete. You can check out the responses to this story as to what are chances are.
Construction workers have to upgrade their skills as well - whether mandated safety programs or for new tech. Union construction workers have zero out of pocket costs for this, paid from dues and from employer contributions.
That's why I'm a washtech member. Here's our training program - geeks training geeks. [washtech.org].
Why do construction workers have company-paid training? The same reason microsoft forces dell to sell microsoft. The same reason the Washington Software alliance lobbies to kill premium overtime pay for tech workers and bring in more h1-b visas at lower than market pay. These folks organize and use their strength. Why don't we?
Another industry with short-term projects is construction. These guys work themselves out of a job just like we do.
But there are some big differences on training!
Really - contrast the fate of most geeks to a union construction worker, like an electrician.
Geeks (most) pay for college. Union construction worker - employer paid apprenticeship program of class-room instruction and OJT.
So how many geeks start out their work careers paying off debt? How many construction workers have debt starting out?
Geeks have to continually upgrade skills to avoid being obsolete. You can check out the responses to this story as to what are chances are. Construction workers have to upgrade their skills as well - whether mandated safety programs or for new tech. Union construction workers have zero out of pocket costs for this, paid from dues and from employer contributions.
That's why I'm a washtech member. Here's our training program - geeks training geeks.
So we do have geeks training geeks. [washtech.org] Classes happen if folks want them and if we can find a qualified teacher. Qualified has come to mean, 'knows his/ her stuff and can communicate it'. We have hired some non-members on occasion, too. They're damn cheap, and unemployed members can delay payment for 6 months.
When I say 'damn cheap', I mean the classes, not the teachers.
As a member-run union of tech workers, we found out what our members wanted. Training was one of those things that are members wanted and that we could accomplish in the near-term.
So we do have geeks training geeks. Classes happen if folks want them and if we can find a qualified teacher. Qualified has come to mean, 'knows his/her stuff and can communicate it'. We have hired some non-members on occasion, too. They're damn cheap, and unemployed members can delay payment for 6 months.
But really - contrast the fate of most geeks to a union construction worker, like an electrician.
Geeks (most) pay for college.
Union construction worker - employer paid apprenticeship program of class-room instruction and OJT.
So how many geeks start out their work careers paying off debt? How many construction workers have debt starting out?
Geeks have to continually upgrade skills to avoid being obsolete. You can check out the responses to this story as to what are chances are.
Construction workers have to upgrade their skills as well - whether mandated safety programs or for new tech. Union construction workers have zero out of pocket costs for this, paid from dues and from employer contributions.
Here in Washington state, the Washington Software Alliance lobbies to make it legal to not pay tech workers overtime. They - the folks with the cash that we need to pay for rent, food and bandwidth are very certainly taking an 'US vs. Them' outlook. Like the overtime bill, they also lobby against ergonomics standards and just about everything that would improve our quality of life and work life to their own advantage.
But there actually is a union for tech workers - Washtech. The union arose out of the microsoft-permatemp lawsuit. While we (I'm a member) do traditional organizing campaigns to unionize workplaces, there is a lot of member activism in lobbying for the interest of tech workers. It's a small organization, primarily the work of the members. We also do low-cost training by members, for members and sponsor workshops on such timely issues as unemployment, gov'ment retraining monies, worker's rights, etc. Check it out.
On the menu is Win2k, Netware and no OS. So MS doesn't have the strength to do this on servers as they do on desktops. That would be my conclusion, as they'll only do whatever they can for their own profit - consumers be damned.
The same reason hi-tech went to South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia. A minimum of infrastructure, enough education and cheap wages enforced by a repressive state. Boeing and Motorola love it.
Slashdot Mirror
Compare the UAW with the Candian Auto Workers. Since they split in the 80s, the CAW has seen a net growth of full-time, union, automotive manufacturing jobs.
They make it a priority and the members of the CAW are mobilized enough to make it happen. It wasn't but a few years ago that they occuppied a factory to keep GM from removing key pieces of machinery. GM buckled - the factory is still there.
So unions CAN oppose globilization. It does take a degree of activism by union members and engagement with other social forces so that the unions aren't isolated but it can be done.
It should read "Slammer Worm Owns Microsoft" not "Slammer Worm Slams Microsofts Own".
;) Still, there is some reporting I usually provide our team but my data source is still pooched.
I'm saying that from behind Microsoft's firewall - I should know.
It sure was a giggle on Monday seeing all the warning letters taped on every door and elevator in the building.
Most ops stuff seems up now - as up as they ever are
Oh well... I can still browse slashdot.
I figure this post is blatant karma whoring, but if it helps some geek out there smile...
**Microsoft Confidential - Do not forward**
All Computers Running SQL Server 2000 and
MSDE Required to Load SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 3
say no more!
Couldn't agree more. Ever read "The Overworked American" by Juliet Schor? Seems like we've had incredible productivity increases since the early 50s but our work week has only increased - especially since the 80s. Wtf?
Employers take what they can get. We're not given the choice. We have to take it.
In 97' I worked at Samsung's fab in Austin, Texas as a chemical technician, troubleshooting and maintaining the pumps that sent liquid chemicals up to the fab. I also pushed a lot of drums and hooked up tanker trucks of sulfuric and other nasties to the hungry fab.
As the average slashdotter knows, every chip is composed of multiple layers, each masked and etched, bathed in various acids and bases and then neutralized and cleaned before the next layer can be applied.
Then these waste chemicals are pumped out, neutralized (in theory) and diluted before being dumped into the same waste water stream that eventually hits streams, rivers and ground water.
There's a whole lot of water indirectly consumed in the manufacturing process - but a whole order of magnitude more water consumed and dumped to dilute the hopefully neutralized (ie, salts) waste products.
So I believe the numbers - kgs (ie, liters!) of water per MB does not set off my bullsht detector.
To me, it also brings into question the whole drive of chip research. It's all focused on performance. There are some articles on research into environmentally friendy chips. But when did you hear of a chip marketed as enviro-friendly? We're tempted into buying the another chip just a tick faster but not even given the choice. For consumers to even be able to make the choice for a more sustainable product we have to have the information.
But companies don't even want us to know what we're injesting - that isn't important to them and is contrary to their creation of demand for more stuff. Why would we think they would tell us something against their own short-term interest?
I recommend purchasing a 1700 router and/or a 2900 switch from ebay. You can set up configurations, learn the CLI and play around. Flash the rom, reload the O/S. All that. The cost is less - be patient and you can get a 2900 for less than $400 like I did.
After the test you can resell it for what you got or you can keep it and use it in your home. Can't do either with a class.
I'd agree with Kline on one hand that Sturgeon's Law is being enforced - 90 percent of everything is crap.
However, the notion that publishers are filtering with my best interests in mind is also part of that 90 percent.Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
And beyond that even, I'd have to say that one man's treasure is another man's garbage.
nt
There is a chemical component to process addictions. When you are getting a hit, your brain releases the opiates. You do go through withdrawl - trust me on this.
Yes, you can force them to pay you. In Texas, I helped out wage laborers that were screwed out of pay by contractors. There were hoops to jump through, but eventually the state could order bank accounts closed until the bill was paid. I'm sure different states have similiar offices. At the least if they refuse the bill you could file the claim in court.
Don't let the bastards walk over you. They have the cash, but as this incident clearly identifies, they need us to make more cash.
Know your rights, or you will have no rights.
www.washtech.org
Actually, even by the measure of dollars paid per dollars of product (the manager's idea of productivity), according to this Bureau of Labor Statistics report - productivity goes DOWN with layoffs.
Quote:"Information technology professionals have been working longer hours but achieving less throughout 2000 as the turnover rate has grown dramatically, according to a study conducted by the Stamford, Conn.-based IT consulting firm Meta Group. It found that information technology professionals in the United States are working an average of 2,157 hours per year, up 36 percent from 1999 levels."
That study is a bit out of date - 2000. But if we are working harder now - 2157 hours per year in 2000 is already an average of over 41 hours per week - without vacations. Didn't people die for the 8 hour day?
Productivity for whom? Working faster doesn't mean I like the code I'm writing, or that I'm able to do the best job I can on the servers I'm maintaining (just two right now as a consultant). The folks that are still doing tech support where I used to work are swamped and aren't able to do their job. Their customers are complaining but it isn't the lone customer service person's fault: management blew the business plan and the workers have to handle the heat.
Don't they do that all the time?
The latest hack from news.com
In Grad school I used LabView to program a lot of data acquisition and even some control (it was kinda scary using a Mac Quadra to digitally control a $50,000 hydraulic press). This was obviously some time ago. I think the two advantages of Labview were the visualization (as you stated) and of obliviating the need to remember arcane syntax (I was programming fortan prior to that... shiver). Today toys like visual studio catch most of my syntax errors, leaving me free to make others. I still think some programming experience is required to get the most out of labview - you still need to know programming structures (comparisons, loops, etc). Its just a shorter trip from flowchart to program.
Oh really?
Our job conditions suck. Our pay is not really all that great except for a few of us, we don't have decent healthcare or retirement, we have to continually learn new shit on our own time/money.
When the company is through with us, what few benefits that we have leave with our job and we don't know when we'll find work again.
I've worked union - and I know the difference.
Yeah, if I dislike it so much, then why don't I find another job? That's why I'm an electrician and an admin. Course, right now there aren't jobs for either here in Seattle....
So yeah, I'm in www.washtech.org. When we finally get the overtime laws changed so that they apply to techworkers, will you continue to work at straight-time past eight hours? Or will you benefit from what you criticize?
Sure, some unions suck. But so often its because the workers have let the bureacrats run the show, instead of getting off their asses. You can vote in a union - unlike in a company.
As for Boeing - if it hadn't been for the machinists union, all those planes would be built in China by now and Seattle would look like all those closed steel mills in PA. The issues they might be striking over (and they have a vote) is Boeing sending the jobs overseas.
But then, if you live in Seattle with top o' the nation unemployment, what choice would you have?
There are companies like Real Networks who are laying people off and enforcing overtime on the rest.
Employers get away with what they can, for as long as they can. These days, why not over-work your employees and then get more? (I'm describing their thinking - I fully feel this is insane given the need to maintain and continue projects).
So then you have the construction worker. Over 8 hours? Time and a half. Over 10? Double-time. Work on Sunday? Double-time. There is still overtime in the construction industry, but the employer has an economic incentive to use it wisely, if at all.
But then, here in Washington, the Washington Software Alliance gets laws past to exempt tech workers from overtime!
Result - no disincentive on the part of employers to not use overtime.
If construction workers are smart enough to read the writing on the wall, how come tech workers aren't?
Those employers didn't change their overtime policies because they wanted to - the workers forced the employers to sign a contract.
So why don't tech workers do the same?
I just made a similar reply to another post - but it is still relevant to say this here.
Another industry with short-term projects is construction. These guys work themselves out of a job just like we do. The industry also has a cut-throat bidding process.
But there are some big differences on training! Really - contrast the fate of most geeks to a union construction worker, like an electrician. Geeks (most) pay for college. Union construction worker - employer paid apprenticeship program of class-room instruction and OJT.
So how many geeks start out their work careers paying off debt? How many construction workers have debt starting out?
Geeks have to continually upgrade skills to avoid being obsolete. You can check out the responses to this story as to what are chances are.
Construction workers have to upgrade their skills as well - whether mandated safety programs or for new tech. Union construction workers have zero out of pocket costs for this, paid from dues and from employer contributions.
That's why I'm a washtech member. Here's our training program - geeks training geeks.
Why do construction workers have company-paid training? The same reason microsoft forces dell to sell microsoft. The same reason the Washington Software alliance lobbies to kill premium overtime pay for tech workers and bring in more h1-b visas at lower than market pay. These folks organize and use their strength. Why don't we?
I just made a similar reply to another post - but it is still relevant to say this here. Another industry with short-term projects is construction. These guys work themselves out of a job just like we do. The industry also has a cut-throat bidding process. But there are some big differences on training! Really - contrast the fate of most geeks to a union construction worker, like an electrician. Geeks (most) pay for college. Union construction worker - employer paid apprenticeship program of class-room instruction and OJT. So how many geeks start out their work careers paying off debt? How many construction workers have debt starting out? Geeks have to continually upgrade skills to avoid being obsolete. You can check out the responses to this story as to what are chances are. Construction workers have to upgrade their skills as well - whether mandated safety programs or for new tech. Union construction workers have zero out of pocket costs for this, paid from dues and from employer contributions. That's why I'm a washtech member. Here's our training program - geeks training geeks. [washtech.org]. Why do construction workers have company-paid training? The same reason microsoft forces dell to sell microsoft. The same reason the Washington Software alliance lobbies to kill premium overtime pay for tech workers and bring in more h1-b visas at lower than market pay. These folks organize and use their strength. Why don't we?
Another industry with short-term projects is construction. These guys work themselves out of a job just like we do.
But there are some big differences on training!
Really - contrast the fate of most geeks to a union construction worker, like an electrician.
Geeks (most) pay for college. Union construction worker - employer paid apprenticeship program of class-room instruction and OJT.
So how many geeks start out their work careers paying off debt? How many construction workers have debt starting out?
Geeks have to continually upgrade skills to avoid being obsolete. You can check out the responses to this story as to what are chances are.
Construction workers have to upgrade their skills as well - whether mandated safety programs or for new tech. Union construction workers have zero out of pocket costs for this, paid from dues and from employer contributions.
That's why I'm a washtech member. Here's our training program - geeks training geeks.
Replying to my own post to correct my 'english'.
So we do have geeks training geeks. [washtech.org] Classes happen if folks want them and if we can find a qualified teacher. Qualified has come to mean, 'knows his/ her stuff and can communicate it'. We have hired some non-members on occasion, too. They're damn cheap, and unemployed members can delay payment for 6 months.
When I say 'damn cheap', I mean the classes, not the teachers.
Disclaimer: I'm a Washtech member.
As a member-run union of tech workers, we found out what our members wanted. Training was one of those things that are members wanted and that we could accomplish in the near-term.
So we do have geeks training geeks. Classes happen if folks want them and if we can find a qualified teacher. Qualified has come to mean, 'knows his/her stuff and can communicate it'. We have hired some non-members on occasion, too. They're damn cheap, and unemployed members can delay payment for 6 months.
But really - contrast the fate of most geeks to a union construction worker, like an electrician.
Geeks (most) pay for college. Union construction worker - employer paid apprenticeship program of class-room instruction and OJT.
So how many geeks start out their work careers paying off debt? How many construction workers have debt starting out?
Geeks have to continually upgrade skills to avoid being obsolete. You can check out the responses to this story as to what are chances are. Construction workers have to upgrade their skills as well - whether mandated safety programs or for new tech. Union construction workers have zero out of pocket costs for this, paid from dues and from employer contributions.
oh yeah, us geeks are sooooo smart.
Here in Washington state, the Washington Software Alliance lobbies to make it legal to not pay tech workers overtime. They - the folks with the cash that we need to pay for rent, food and bandwidth are very certainly taking an 'US vs. Them' outlook. Like the overtime bill, they also lobby against ergonomics standards and just about everything that would improve our quality of life and work life to their own advantage.
But there actually is a union for tech workers - Washtech. The union arose out of the microsoft-permatemp lawsuit. While we (I'm a member) do traditional organizing campaigns to unionize workplaces, there is a lot of member activism in lobbying for the interest of tech workers. It's a small organization, primarily the work of the members. We also do low-cost training by members, for members and sponsor workshops on such timely issues as unemployment, gov'ment retraining monies, worker's rights, etc.
Check it out.
I think that was my point. Next time, I'll make my sarcasm more obvious.
Well, we could always play freeciv on an xbox.
But then again, xbox stuff is prettier, and we all know we play games 'cus they're prettier.
Another reason might be this, which I suppose could be viewed as a game as well.
So we want linux on the xbox to play games?
That's what I'm buying for my clients.
Here's a link to one of their server config menus.
On the menu is Win2k, Netware and no OS. So MS doesn't have the strength to do this on servers as they do on desktops. That would be my conclusion, as they'll only do whatever they can for their own profit - consumers be damned.
The best place for advertising would be on the dollar bills themselves.
I mean, they're buying the government anyway - why not be honest about it?
The same reason hi-tech went to South Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia. A minimum of infrastructure, enough education and cheap wages enforced by a repressive state. Boeing and Motorola love it.