j h woodyatt's Journal: ack! slashdot has peeved me twice this week!

The first time, it was the story about the Enron federal case.

Being a former employee of Enron Broadband Systems-- I worked on the software in what they called the Pooling Point Control System (PPCS) part of the Broadband Operating System (BOS) that is now famously alleged to have been total vaporware (I'm not saying it wasn't)-- the story was sure to get me riled up enough to post.

I'm still bitter about the Enron thing, and-- for crying out loud-- I got off so light. I walked away in May 2001 before the big crash hit. I had lined up new employers and I didn't miss a paycheck in the transition. The entire Enron unit I worked at in Pleasanton was sold off to a little no-name company in the California central valley the very next day. A few months later, all my former coworkers were out of their jobs.

A couple of them are still out of work. Others have left I.T. entirely. Like I said, I got off light.

And now today, there is the story about organizing a "mass departmental exodus" from the workplace. Arrrgggghhh!!!! Isn't that called a strike?!

Goddam! Would someone please explain to me why we Slashdot types think we are Too Smart For Labor Organizing? I have worked in some pretty silly working conditions in my career, and never once have I seen anyone even try to organize a labor union. It's like the idea is just impossible to conceive. Every time I mention it to people in my industry, I get blank stares like I'm speaking in Esperanto.

Instead, we get all wound up thinking we're too important to be treated like labor. Hey! They give us lovely stock options don't they? We must be like management!

Except we're not. We're labor. And we are completely dispensable unless we organize into a union. If you don't like the idea of joining a union, then quit bitching about how the company doesn't treat you like you deserve. You are asking for it.

Rant off.