[consulting] Unionizing Drupal

[Sami Khan]

> I don't think we need anybody to regulate this, we are already a guild

Yes, but for what ends? The core of a guild system is not an apprentice
system,
but the guild itself that is controlled by the community and that further 
has control over the behaviour of the both the apprentice and current
members.

The apprentice system is simply a system of control to further the agenda
of the
guild. It is a mechanism of control and for consolidating power.

What we have now establishes a hierarchy of sorts that might allow
employers to qualify
some developers as being competent or not (most don't qualify), but does
nothing whatsoever in terms of
protecting the wages earned by members of the guild. 

Anyone may acquire the skills and lowball the market. Over time developing
countries 
will become more proficient at doing this, destroying the salary in
developed countries... 
unless of course the fashions keep shifting, which changes the game
somewhat and
developing countries need time to adapt to the changes... but over time
the system becomes 
more efficient.

Something to consider.

Sami 

> 
> cheers,
> Kristof
> 
> 
> 
> On 7 August 2010 07:55, Sami Khan <sami at etopian.net> wrote:
>> Khalid,
>>
>> I personally don't have the time to do a detailed study of the issue.
>> What
>> it looks like and how it functions depends on your goals as an
organized
>> base of power... which like any base of power has room for abuse by
those
>> people that are on the top of the hierarchy. Further, there may be a
>> minority of employees that abuse rights given by the unions; this can
>> drag
>> down the organization as a whole. Further, because certain management
is
>> abusive to employees themselves, they create opposition in unions that
>> wastes tons of company's resources. These three reasons I think, by and
>> large, are the biggest reasons people equate unions with something
>> inherently bad. However, unions have brought workers many rights,
rights
>> that in many cases have now been subsumed by the State; however, as the
>> State's resources become strained or the State becomes more corrupt,
>> these
>> duties are abandoned, leaving the workers in the lurch.
>>
>> One way that this community for instance could attempt to stave off
some
>> competition would be to control the instructional capital of Drupal; it
>> has
>> been in fact doing the exact opposite; and corporations acting within
the
>> community have been encouraging this behaviour. They want cheap labour
to
>> make returns for their investors.
>>
>> "Trade unions have sometimes been seen as successors to the guilds of
>> medieval Europe, though the relationship between the two is
disputed.[4]
>> Medieval guilds existed to protect and enhance their members'
livelihoods
>> through controlling the instructional capital of artisanship and the
>> progression of members from apprentice to craftsman, journeyman, and
>> eventually to master and grandmaster  of their craft. A trade union
>> might
>> include workers from only one trade or craft, or might combine several
or
>> all the workers in one company or industry."
>>
>> Anyhow give the wikipedia article a read:
>> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade_union
>>
>> If I have some time in the future I would love to do some research and
>> theorizing on the issue. We'll see if this ever happens.
>>
>> Sami
>>
>> On Fri, 6 Aug 2010 19:48:19 -0400, Khalid Baheyeldin <kb at 2bits.com>
>> wrote:
>>> Forking this discussion under an appropriate subject ...
>>>
>>> On Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 4:39 PM, Victor Kane <victorkane at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> We can all laugh our heads off, but the law of falling rate of return
>>>> (Marx) and the huge efforts being made (even in the Drupal community
>> via
>>>> the
>>>> sanctification of oDesk) to commoditize Drupal consulting work will
>> make
>>>> us
>>>> consultants laugh on the other side of our faces.
>>>>
>>>> Only an international union (which we should have done at the cusp of
>> the
>>>> curve, not now that it is dropping) can defend our rights as working
>>>> people.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Let us for a minute forget the negative connotations of "union" in the
>>> mindset
>>> of many in the USA ... That is a bug topic in itself: are unions good
or
>>> bad,
>>> and why ...
>>>
>>> Let me throw in why this will not work regardless of the above ...
>>>
>>> A union works within a certain geographical and jurisdiction area.
>>>
>>> I can't see how an international union would work. Suppose Elbonians
>>> refuse to join. What can the international union do to prevent work
>> going
>>> to them? Sue them? Under which country's law? Enforcing which laws?
>>>
>>> Unless it is The Hague ...
>>>
>>> Would site owners be punished for not using unionized Drupal? How?
>>> What stops them from using Joomla then if Drupal has become such
>>> a pain?
>>> --
>>> Khalid M. Baheyeldin
>>> 2bits.com, Inc.
>>> http://2bits.com
>>> Drupal optimization, development, customization and consulting.
>>> Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. --  Edsger W.Dijkstra
>>> Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. --   Leonardo da Vinci
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