[consulting] Unionizing Drupal

[Alex Rollin]

A trade union that helped worker cooperatives is one side of things.
I also think, though, that a model for a Drupal/FLOSS cooperative could help
collaboration and a lot of other things for us Drupalists.

This trade union helping cooperatives is the situation with Co-operatives
UK.  A workers cooperative is a great solution for Drupal teams and IT
workers in general because the tools/production systems are inexpensive
compared to, say, a car factory.

I've been working on plans for a Drupal workers cooperative for awhile.  I
floated the idea at a recent camp in Amsterdam for some feedback and I've
continued working on it, pretty much solid, for about 4 months.  I'd love to
share and collaborate with others on the subject.

We could gather some ideas here?
http://groups.drupal.org/drupal-worker-cooperative

Alex

On Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 10:13 AM, Kristof Van Tomme <kristof at pronovix.com>wrote:

> At the core a guild is a system where in order to gain higher returns
> on your labor you need to go through an apprenticeship of unpaid work
> that will make you part of the community.
>
> To become a Drupal rockstar and land well paying contracts (be it as a
> freelancer or an employee) you need to contribute to the community
> with unpaid work.
>
> I don't think we need anybody to regulate this, we are already a guild
>
> 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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