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∂CSL Mr. Lane Kirkland, President↓AFL-CIO
↓815 16th St. NW↓Washington, D.C. 20006∞

Dear Mr. Kirkland:

	I was impressed with the clarity with which the union
people at the Arden House
Science and Labor Conference saw their problems.  I was
less impressed with my fellow academics, but I think
this is partly because we haven't been thinking about the problems.

	Interaction of union people with science can be useful
in studying the impact of new technology on working conditions
and making good working conditions a major design goal in
the development of new technology.

	I confess to having been quite unprepared, and my presentation
left out two questions to which I had already given considerable thought, but
which I didn't remember when I was preparing.

	1. In designing computer programs to be used by other people,
computer programmers tend to take a god-like attitude.  They try to
anticipate all contingencies and give the user as little control of
the process as possible.  They regard the user as an
idiot who must be prevented from making mistakes.
While attitudes of computer people to clerical
workers contribute to this, the tendency exists even when the programs
are to be used by computer experts.  In the academic environment
we are usually in a position to refuse to use "fascist"
computer programs, but in a business environment there may often be
less choice.

	In any case, the attitude needs to be resisted both within
the computer profession and by the people who will have to use
the programs and their representatives.

	While management should be on your side
as with safety issues, the people who are directly affected
are more likely to notice the problems.  The solution is
often highly technical.  The specific complaints are more likely
to be a matter for local grievances than for collective bargaining,
although setting up a mechanism for formulating and settling
such grievances may be an appropriate bargaining point.

	While there is widespread awareness in computer science
that the problem exists, no-one has yet formulated what constitutes
unnecessary rigidity in computer programs that interact with people.

	If someone in your office or one of the unions
specializes in issues concerning people who work with computer
terminals, I would be glad to talk with him further.
Also if any computer science originated conference on these
issues occurs, I think there should be union participation.


	2. Many dangerous jobs should be done by remote control,
but this technology has been developed very little.  In particular,
miners should control almost all their machinery with the aid
of television from outside the mine.  This can save lives, make
the work easier, and avoid much underground travel time.

	Remote mining also has the advantage, from the union point of view, over 
some other technological advances, that present miners are the most
appropriate people to operate the remotely controlled machinery,
since their experience is precisely what is relevant to remote
controlled mining.  It is important to plan for employing the present
workers in future remote operations.
	
	Some years ago our laboratory initiated a study of remote
mining, but there was no Government interest.  Later they were
interested, but the man who had done the preliminary studies had
left us and gone to work for a computer company.  I believe he is
now in the Washington area.  The Lawrence Livermore Laboratory
now has some interest in remote mining.  Interaction with
organized labor at an early stage of developing this technology
would be very desirable.

	I would be glad to discuss either of these matters with
any appropriate people.  However, I am probably not in a position
to undertake any substantial research activity.  They are presented
as examples of problem on which scientists and union representatives
can profitably interact with benefit to the public.

.sgn

cc: David Chudnovsky, Tom Donahue