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    By Lynda Gorov
    (c) 1983 Chicago Sun-Times (Independent Press Service)
    Burly men in sweat-soaked workshirts shaped steel and the labor
union of yesteryear on the foundry floor. But the union of tomorrow
may depend in large part on more genteel laborers.
    Unions are pondering ways to expand the wardrobe of card-carrying
members to include briefcases, blouses and Brooks Brothers suits.
Unions boast they ultimately will organize many rungs of the
expanding high-tech ladder, from the lowest clerical worker to the
chief engineer.
    Although there is little visible evidence of successful organizing
drives yet, unions say future members will be just as likely to
analyze computer programs as to assemble autos.
    ''If we do our job, high-tech, which is a low-wage industry except
for managers and engineers, will be organized,'' said one union
official. ''High-tech companies are very clever about having
employees identify with their organizations by providing recreation
and reasonably aesthetic surroundings. But much of the work is long
and detailed and the pay often stinks.''
    Attracting new workers, whether in the high-technology or service
sectors, is critical to the future health of the labor movement. The
membership rolls of many unions, from the AFL-CIO to the United Auto
Workers, have dwindled in recent years. With plant shutdowns plaguing
America's industrial heartland, tens of thousands of members have
been laid off.
    Ironically, many union jobs have been lost in the shift from
smokestack industries to the burgeoning high-tech and service
sectors. Although the jury is out on how to lure new workers, unions
say they will turn technology to their advantage. But for now, most
unions simply are studying their options.
    ''Our members in the future may be a different age, sex and race and
doing quite different jobs, but I am confident membership will go
back to historic levels,'' said Rex Hardesty of the American
Federation of Labor. ''Any time a boss tries to make unilateral
decisions, workers will unite to have a voice.''
    While employment opportunities in old-line industrial firms remain
dim, jobs in the high-tech field are more plentiful. Some economists
and sociologists say high-tech will create an abundance of jobs;
others believe high-tech will eliminate more manufacturing jobs than
it creates because mass production techniques will require fewer
workers.
    Unions note that the basic needs of high-tech employees - reasonable
paychecks, solid benefits, job security and safe working conditions -
differ little from those of dock workers. High-tech employees also
will want the right to retrain as new technologies emerge. And as
more workers enter the high-tech field, the greater the opportunity
for organizing, unions say.
    But some labor observers argue that unions are becoming obsolete.
They criticize unions for only paying lip service to organizing
drives. High-tech is in its infancy and its workers are relatively
young, too. Those workers, unfamiliar with the organizing drives of
the 1930s, often question the need to unionize.
    Through a combination of benefits and persuasive anti-union
arguments, high-tech employees ''have been given more hope about
their economic futures, more faith in the company,'' said Robert
Muscat, director of organizing for the Communications Workers of
America. He adds that high-tech firms are vocal about educational and
career opportunities, which also fosters an anti-union bias.
    Union leaders concede they must overcome numerous obstacles before
the Silicon Valley in California and Route 128 in Massachusetts can
be organized. For starters, they must learn to speak the language of
computers and robotics.
    ''It is much harder to deal with better-educated workers. We have to
speak on their level and in terms that are appealing to them,'' said
Joseph Konowe, national director of the Teamsters' industrial trades
division. ''We're interested in all high-tech workers and are
conducting surveys and calling conferences in five jurisdictions. The
process will move very slowly.''
    Although organizing high-tech workers is not now the CWA's ''highest
priority,'' Muscat said they ''absolutely will be a big target in a
few years.'' Like other unions, the CWA currently is hustling to
attract workers in the service sector.
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n511  1923  26 Mar 83
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    X X X THE SERVICE SECTOR.
    The CWA also is involved in a campaign to organize engineers. Muscat
said unionizing high-tech employees takes longer than six months, the
time frame it normally takes to organize blue-collar workers.
    Traditionally, most union members have been hourly employees. The
unions' initial thrust, therefore, is apt to be aimed at the
high-tech industries' assembly line and clerical workers, whose
repetitious jobs and lower wages make them more viable targets.
    Karen Nussbaum, executive director of the working women's
organization 9 to 5, predicts automation will cause mass clerical
unemployment within 15 years. A likely side effect, she said, will be
greater unionization of employees working with automated equipment
and of those producing the produc5i
     ''There is a wide range of issues-the loss of jobs, job security,
the quality of jobs and health and safety,'' Nussbaum said.
''Clerical jobs with an inherent amount of interest will become
deadening.''
    Organizing high-tech professionals is expected to prove somewhat
more difficult. Although Walt Davis of the United Food & Commercial
Workers said his union has found great interest among professionals,
he concedes selling them a union card won't be easy.
    ''They think they got where they are because they have sparkling
personalities,'' Davis said. ''But, with time, they will find
themselves in the same position as other workers have historically.''
    Orgjuzing director Charles Bradford of the International
Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said that any
industry with a future is a prime target for unionization. But, he
adds, white-collar workers will be no harder to organize than
blue-collar workers.
    ''If the issue is there, it doesn't make any difference,'' he said.
''When they feel they're being abused, it doesn't matter what color
their collar is.''
    Unions are well aware that many high-tech companies are
labor-intensive and highly sensitive to employment costs. Some of the
businesses are relatively easy to relocate. And companies suddenly
confronting higher labor costs may threaten to pick up an leave
town.
    ''There is no question unions will bring to industries wage
increases and some fringe benefits,'' said Prof. Charles Craypo of
Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. ''But
it's almost a case where success will breed failure. If unions are
successful, they may encourage companies to leave unless the market
is right there and it is difficult for them to leave.''
    One union official wryly added, ''As long as they don't do it
overtly, it's easy for a company to stall a union campaign.''
    Until the economy recovers, the likelihood of organizing large
droves of workers in any field is slim. Workers are reluctant to
clamor for unionization when unemployment is at record levels.
    ''Right now, workers are scared and concerned about job security.
They're not going to do anything that threatens their jobs,'' said
Thomas Kochan, professor of industrial relations at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. ''As conditions improve, expectations may
expand and they may recognize there are some gains to be made. But it
will take more than organizing as usual.''
    Competition to attract the high-tech labor force is expected to be
fierce. Some predict high-tech workers will gravitate toward unions
with a ''professional'' image as opposed to a blue-collar base. The
Teamsters' Konowe said the victors will be ''the unions that get
there first.''
    Muscat said, ''It's not going to be easy for anyone,'' adding that
the CWA is well-positioned for the coming campaign because it has
support in the communications field.
    ''Yes ma'm, we definitely have a future,'' the AFL-CIO's Hardesty
said. ''We have studied the enemy and have decided we will survive.''
     END
    
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