Remeber the new economy? Back when young workers were hopeful and dewy-eyed and planning their retirements to Juan-les-Pins, France? True, they also were falling asleep at their desks from overwork, earning barely enough to buy their ramen noodles and sometimes going without health insurance. But it didn't matter: their cups ran over with stock options.þþThen the dot-com bubble burst and they learned just how much — or how little — they were worth. Had they only had union representation.þþÿA union contract gives you an enforceable right,ÿ said Hanan B. Kolko, a lawyer at Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, which represents dozens of unions. ÿIt gives people protection from unfair treatment.ÿþþUnion membership has declined over the last two decades, but that might be changing as more young professionals accept unions. A survey this year by Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the A.F.L.-C.I.O. found that 58 percent of young workers, those 18 to 34, would vote to be unionized if given the chance. þþÿWhen you're young and out of school and you enter the workplace, you're willing to trade long-term employment security for potential opportunities,ÿ said Amy B. Dean, 38, the founding director of Working Partnerships USA, a nonprofit organization for contingent and temporary employees in Silicon Valley. ÿThat was particularly true through the 1990's. But a few years into your work experience, you realize you're coming up short and you begin to feel disappointed with your employment and your employer.ÿþþA union provides job security, which isn't a bad idea in this economy. A 1999 Hart study found that young union members are more likely than young nonunion employees to have full-time, permanent jobs (74 percent versus 49 percent), earn more than $20,000 a year (70 percent versus 38 percent), be covered by a pension plan with an employer contribution (63 percent versus 39 percent) and have an employer-provided health plan (76 percent versus 40 percent).þþPerhaps no one could benefit from unionization more than so-called free agents, the 8.6 million independent contractors and 1.2 million temporary workers who have become a pivotal part of the working world. More than half of all temporary workers are under 35; temps in the 18-to-34 age group earn 16.5 percent less, on average, than permanent workers. Only 15 percent of temps have retirement plans, and only 5 percent receive employer-provided health insurance.þþMr. Kolko says today's free agents, which also include freelancers, ÿare where workers were 100 years ago.ÿ þþÿThey were disorganized and not treated well,ÿ he said. ÿTheir concerns weren't being presented in an organized way and they didn't receive statutory protections.ÿþþHow do you mobilize today's workers? By law, you cannot be fired for supporting a union or trying to bring one into your workplace. But it's a different story for freelancers or independent contractors, as Raj Jayadev, 27, discovered. Two years ago, he took an $8-an-hour temp job through Manpower, the temporary employment agency, as an assembler at a plant run by a contractor of Hewlett-Packard in Sunnyvale, Calif. When he tried to organize long-term temporary workers, he was handed a pink slip. He appealed his firing to the state labor commissioner. He was not reinstated, but the commissioner ruled that his right to express health and safety concerns at work had been violated. Mr. Jayadev was awarded a week's back pay by Manpower, amounting to about $240.þþMr. Jayadev says the current union model needs to be overhauled to entice young people. ÿYou have to meet them where their identities are,ÿ he said. ÿYou can't stand outside of the gates with a flier; there are no gates. You need to go where people are grouping.ÿþþUnions have been trying to attract more young people. In 1996, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. created Union Summer, a month-long internship that teaches students about unions and union organizing. Students work in union offices in various cities, attending rallies and meeting with union leaders. This year, the program had more than 500 applicants for 150 slots. Two years ago, Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union representing New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, created the Youth Brigade, a paid summer internship that also gives young people work experience in the labor movement.þþTheir efforts may be paying off, at least on college campuses. Students have organized on behalf of graduate student teaching assistants, sanitation workers and food service workers. And there have been some triumphs in the working world, notably when nearly 10,000 so-called permatemps at Microsoft filed a federal lawsuit against the company 10 years ago to get benefits. In 2000, they won a $97 million settlement.þþAdvocacy groups are also popping up. One of them, Working Today, represents independent workers, including freelancers, consultants, temps and contingent employees. ÿFreelancers need to have their own organization to build a constituency to advocate for them politically and with employers,ÿ said Sara Horowitz, the group's executive director in Manhattan. ÿUnions come from the beginning of time, in different shapes and forms — crafts, unions, and guilds. Every era of a new kind of work leads to a new kind of representation.ÿþþShe's right. Keep that in mind the next time your boss offers stock options instead of health insurance, refuses to give you a raise or won't promote you to full-time status. þþþ
Source: NY Times
