Over 200,000 tech workers have lost their jobs since the beginning of 2022. The big players have downsized. The ranks of prominent crypto companies have been thinned. It's not clear that an end to the layoffs is coming anytime soon. And the replacement of workers with robots or computer programs promises technological unemployment across sectors.
The downsides to this workforce contraction are obvious. There are fewer positions available and there's more competition for these positions. Personally, I've been receiving fewer job offers to write for the crypto industry in recent months. Some companies may even be deciding to use AI instead of humans to meet their writing needs.
The waves of layoffs are a stark reminder that humans are little more than interchangeable parts to the corporate entities they serve. The minute our labor becomes more costly than the labor of a machine, we become disposable. Management neatly avoids all accountability for treating workers like cattle by blaming market forces. At the same time, there may be cause for new optimism inside of the current situation.
If 200,000 tech workers are no longer employed, they're not just going to do nothing. Many are likely transitioning into contract work from traditional employment, which is a step down in some ways. But some of these workers may decide to get together, collaborating on projects and forming companies. And with so many technically adept people suddenly free to pursue their own visions, it's possible that they'll bring awesome things to life.
A few years ago, some friends and I started tossing around the idea of a knowledge workers union. Our thinking was to create collective bargaining power by connecting knowledge workers into a national network. This union would have some things in common with the Mediators of Individual Data as described in my most recent post. It would have membership standards and be empowered to negotiate credibly on behalf of its constituents. It could also be self-funding through a variety of schemes, including data sales, though funding through dues seems more realistic.
Imagine you're a contract worker in a dispute with a client, and that this dispute has reached the point where third party intervention is warranted. Involving the legal system in the situation would be costly and perhaps pointless, but a union rep or mediator might be able to settle the dispute amicably. The union could also include a professional insurance component, a standards and credentialing function, and other useful services.
Collective bargaining rights have deteriorated sharply in our transition to a gig economy. Traditional unions appear at once deeply corrupt and powerless against big business. As far as I'm aware, the interests of knowledge workers have never been consolidated into any kind of union or association. I wonder why that is.
Anyone whose job is primarily cognitive can be considered a knowledge worker. That means writers and coders and really anyone doing technical work. Considering the vast numbers of people who qualify as knowledge workers, such a union could quickly become powerful. The specifics would of course have to be worked out, but the idea for a Knowledge Workers Union is sound.
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