White-collar workers are turning to labor unions [View all]

[Starry Messenger]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-union-white-collar-20130516,0,6262845,full.story

<snip>

One of the most clicked-on links on the professional employees section of the AFL-CIO's website is "I'm a professional. What can a union do for me?" said Paul Almeida, president of the national union's Department for Professional Employees.

"When you come out of a recession, people feel more secure, and say, 'I've taken all the hits and done what I'm supposed to. I deserve my share of what's going on,'" he said.

The legal profession seems especially ripe for organizing because of the abysmal job market.

In Washington, D.C., for example, a group of administrative law judges is trying to form a union under the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers. In Canada, legal aid lawyers in Ontario also are trying to organize, in part, because their employer asks employees to share computers to do their work.

At one time, professional workers were encouraged to give input to management to improve the way companies are run. Now they are treated like cogs on the wheel, regardless of the amount of experience or the number of degrees they have under their belt, said Paul Shearon, secretary-treasurer of the federation. "Their level of influence has really diminished, and it's had a dramatic impact on their workplace environments," he said.

<snip>

The poll at the LA Times link is running 70-30, with the majority voting yes on "Do white-collar workers need unions?".