The CPSR CPU is an electronic publication dedicated to sharing information among workers in the comp

[David Farber <>]

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Issue: 009   CPU: Working in the Computer Industry   04/12/94




CPU is an electronic publication dedicated to sharing
information among workers in the computer industry.




CONTENTS
1. ABOUT BOX
2. /*COMMENTS*/
3. MAILBOX
4. FIRST PERSON: WORK AT IBM
5. BILLBOARD:    A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR
6. TOOLBOX:
7. CALENDAR & CALLS FOR PAPERS: PDC'94
8. LABOR BYTES:  MISCELLANEA
9. EOF


_____________________________________________________________
1. ABOUT BOX


Online subscriptions to CPU are available at no cost by
emailing listserv () cpsr org with a blank subject and a single
line in the body of the message:


SUBSCRIBE CPSR-CPU <your first name> <your last name>


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SUBSCRIBE CPSR-CPU Jean-Bertrand Aristide


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CPU back issues can be found via anonymous FTP at either
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/pub/CPSR/work.


PLEASE RE-POST THIS FREELY, especially at work. CPU
material may be reprinted for non-profit purposes as long
as the source is cited. We welcome submissions and commentary.
Mail sent to the editors or to CPU will be treated as a
"letter to the editor" and considered printable, unless
noted otherwise.


Editors for this issue: Michael Stack and Jim Davis. We may
be contacted by voice at (510) 601-6740, by email to
stack () starnine com, or by USPS at POB 3181, Oakland, CA 94609.


CPU is a project of the "Working in the Computer Industry"
working group of Computer Professionals for Social
Responsibility / Berkeley Chapter (though views expressed
herein are not necessarily those of CPSR... and while we're
at it, neither may they be those of our employers).


__________________________________________________________________
2. /*COMMENTS*/


This issue marks one year of publication for CPU, At last look,
our subscriber count was almost 2000. We managed to get out, with
many of our readers' help, 8 issues and about 350K of information.
Not a bad start.


If you haven't yet signed the Clipper petition, get your signature
on. At last count, over 45,000 people have signed CPSR's letter to
President Clinton opposing the Clipper chip. To sign onto the
letter, send a message to:


   Clipper.petition () cpsr org


with the message, "I oppose Clipper" (no quotes). You will receive
a return message confirming your vote.  For more information about
Clipper, consult the CPSR Internet Library - FTP/WAIS/Gopher
CPSR.ORG /cpsr/privacy/crypto/clipper.


This issue continues the discussion started two issues back on
forms of organization for high tech workers. This is an extremeley
important discussion, and we would like to hear from more of you.


We also would especially like to hear from students who are hoping
to enter the job market after graduation. What are the recruitment
prospects like this year? What is the sentiment on campus re:
jobs, etc.?


As always, send in your stories, on-the-job observations,
scuttlebutt, news items of interest, etc.


jd
__________________________________________________________________
3. MAILBOX: MORE ON "VOLUNTARY SEVERANCE"


RE: "'Voluntary Severance' at HP Labs" featured in CPU_007 and
the comments on the article in CPU_008.


> I would like to offer a perspective on business's
> (mis)treatment of software engineers and probe some of the
> factors underlying the problem.
>
> First is a sense of disappointment in the lack of creativity in
> the ideas put forth to address the issue.  Clearly some of our
> brightest and most industrious people are engaged in this
> profession.  Hence the United States current position of world
> leadership in software development.  The suggestion of
> unionization, a 19th century solution, cannot seriously be
> considered a part of the solution.  In fact any solution
> incorporating monolithic, industry wide performance
> specifications would only lead to the decline of this discipline.
>
> Second is a boomer generation phenomena which seeks to find
> blame rather than take responsibility.  Choice is the essence of
> life.  Computer engineering professionals are not indentured
> servants.  The facts are that business is changing more rapidly
> than at any time in history.  Computer engineering is only one of
> the disciplines caught up in this cyclone of change. Surviving in
> this climate requires a high degree of flexibility and
> experimentation.  The suggestions which make best sense encourage
> free association and continuous skill development.  We are not
> talking about plumbing, a very honorable craft, but a highly
> skilled professional discipline.
>
> My last point relates to the barriers that exist between computer
> systems engineering and business management professionals.  Few
> companies exist where computer systems engineering exists as
> a means to an end.  In the examples cited computer systems
> engineering would not be considered the core competency
> as it would be for a consulting firm.  So from a management
> perspective computer systems engineering is a support activity
> that has no direct contribution to the bottom line, little
> strategic value and can be sourced from a variety of suppliers
> on a 'just in time' basis. This suggests that the computer
> systems engineering discipline must evolve and embrace business
> disciplines in order to thrive.
>
> Management will adapt to whatever model best helps achieve
> their business objectives.  Today we have two models, full time
> employment and consultants.  Neither is perfect but presently it
> is all we have.  Build a better mouse trap and business will beat
> a path to your door. If we are seeking models, we need to look at
> what will be required in the 21st century not to what worked a
> hundred years ago.  The medical and legal professions may
> provide a more relevant model for developing business
> consortia which leverage professional skills in the market
> place.
>
>
> John O'Connor
> The Faxon Company
> oconnor () faxon com


[One of the issues we have been trying to deal with in CPU is that
of a rapidly changing computer industry, and how people who work
in it can survive. The possibility of lifetime employment, or
steady work, which seemed so obvious ten years ago, maybe even
five years ago, is not at all obvious today, as readers of CPU's
Labor Bytes section must be aware. The cost of this transformation
is born unequally -- some get quite rich off of it, some merely
tread water, and the majority are sinking (see, e.g., _Business
Week_, 11/18/91). So how do we defend our interests, and at the
same time  recognize that as people who sell our skills, or rent
our brains out to a software or hardware company, our interests do
not necessarily coincide with the ones renting or buying us?


Unions have been one historical solution. Using the only real
weapon available, the threat of withholding labor, unions have
been able to win health and safety standards, overtime, pension
plans, job-sharing and equitable work distribution, etc. One might
argue that in a time when labor demand exceeds the labor supply,
unions, or some other form of self-defense, is unnecessary. But
one issue that workers in high tech industries will need to assess
is whether or not the global labor pool of high tech skills is
beginning to exceed the current worldwide demand for it. As the
high tech labor pool expands, as low wage, high-skill countries
like India, China, the former Soviet Union, Ireland, Mexico etc,
come online, are all computer workers assured of a job?


The question before us isn't "are unions good?" but "what do we
need?" i.e., what can we take from our historical predecessors,
and what can we add of our own? - jd]
__________________________________________________________________
4. FIRST PERSON: WORK AT IBM


[Mike Lepore edits and writes a thoughful online journal called
ORGANIZED THOUGHTS, "dedicated to the organization of the working
class to establish industrial democracy". Recently he wrote to his
list of subscribers explaining why the latest issue of OT was
behind schedule (To subscribe to OT, write Mike at his address
below) -- Ed.]


I work as a design engineer in the IBM plant at Poughkeepsie, New
York.  We have a group of 800 electrical designers whose job is
most accurately described as:  we work on projects which get
cancelled.  The company tells us to develop this or that
particular type of logic or memory chip, then we go off for a year
or two, designing it, having our prototypes fabricated and tested,
improving the performance of the circuits....  and then the
company announces that they have decided not to market the machine
which they had originally told us to develop, and then we throw
all of our work into the garbage can, and begin the cycle all over
again. Same thing year after year.  Well, a couple weeks ago, the
boss called the 800 of us into an auditorium, and informed us of a
couple things:  First of all, he said, take all the chip designs
we have been working on for the past year and throw them into the
garbage can (so what else is new), and, secondly, that the company
is going to try out an unusual new policy.  This time, the company
wants to decide what kind of machine they choose to market
_BEFORE_ having the workers go off and develop it.  As a result of
this unprecedented new policy, most of us will be laid off within
the next few weeks, and just a couple dozen designers will be kept
on to complete that one particular project which is intended to be
completed and marketed.


The corporation is treating each department like an independent
company for purposes of hiring and firing.  A few of us may find
ways to save our jobs, but that will require each individual to
call each department manager in the company, apply for work there,
and schedule interviews.  It's kind of hopeless, since they have
already decided to lay off more than ninety percent of the local
circuit designers, but we have no choice but to go through these
motions for the next couple weeks, basically working night and day
on that effort.


By the way, assuming that I'll be laid off within the next couple
weeks, here is a description of the fabulous, generous "Buy-Out
Package" I'll be getting.  This will be my reward for working for
one company for 17 and a half years:  (1) As a severence pay, I
get a single check of about $10,000***;  (2) I lose my entire
retirement pension.


That's great, huh?  It's so good to know that I have to start all
over again, and that I can never retire unless I work an
additional 30 years for another company.  Of course, if I'm trying
to do that and then I keep getting laid off again, I'll just have
to keep starting over.  The usual policy in the industry is - no
retirement with a pension unless the worker stays with a single
employer for 30 consecutive years.  Otherwise, you have to work
right up until you die.


(This is the fabulous system of which the 'Libertarian' kooks say,
"All working conditions are completely voluntary, because the
workers always have the right to quit their jobs.")


Oh, I almost forgot the funniest part.  That measly check they'll
pay out - the severence pay - in order to get it, each of us will
be forced to sign a paper which says something along the general
lines of, "In the event that I'm being fired out of discrimination
or harassment, I hereby waive my legal right to sue."  If you
don't sign it, your severence pay will be zero.


It's a tough decision for me to sign that paper, because age
discrimination is definitely part of the motivation behind the
layoffs.  Everyone knows that business is cyclical, and, while IBM
is laying off now, the company will at some point be hiring again.
Most of the new hires will be much younger than the employees who
have been fired.  So the company is effectively firing hundreds of
50-year-olds and replacing then with hundreds of 25-year-olds, who
will receive lower salaries.  In addition, these younger workers
are further away from retirement, so the stockholders get to keep
all the money that was already deducted from the wages of the laid
off workers, which would have gone to their pensions had they been
able to complete thirty years of service.  See, I told you this
was a funny story.


But a lawyer-friend has shown me how the law for New York is
written - as long as the company can simply show documentation
that they have decided to shrink the business, then they can fire
anyone at any time without giving a specific reason for selecting
certain individuals.  Some states aren't like that, but I had to
go and be born and raised in New York.  So I guess it's all my
parents' fault  :-)




Mike Lepore
mlepore () mcimail com
February 26, 1994




FOOTNOTE:
*** Correspondents have since complained that I had neglected to
consider vested rights.  More precisely, I'll be able to start
collecting vested rights, about $6,600 per year (before taxes),
starting in the year 2009.  The company reserves the right to
reduce this annual amount, at any time, for any reason.


8. LABOR BYTES: MISCELLANEA


Greg Dunkel <JOSCU () CUNYVM CUNY EDU> writes:


I caught this in _Liberation_ (p.11 2/18/94):


IBM France, along with the standard gamut of attacks on its
employees -- early retirement, working from home over
telecommunication lines, cuts in hours and buyouts -- has come up
with an unusual plan.  The standard bonus that it gives, about a
months pay which averages 21,000 ff (about $4,000 US), is going to
be adjusted depending on sales.


While the bonus is only paid once a year, the results will be
posted on your pay packet once a month (the normal pay period in
France). The sales target, and the profit target will be
calculated and set by the executives of IBM/France.


The unions involved are very upset -- "distrustful" and
"outspoken" are the words the reporter (Nicole Penicaut) used.
According to her, the employees of IBM were so upset that they
**HAD A DEMONSTRATION.** [600 employees held up traffic for hours,
according to _Resistor: IBM Workers United_ #41 2/94, PO Box 634
Johnson City, NY, NY 13790 -- Ed.]


Only one of the unions involved  has signed off on the company's
proposal but the others admit that they are unlikely to be able to
stop its adoption.  Very many other companies are extremely
interested in this kind of "salary flexibility."


In this country, we have seen flexible hours and flexible
employment become the norm in many areas of computing;  perhaps we
will see "flexible" pay become more and more common.  Of course,
we all realize that "flexibility in pay" won't involve changes in
our expenses -- the landlord or the bank are still going to want
their full payments.




Our European correspondent reports:


BULL: Even more "restructuring" at Bull. In CPU.007 we wrote about
a 2,500 job loss in 1993 and 1,500 for 1994. The new re-
organization effort will cut 6,500 jobs over the rest of 1994 and
1995.


OLIVETTI: The Italian company will lay-off 1,932 people of its
37,000 work force. That is part of the restructuring program,
which also includes part-time jobs replacing full-time jobs and a
decrease in salaries. Five years ago Olivetti employed 55,000
people. The unions agreed to the plan.


SIEMENS: SIEMENS will lay-off more then 10,000 people in 1994. In
1993 13,000 jobs vanished. Further cutting of costs are planned.
SIEMENS-NIXDORF, Austria will let go 30 of its 790.


DEC: DEC Europe will reduce its work force over the next 12 to 18
months by 5,000 to 6,000 people [Also reported in _NYT_ 3/8/94 -
Ed.].


AT&T: The American telecom giant is planning to lighten its
workforce by 15,000 over the next two years. Only a few of these
will be from the 53,000 AT&T workers outside the US, said US-
speaker Jim Byrnes.


UNISYS Austria: 3% higher turnover and 22% less personal in 1993.


European Managers: though expecting recovery of the economic
situation, European managers are still cutting personnel costs.
More then 40% are thinking of letting people go, only 12% are
thinking on creating new jobs. Even worse is the situation in
Germany and the Netherlands, where 60% resp. 57% of the managers
are expecting further lay-offs. IBM Germany alone will cut 6,000
jobs in 1994.


Electronic Banking: electronic banking will help German banks to
cut up to 50,000 jobs in the next years. You do the work and they
lose their jobs.


(These items from engagierte Computer ExpertInnen Austria,
Postfach 168, A-1015 Vienna)
------------------------------------------------------------------




MISCELLANEA: CIGARETTES DON'T CAUSE CANCER: A jury in Houston has
found that COMPAQ COMPUTER did not know its computers could cause
wrist injuries and was not obligated to warn users. "There is no
scientific or medical evidence to show that a keyboard causes
carpal tunnel syndrome," said Compaq's attorney (_WSJ_ 2/22/94)


Many gay employees do not participate in domestic-partner programs
because they are afraid that by declaring their sexual orientation
at work, they may jeopardize their careers. Only 20 of LOTUS's
3,200 U.S. workers are currently signed up for domestic-partner
benefits.  At VIACOM, only 18 out of 5,000 U.S. employees have
signed on, and at MCA, it's 15 out of 15,000 employees (_WSJ_
3/18/94)


INTERMEDIA's project to develop a CD-ROM version of Lovejoy's
College Guide enhanced by video clips of the various colleges was
accomplished for less than $70K and in just 6 months by hiring 4
full-time programmers in Bombay, India, who worked for $1000 a
month each (_Forbes_ 4/11/94)


Meanwhile, back home, we find out that last march, the
compensation committee at IBM awarded John Akers a $3 million-plus
severance in addition to the annual pension of $1.2 million as
well as $1 million dollars worth of stock options.  I bet he's
pissed off though; new CEO Gerstner is to get at least $6 million
severance should he "someday get forced out" (_WSJ_ 3/10/94)


Interesting article on the front page of the NYT (3/18/94):
"Prompted largely by fears that Federal juries will grant large
monetary awards in bias cases, more and more companies are
requiring their employees to submit claims of discrimination,
including sexual harassment, to binding arbitration... Some
companies are unilaterally imposing the restriction on their
nonunion employees, while others are insisting that job applicants
forfeit their right to sue as a condition of employment.  Still
other companies are making such an agreement a condition for
promotion, stock options or other benefits." The article goes on
to describe arbitration cases (guess which way the rulings went)
and that civil rights lawyers describe it as companies "opting out
of the law"


Finally, remember the "Justice for Janitors" campaigns reported in
past CPUs?  Their innovative tactics at APPLE and ORACLE
earned a favorable write-up on the front page of the _WSJ_
reporting the success the Service Employees International Union
(SEIU) has had up and down the country gaining benefits, higher-
raises and union representation for janitors. "Guillermo Barroso,
a 37-year-old janitor who cleans buildings at Hewlett-Packard Co.,
says that in the 15 months he has worked for a union contractor,
his hourly wage has jumped to $6.50 from $5.50; he also now gets
medical and dental benefits..."


LAYOFFS: BORLAND laid off about 10% of its work force mostly at
the expense of sales, customer support and administration letting
go 200 of its 1,350 U.S. workers.  The company said it will lay
off an unspecified number of its 700 overseas workers soon (_WSJ_
4/1/94)... SOFTWARE PUBLISHING, the makers of Harvard Graphics, is
to layoff half of its 480 employees over the next 90 days.
Chairman Fred Gibbons bemoaned the rise of two forces in software:
sharply lower prices and the practice of bundling different
programs together as a single "suite." (_WSJ_ 4/7/94)... EO, the
personal communicator subsidiary of AT&T Co., has quietly laid off
100 of its 200 employees (_SFC_ 3/10/94)... In the past 16 months
American phone companies have announced plans to eliminate 85,100
jobs by shedding management layers and adopting computerized
network technology. Workers skilled in running pre-digital
telephone technology are having trouble finding equivalent jobs,
even though the overall telecommunications industry is rapidly
growing. (_NYT_ 2/15/94, reported in EDUPAGE)...Ameritech, the
midwest regional Bell operating company, will cut 6,000
nonmanagement jobs (12.5 %) from its payroll "to make Ameritech
more  efficient and customer-responsive." (_NYT_ 3/26/94, reported
in EDUPAGE 3/27/94)... A 3rd-Party Mac Developer Newsletter had a
column ("On The Lighter Side") describing a new Macintosh system
software suite, the "Layoff Manager."