LaborNET

  Ask Neale

  Tool of the Week

International

Mobile Workers

By Peter Lewis

A global IT labour shortage is throwing up challenges for both the developed and developing world. Gerd Rohde, from the Geneva-based Union Network International, is working to strike a balance.

It seems the New Economy is throwing up a lot of opportunities for workers, but the opportunities are not always where the workers are. Is that your experience ?

What we are currently observing is a major skills shortage of, in particular, skilled IT professionals in a number of countries - virtually all European countries and the United States as well. One of the solutions pushed by government and employers is that they want to relax immigration laws and end restrictions for IT professionals in order to attract people, mainly from India, but also from central and eastern Europe.

What issues does that raise for the international union movement?

First of all we have had a certain degree of labour mobility. in this sense it is nothing new. What is new is that in European countries in particular we have some quite high unemployment levels. We have an IT industry where there is practically nobody beyond 45, there have hardly been any women employed. We think that the changing of immigration restrictions is not the solution to the problem. The solution in the US as well as Europe should be training and education, particularly training for women and adaption for older employees and to bring the unemployed into the labour market.

There's obviously one set of issues for the developed world. What are the issues for countris like India and Eastern Europe. - is there, for instance a brain drain occurring to the richer, wealthier nations ?

This may be a problem, but at the moment India and Eastern Europe have educated more IT professionals than they currently need. the Indian software and services industry is growing at a tremendous rate, but in India there is the highest population of IT professionals in the world - only matched by the United States. Its become common for Indian IT professionals to work abroad. There is certainly a problem in the medium term, but I don't think its an immediate problem in India. It may be the case in other countries, there are growing markets for IT services and electronic business in latin America and the Middle East and parts of Africa. If the movement was coming from these places it would be much more of a problem.

We can to a certain extent as an international labour movement try and benefit from this movement. UNI has recently launched a passport program aimed directly at migrant professionals and managers to link them up with unions in the country they are working in. Unions can issue these passports to members working abroad as a tool in organising. Wherever they go, they know where to call on for information and advice. In some countries this will go as far as legal support. So this shows how global labour movements can open opportunities for the union movement.

We hear a lot about the need for global labour standards to address the push in work to the developing world on the grounds of lower wages. Is this also a factor in the IT sector ?

Definitely. there are a broad range of different tasks in the ITR sector. Many of the tasks are close to routine work, simple programs, new software technology like the Object Reenter Technology which can be carried out virtually anywhere. This is what major companies do. A lot of companies outsource their programming work into developing countries. The global division of labour is growing on a global scale. Data entry in the Carribean, while the medium-skilled work is given to India and Eastern Europe. That division is driven by cost advantages.

If we are seeing a collapsing of boundaries in IT where does a union movement in a country like Australia have a constructive role to play in this debate?

Australia is definitely on the receiving end - the IT labour market is tight, although the position is probably not as pronounced as in the United States. They are giving away a lot of projects that do not directly need customer relations. This is something that the skills shortage has created - a division between things that need to be done with the customer and those that can be outsourced, such as data entry and programing. In this respect while Australia is a long way away it is part of the global economy.

Can you make a value judgement about whether this phenomenon is a `good' thing that a country like America is driving a technology that is a creating a huge demand for labour ?

I don't think there's one answer. On the one hand the development of the Global Information Society or the Knowledge Economy has a positive potential. But as always is the case, the unleashing of market forces does not deliver the social benefits. Without the trade union movement trying to get a firm hand on defining labour standards and on organising the workforce it is probably a case where the trade benefits some without delivering social advantages to all. For example, the United Nations recently launched a project where they tried to bring business, social partners and NGOs together in order to unfold the positive potential of information technology in developing countries. This is a clear recognition that market forces can't do it alone, they can't deliver the positive potential of information technology.

So what are the keys to maximising the benfits of this change ?

First of all, there must be a recognition that trade unions have to play an important role in this context. They have to take care of employees, deliver services and benefits to members to help them get along in the New Economy. Secondly, they have to play a role in the broader picture, curbing market forces - taming capitalism. Thirdly, we have to ensure that labour standards apply - not just basic labour standards, the potential of the New Economy is such that people should be participating in the enormous gains of the new economy, through profit-sharing, employee participation and share ownership for workers so they have an active stake as it develops.

  View entire issue - print all of the articles!

  Issue 71 contents

»	Protesting Posties Blast Bosses in Swank Hotel
»	Mario Carries Torch For Workers
»	Union Flag Flies High At Olympic Park
»	International Passport for IT Workers
»	Homecarers Strike Another Blow Against Outsourcing
»	Alliances The Legacy of S11 Say Protestors
»	Violence Rife Against Union Activists
»	Call Centre Workers Compo Call Answered
»	Better Pay, Big Screens and Ice Cream for Bus 2000 Drivers
»	'Appalling' Detention Centres Behind Riots
»	Election of Burmese Official A Slap In The Face

»	Away For The Games
»	Sport
»	Labour Review
»	Tool Shed

»	Listen To The Young

Notice Board
- Check out the latest events

Latest Issue

View entire latest issue
- print all of the articles!

Previous Issues

Subject index

Search all issues

© 1999-2000 Labor Council of NSW

LaborNET is a resource for the labour movement provided by the Labor Council of NSW

[ Privacy Statement | Disclaimer | Credits ]

LaborNET is proudly created, designed and programmed by Social Change Online for the Labor Council of NSW