The Information and Communication Technology sector has been growing ever more important in the ways we organise our lives and societies. To support this shift, a massive infrastructure of cables, servers and other telecom devices, has been built and needs to be maintained. Thousands of lines of code must be written or updated to make proper use of it.
Much of the infrastructure is in private ownership, yet these technologies were not created through this fiefdom. No system is maintained by a brand nor its shareholders. The capital doesn’t understand the code that multiplies it.
The technologies we design, maintain, extend, or support are at the centre of political and psychological turmoil on a global scale. This is as much an opportunity as it is a responsibility: When we organise as collectives and use our bargaining power, we can change the future of our societies. We are not helpless pawns of the market.
After all, our work is a tool not for growing power and wealth, but first and foremost for shaping the future that we will all have to live in.
Head 1. Our Exploitation
Our sector may be seen as cushy, however we remain workers and with that status we have a duty to ourselves and others to recognize the areas of our exploitation. For example, that within our high-earning sector, the pay disparity is extreme, or that our work often continues generating value far beyond when our compensation was given. We should also recognize that are unable to decide where the surplus value goes, whether to improving our working conditions, to increasing our compensation, or to investing in our local communities. Finally, we are deprived of the ability to refuse for what projects or clients we work for, or to act on our concerns about what we consider to be inethical uses of our products.
This is our exploitation.
Head 2. Our Leverage
At the current moment, it seems as though the leverage carried by ICT worker has the form of highly skilled, highly paid, and highly demanded work. However, with one eye to the future this proves to be a false comfort. It would be unwise to indefinitely rely on any imagined or observed superiority of our industry or people within it. Technical education is provided on an unprecedented scale, and the rise of generative AI promises to lower the entry bar even further. These trends are unstoppable and are pushing down the price of our labour, yet the profits generated from this labour are only increasing. If today is not the turning point of our comfort, it is coming soon.
In the face of this threat, we look to another possible source of leverage: to organise. Organised in unions, our combined labour lends us power to push back. We, of all people, do not want to stall progress but we want to influence the direction it takes and to be fairly compensated for our role in it.
This is our leverage.
Head 3. Our Solidarity
In the light of the global nature and impact of our trade our solidarity must be both local and international.
Local so far as it is the space in which we exist as workers and in which we have the most direct power. The local laws and authorities are simultaneously what provides our action with legal framing and an area of potential change. Political action, unionisation, workplace activism are viable methods of enacting this change.
International, since capital coordinates employers across borders with little supervision, therefore we must coordinate as well. We can make relationships across borders with international union organisations, go to conferences, creating and connecting with media, providing platforms and sharing our thoughts on things. Let’s remember that the local influences the international just as much as the international sets the stage for the local.
Of note is that in both local and international contexts, our solidarity is inclusive. We reach across borders and other artificial divisions such as race, gender, sexuality or religion to improve our material condition. Acting in this way ensures we cast a wide net, involve diverse viewpoints, and build our power with integrity.
Our solidarity needs to be reflected not just in the way in which we organise, but also in the products and services which we use and sometimes help create. We must promote privacy to keep our organisations safe, we must strive for accessibility to remove hindrances to organising, we must encourage sustainability to improve the quality of life of ourselves and others, and we must prefer community-oriented tools which give us control over our own data.
Our employers and other capital holders can exploit the differences between established employees and the precariat in order to leverage one against the other. Their leverage must not go underestimated. That is why we need to build bridges between workers.
This is our solidarity.