My last post looked at the entertainment industry and its unions for possible models to help meet the challenges of the knowledge economy for unions and their members. This post takes another look at those challenges.
Several commentators have remarked on the radical changes occurring in some major corporations in the wake of the recent financial collapse. Walmart and Nike stand out as unexpected converts to a sustainable ethic in moving from value chains to value cycles when sourcing materials. When can we expect Walmart, for one, to change its employment practices to align with its new calculations of sustainable value(s), and what are the chances that its attitude towards union representation for employees will change? Probably not great, and while Walmart may be an exceptionally resistent case, we have to ask ourselves whether employers or employees see us as relevant to their engagement with the information economy. Zappos.com, for example, has transformed call-centre work into an employee-driven initiative to provide ultimate customer service, complete with Google-type employee benefits and incentives. "Customer pull" is replacing marketing as the dominant growth strategy. Where do unions position themselves as service industries transform from mac-jobs to Google-jobs where motivating and rewarding employees becomes a given, with the emphasis on nimbleness and innovation to stay ahead of the competition?
Can we become repositories of expertise in delivering value through representing workers as companies strive to compete in a business climate where values have the potential to represent value, and transparency translates into visibility in markets where everyone seeks to be seen to be doing the right things? Where hotel housekeeping staff are seen as critical to a reputation for customer satisfaction and are rewarded commensurately (Joie de Vivre Hotels). As the outliers become models for the the mainstream, our traditionally relationships may have to shift towards partnerships as progressive values become emblematic of market value. Hopefully we are learning from change as it unfolds and are sufficiently nimble and innovative to not only retain our relevance but become a driving force for bringing outlier innovation into the mainstream.
