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The idea of a Technical Writer's union does seem pretty far-fetched, given
that white-collar workers have tended to be difficult to unionize. And I
don't think the general perception of unions is that they ensure a "better
quality worker". Actually, the opposite usually seems to be true in
practice.
But the idea of a guild - now that has merit. Whereas a union is a "you're
in or you're out" proposition, a guild has various levels of achievment, and
could consequently provide for varying levels of compensation for it's
workers. A properly-run guild can insure the quality of its members in a way
that a union can't (or won't). Employers can choose to use guild members or
not, but if all goes well, they should choose to do so, just to ensure the
quality of the work.
The problem with guilds is nobody seems to know how to make them work
anymore. To be effective, a guild has to be well-known, and guild membership
has to be seen as a prerequisite for the production of quality work, by
employers, by writers and by aspiring writers. It could be that
"market-forces capitalism" will prevent modern knowledge workers from ever
forming guilds, just as it has made slavery and serfdom unprofitable.
Or maybe it's that modern knowledge work just isn't that hard to learn and
do. A professional painter in the middle ages needed a good portion of his
lifetime to learn how to paint well, since he had to start by learning how
to make the paint. How long does it take us to learn a career now? Many
companies (at least in the US) even dispense with minimal job training in
favor of a "pick it up as you go along" apporach.
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