Tech Writer Lawsuit; STC position? (take II)

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

Dan Goldstein wondered: <<Even if they *weren't* in financial  
trouble, would STC help establish technical writers' legal rights?  
Maybe they just don't want to be that kind of professional  
association.>>

Just to clarify: I was in no way advocating that STC should step in  
as a lobbyist; in this particular case, it's not clear whether  
advocating to promote paid overtime is a good thing (i.e., it defends  
the rights of technical writers) or a bad thing (i.e., it gives  
companies one more reason to cut costs by offshoring). Companies  
could jump either way, and it would be a bad thing for STC to be seen  
as promoting a position that leads to more offshoring if they guessed  
wrong. That's probably the real reason why STC is staying clear of  
this mess.

Being one of them left-leaning socialist (commie!) Canadians, and  
thus an enemy of the U.S. state <gdr>, I predictably have more  
sympathy for protecting exploited workers than I do for the  
companies. My _guess_ is that companies that understand the value of  
hiring locally and of our work won't be pushed into offshoring by  
such a legal precedent, whereas those that are already  
enthusiastically offshoring won't do anything they aren't already  
doing. But I could easily be wrong, and wouldn't willingly advocate  
for my position when the results won't affect me in any way but could  
dramatically affect my American colleagues.

Instead, I'd like to see STC serving as an amicus curiae (assuming  
that's the correct term). Such a role specifically places STC in the  
role of an "expert witness" that can provide clarification of the  
true roles and importance of the profession. It would provide lots of  
favorable publicity and establish a precedent in which STC is seen as  
a credible authority that should be consulted in such situations.  
That could come in very useful in future cases that are less  
politically fraught: if STC is seen as credible enough to provide  
this kind of advice once, they'll be asked to do so again in the  
future, possibly in cases where a more active advocacy role would be  
helpful.


----------------------------------------------------
-- Geoff Hart
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
www.geoff-hart.com
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