CWA workers at IBM don't have a contract with management, but IBM let people near retirement choose the original, more lucrative plan. CWA also helps IT employees at Sun Microsystems broaden their skills through training. It isn't always the traditional, adversarial relationship. As workers adjust to this new environment where startups are rare, mobility constricted and most dotcoms' options worthless, expect to hear more about unions. Only if there's a larger, national organization involved, warn Cappelli and Johnson.
Management can easily quash a local uprising by targeting individuals involved.
Make sure those around you will join too. Union success depends on solidarity. Consider the Writer's Guild in Hollywood. If they strike, no one who wants a career afterwards will cross the line. Ironically, tech workers themselves might be the biggest unionization obstacle.