Having been in call center hell all day because of Mcafee Anti-Virus' failed automatic update push, I noticed something we can all do in the spirit of worker solidarity. We can reward the education of girls by helping women to earn a good living - which will raise the base for all of us.
As Andy Stern President of the SEIU said at Yearly Kos 2007 - we can only protect labor by organizing internationally. The Teamsters also have cross-national campaigns.
Today, made I made 4 service calls (totaling over 3 hours) split between AT&T and McAfee AntiVirus - all to overseas call centers. Fortunately, the staff I dealt with were very competent and knowledgeable about both their company's issues and computer systems in general.
However, at the end of the call each of the male operators told me an email evaluation would be sent and each ASKED for a positive review. The FEMALE operators did not tell me about the evaluation form, nor did they ask for my positive review. Because research tells us that asking for a positive response increases both the response rate and the "positiveness" of the rating, this gender gap in asking probably results in less status and less pay for the equally good female call center operator.
By helping the lowest paid and most economically vulnerable workers (usually women) obtain status and pay increases, we increase our own earning power.
We can each do two things that help all of us by helping raise the pay of overseas technology workers. First, answer evaluation requests without regard to gender. Second, TELL female operators that their male counterparts are informing callers about the evaluations and asking for a positive evaluation that corresponds to their experience. Offer to rehearse an "ask" for a positive review with them.