Chips are down for high tech workers

Will employment in "high technology" industries provide jobs for workers laid off from older declining industries? If California, the base for many high tech companies, is any example, the answer is no.

According to a recent study conducted at the University of California at Berkeley, nearly 43,000 workers in high technology industries in California lost their jobs in plant closures and layoffs between January 1980 and January 1984.

Many of the layoffs involved major companies, including Mattel, ITT Datanetics, Sperry Univac, GTE, Atari, and Qume. Additionally, over the last two or three years, both McDonnell-Douglas and Lockheed have reduced employment by many thousands of jobs in their civilian aircraft divisions.

The most frequently cited reasons for closures and layoffs in California's high technology industries during this period were depressed demand, mergers, or company restructuring (or even collapse) as a result of intense competition, and movement of work to other states or overseas to take advantage of lower labor costs. Other factors cited include the ripple impacts of other closures (for example, closings of parts suppliers when a large factory shuts down), and union organizing.

More than 60 communities in the state experienced high tech closures and layoffs. In Los Angeles county, the majority of the layoffs occurred in the aerospace industry, while in Santa Clara county most of the jobs lost were in microelectronics. Together, these two counties accounted for about half of the jobs lost in high tech during this period.

The study also found that, though expansion of the high tech sector is likely in the future, the sector will also be subject to much restructuring and flux. "Communities looking to increase their high technology employment would be advised to look with a critical eye at the long term prospects for high tech employment to make sure that jobs that are here today are not gone tomorrow," the study concludes.

- Phil Shapira and Jean Ross

The authors work at Berkeley's Dept. of City and Regional Planning, which conducted the study.

Bioweapons

Always equipped with the most sophisticated technology, the U.S. military now plans to add genetically altered organisms to its arsenal.

Since 1980 the Department of Defense initiated at least 15 research projects to investigate the uses of gene-splicing technology for biological warfare. These projects raised military expenditures on all biological research to $100 million in 1983, a 54 percent increase from 1980. Over the same period, non-military government funding for biological research dropped significantly.

Many of the projects are aimed at developing vaccines against diseases caused by existing biological weapons, such as Rift Valley Fever, dengue-2, and ricksetta. At least six projects are trying to clone a brain enzyme attacked by nerve gas in order to develop an effective antidote.

Through such gene manipulation, researchers could "improve" existing biological agents and design highly potent agents and toxins to be used as weapons against civilian populations or various forms of plant life. For example, genetic engineers could generate a new strain of virus affecting certain species of rice previously immune to all major viruses.

Although a 1972 treaty signed by the world's major powers prohibits the development, construction, and stockpiling of biological weapons, countries are still permitted to maintain biological agents for defensive purposes. Pentagon officials maintain that current biological research projects are entirely defensive in nature. But critics say that this distinction between "defensive" and "offensive" research is hazy, and argue that vaccine research produces knowledge that can be easily turned towards offensive ends, such as the development of new germs, and may encourage biological warfare by rendering ineffective the main deterrent: fear of retaliation. "A defensive research program is the same as an offensive program," says Jonathan King, a biologist. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In a related development, a National Institute of Health (NIH) advisory committee in early February approved a military plan to produce a vaccine against dysentery, despite strong protests from disarmament and public interest activists. "The experiment has potential military application because [it can] be used in a slightly altered or modified form for weapons development," asserts Jeremy Rifkin, who joined several activists in filing a formal protest with the NIH.

Computer overload

Most persons who work with video display terminals (VDTs) suffer from severe eyestrain, exhaustion, muscle pain, and tension and anxiety, according to the results of a survey released in February by 9 to 5, the National Association of Working Women. The respondents to the health history survey were 900 women out of 6,000 callers to a national hotline for VDT operators, established by 9 to 5 last May. More than half reported suffering from daily health problems.

The short and long term health effects of using VDTs are not yet scientifically determined. But labor unions and organizations such as 9 to 5 have collected case histories and other information on the health hazards associated with VDT use. VDT operators' most common complaints are eyestrain, problems with eyeglasses and contact lenses, headaches, neck and back pains, sleep disturbances, fatigue, and irritability. Nine to Five also notes a high incidence of miscarriages and birth defects among some groups of VDT operators and questions whether stress, low level radiation, or other environmental toxins could be responsible.

But Dr. Jane Gordon, of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), dismisses such a notion, claiming that no evidence exists connecting pregnancy problems with VDT use. "Fear is being stirred up by sophisticated technology," she adds. NIOSH does concede, however, that short term health problems may result from working with VDTs and has recommended that operators take a 15 minute break for every hour of intense VDT work.

Nine to Five has asked VDT manufacturers to incorporate health and safety features in all VDT models. But the organization believes that the government should take a more active role in protecting workers until the full range of health effects are known. One spokesperson notes that the government of Sweden was concerned enough to restrict VDT use to four hours a day. As Karen Nussbaum, executive director of 9 to 5, stated when the survey results were publicly released, "If the private sector is not going to address these health problems by manufacturing safe equipment, and if employers will not take care to automate offices humanely, 9 to 5 intends to see to it that government plays the role of protector."

- Lisa D. Duhl