Wired has a column that wistfully looks back at the days of powerful unions, and dreams of a unionized Microsoft. Towards the end of the column, there's this:

So, will we ever see a unionized Microsoft? With his own union working on the Redmond behemoth, Courtney certainly won't rule it out.

"WashTech has been actively trying to build the union at the company. (It's been) recently reported how wages at the company have been stagnant while profits are soaring, and that the review process has become an unfair management tool. These are core issues that a union can address."

Microsoft needs to become more agile, not less. Right now, they suffer from the same kind of rigidity that cost IBM so much money back in the mid to late 80's. What if the work force there joined a union? Well, they would see work rules and process - just like now - only from the employee side, rather than from the management side. I fail to see how that would help the company in the long run. It might help a few people in the short term, but I rather expect that it would drive the company toward an Eastern Airlines sort of ending.

What MS needs is more people like Scoble, who are willing to shake the rafters and try to create positive change. Unions, like management, are conservative forces that fight change. That's not what MS needs.