The newfound unrest among Microsoft's contract workers might seem like a labor leader's dream. But the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, the Seattle-based union better known as WashTech, says it's not in a position to capitalize on the situation by trying to organize the workers.

The problem is the way the contract workforce is structured, said Les French, the WashTech president, via phone today. Contract workers are employed not by Microsoft but by employment agencies that bill the company for placing workers there. The situation is complicated by the temporary nature of the work, and the frequency with which contractors change jobs.

Organizing workers under those circumstances is "like hitting a butterfly with a BB gun," French said, because the union wouldn't be working with a consistent bargaining unit or a single employer.

"When Microsoft hires a full-time employee, it's a lot different than when they contract an agency to provide the worker on a temporary basis. They're relieved immediately of a lot of legal obligation, and certainly there's a buffer between them and any organizing effort. So the organizing effort has to be with the temporary agency. Then again, you still have to meet the requirements of defining the business unit -- who's in it, whose nose is going to be counted. ... You can't really nail down the unit or the group that you're trying to organize."

About two dozen Microsoft contract workers gathered last night to protest pay cuts of 10 percent that are being instituted by many of the employment firms that placed them at the company. Some talked about the possibility of joining or forming a union.

The cuts follow Microsoft's decision to reduce the amount it pays the firms for the workers, as part of a broader effort to cut costs. Some workers say the firms shouldn't be allowed to force a change their existing contracts. Volt, believed to be the largest provider of Microsoft temporary workers, has given each of them until the end of business today to agree to the contract change.

WashTech was formed in 1998 by former Microsoft contract workers, but it was unsuccessful in its efforts to organize the Microsoft workforce, and has since turned its attention to AT&T and other employers. Although unionization of Microsoft contractors may not be realistic, French said it's encouraging to see the workers banding together, even informally.

"It's sad. I wish I could give them more hope," he said. "The future may change. The political environment is changing. There's probably some reason to believe that the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act will make it more conducive and maybe a little easier to begin to organize these groups. But until then, I think it's logistically impossible."