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Ask HN: Would you support a unionization effort at your company?

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Re: Ask HN: Would you support a unionization effort at your company?

#11

Post by natalyarostova »

jeffreybaird wrote: post #5

Absolutely. I love where I work, and I love my coworkers. I want to make sure that the culture of openness and transparency stays that way. I believe that the best way to do this is to form a union and give the employees formal power in the corporate decision-making process.

While ymmv, in my experience regarding all human systems, if you love something, injecting massive entropy into the system structure in the hopes that you will love it a little more, is not worth the risk that you'll break the whole thing.

Re: Ask HN: Would you support a unionization effort at your company?

#12

Post by lilbobbytables »

hackermailman wrote: post #7

I'm already in 2 unions. Pros and cons, with the biggest con obviously being pay since now you have to collectively bargain and most union leaders are selected based on popularity and political ambition and not their negotiating skills, so your wages and benefits will go down though your overall job security will increase, and they will have to pay you overtime. A pro is the work environment is much more honest, you…

"to also mow your lawn for free"

But it's not free, you just said they're paying you for at least 8 hours no matter what. Sounds like you're saying certain things are below that plumber and he won't do them, but still wants to get paid.

Re: Ask HN: Would you support a unionization effort at your company?

#13

Post by davismwfl »

maxxxxx wrote: post #9
davismwfl wrote: post #2

No, and I'd advise people not too. Unions had a purpose, and sadly still do in some isolated instances, but tech (professional work in general) is not one of them. I say sadly because businesses should have matured to the point by now to make unions unnecessary, and employees should have evolved further to see the problem. But some business/industries have a lot of bad actors and the union does fill part of a need, b…

" I say sadly because businesses should have matured to the point by now to make unions unnecessary, and employees should have evolved further to see the problem." Without a counterforce it's just a matter of time until we regress to ever worsening conditions for workers. Capitalists never gave anything away voluntarily. We need unions or other workplace regulations to keep things in balance.

I agree there has to be a counterforce to protect workers from the early days of the industrial revolution where factory workers died and/or were mistreated because of no regulations, no safety and there was little if any oversight to give workers a recourse.

Today in the US there are at least 4-5 agencies that oversee companies and their behavior. Laws are now on the books to protect workers. Workers can now sue their employers for violating their rights. Workers have protection of whistle blower laws. Are any of these perfect, no, but these are the true reasons unions existed. It was to protect the worker from abhorrent conditions and treatment. That has happened through the new laws and agencies in place. What we should be doing is forcing the agencies and politicians to use the tax money they took from us to clean up the areas which are not good enough still, not giving away more money to a union which is just another business there to take their share of your earnings and the companies earnings. Unions are a tax on everyone, they are not free, so you are taxed twice for 90% of the same protections, and the other 10% I would argue are not protections but limits on your rights.

I still see places we need it to be better, but that doesn't mean tech is a place for unions. Can you imagine all these 2-3 year post grad engineers getting the title of Senior software engineer and getting the equivalent high salaries or out of turn bonuses for great work now learn they have to wait 20 years to be called senior, can never again get an out of turn bonus or special treatment for going the extra mile. Unions equalize by taking everyone down to the lowest level of commonality, you are no longer an individual you are a cog to be used to further the union leaderships goals, not yours. Sure, you get a few extras for that but I for one don't want to hand someone else my freedom to earn and advance at my pace so they can get what they feel is important.

* edited a few words to make it clearer.

Re: Ask HN: Would you support a unionization effort at your company?

#14

Post by maxxxxx »

davismwfl wrote: post #13
maxxxxx wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" I say sadly because businesses should have matured to the point by now to make unions unnecessary, and employees should have evolved further to see the problem." Without a counterforce it's just a matter of time until we regress to ever worsening conditions for workers. Capitalists never gave anything away voluntarily. We need unions or other workplace regulations to keep things in balance.

I agree there has to be a counterforce to protect workers from the early days of the industrial revolution where factory workers died and/or were mistreated because of no regulations, no safety and there was little if any oversight to give workers a recourse. Today in the US there are at least 4-5 agencies that oversee companies and their behavior. Laws are now on the books to protect workers. Workers can now sue the…

Without unions employers will be lobbying relentlessly to weaken current laws. You can argue about what unions should be doing or not or how they should operate but they are absolutely needed to give workers a voice.

Re: Ask HN: Would you support a unionization effort at your company?

#15

Post by sethammons »

Nope. I'm in the US. I have never seen benefits come to employees from unions. I've been in the teachers union. My wife has been in the grocery union, and my brother works at a place where the union started in a warehouse (Teamsters?). I've not seen anything work out for the employees, but lots of process and rules that mostly benefits the union leadership and the union as an org at the expense of everything else.

Edit. There is one case where I have seen benefits. My brother in law is a heavy machinery operator and works similar to a contractor does in tech. He goes in, does some work til the job is done, and leaves. He likes that he can get jobs through the union and that his wages were way higher in the last recession.

Re: Ask HN: Would you support a unionization effort at your company?

#16

Post by mhdhn »

davismwfl wrote: post #13
maxxxxx wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

" I say sadly because businesses should have matured to the point by now to make unions unnecessary, and employees should have evolved further to see the problem." Without a counterforce it's just a matter of time until we regress to ever worsening conditions for workers. Capitalists never gave anything away voluntarily. We need unions or other workplace regulations to keep things in balance.

I agree there has to be a counterforce to protect workers from the early days of the industrial revolution where factory workers died and/or were mistreated because of no regulations, no safety and there was little if any oversight to give workers a recourse. Today in the US there are at least 4-5 agencies that oversee companies and their behavior. Laws are now on the books to protect workers. Workers can now sue the…

Where did you study history? Trump U? When was the industrial revolution? When was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire?

Re: Ask HN: Would you support a unionization effort at your company?

#17

Post by gtsteve »

I'm a co-owner of a company so you can imagine I wouldn't. I don't know what I'd do if I discovered something like this was going on to be honest, I'd be really disappointed that people apparently felt that working here was that bad and they couldn't change it except effectively by force.

I don't expect it would happen at my company or at others as the job market for software developers in London is excellent; typically if people don't like the work they just leave.

Re: Ask HN: Would you support a unionization effort at your company?

#18

Post by jeffreybaird »

gtsteve wrote: post #17

I'm a co-owner of a company so you can imagine I wouldn't. I don't know what I'd do if I discovered something like this was going on to be honest, I'd be really disappointed that people apparently felt that working here was that bad and they couldn't change it except effectively by force. I don't expect it would happen at my company or at others as the job market for software developers in London is excellent; typica…

I mean, you have power over their lives with force. You can decide at a moment's notice that their livelihoods could be taken away. Or, you could sell your company to someone who would do that. A union just levels the playing field.

Re: Ask HN: Would you support a unionization effort at your company?

#19

Post by gtsteve »

jeffreybaird wrote: post #18
gtsteve wrote: post #17

I'm a co-owner of a company so you can imagine I wouldn't. I don't know what I'd do if I discovered something like this was going on to be honest, I'd be really disappointed that people apparently felt that working here was that bad and they couldn't change it except effectively by force. I don't expect it would happen at my company or at others as the job market for software developers in London is excellent; typica…

I mean, you have power over their lives with force. You can decide at a moment's notice that their livelihoods could be taken away. Or, you could sell your company to someone who would do that. A union just levels the playing field.

From my perspective, they have power over me. I need to keep them happy or they're going to find other jobs. Sometimes this means changing plans to ensure they're not overworked or to ensure that they get to work on interesting stuff after something reasonably boring like UI development (none of them really enjoy it but it has to be done). The business fails pretty rapidly without my development team and I know how lucky I am to have them.
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