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Alphabet's Median Pay Nears $200k

wsj.com

21–30 of 80 posts

Re: Alphabet's Median Pay Nears $200k

#21
post #3

Seems really low. Imagine if they unionized!

gosh what the tech industry could accomplish with a union...the excuse I always hear is "but we have it so well! why do we need to organize?!". Organize for the people that clean your office space, organize for marginalized peoples, organize to make the world a better place, not just your industry. Think what would happen if AWS was without site reliability for 72 hours.

Oh not this deceased equine again. Is /r/sysadmin leaking?

>gosh what the tech industry could accomplish with a union

Much less than it does now.

I've had odd jobs at union places. I know career workers in union-dominated industries.

We don't want it within 10 miles of tech.

A fun thought experiment I ask people to do that usually puts this one to bed:

Imagine the most useless, technically incompetent, lazy sack of flesh that you were unfortunate enough to share the title of "engineer" with(and office space too).

In a union, they'd be very nearly impossible to fire, and based on tenure would probably make more than most of their peers.

Multiply ^^ said scenario over multiple tech companies and a few thousand workers, and see what happens.

Re: Alphabet's Median Pay Nears $200k

#22
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon's medium pay is $28,446. But they also employ nearly 500,000 people. The linked article also has salaries for other tech companies. https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazons-typical-worker-is-in-a-...

Most of them work for Integrity Staffing not Amazon.

Nope. https://www.theverge.com/2017/2/3/14504526/amazon-job-growth...

That story from a year calls out that it excludes contractors. It does include full-time and part-time employees.

Re: Alphabet's Median Pay Nears $200k

#23
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only thing that highly technical workers dislike more than meeting in real life with each other is having someone tell them what they can and can't do. Unions aren't really compatible with the mindset in Tech today, in my experience knowing people. Small movements start, bikeshedding happens, and everything fractures.

Well, theoretically Google employees can Unionize but theoretically Google can also spin out half dozen labs as separate companies and buy technology at exorbitant rates. Meanwhile union employees will get paid union rates which I am thinking won't be too high.

Depends on the deal. My cousin is a state police sergeant. He makes as much as a director level employee in most areas.

My sister in law is a unionized nurse practitioner. Unionization raised her salary a bit, but most importantly stabilized her schedule.

Re: Alphabet's Median Pay Nears $200k

#24
post #17
post #16

Do these numbers include stock + bonus, or is it strictly salary numbers?

Also it isn't even clear if it includes benefits like health insurance and 401k costs. Anyone know?

I think this probably includes base salary, stocks, and bonuses.

I don't think it includes health insurance and 401k.

Re: Alphabet's Median Pay Nears $200k

#25
> In its proxy, Alphabet asked shareholders to vote against an investor proposal seeking a management review of potential abuses of Google’s digital platforms, such as Russian interference in U.S. elections.

I feel like this is the most interesting part of the article, even if it's not relevant to the main content.

Re: Alphabet's Median Pay Nears $200k

#26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

gosh what the tech industry could accomplish with a union...the excuse I always hear is "but we have it so well! why do we need to organize?!". Organize for the people that clean your office space, organize for marginalized peoples, organize to make the world a better place, not just your industry. Think what would happen if AWS was without site reliability for 72 hours.

Oh not this deceased equine again. Is /r/sysadmin leaking? >gosh what the tech industry could accomplish with a union Much less than it does now. I've had odd jobs at union places. I know career workers in union-dominated industries. We don't want it within 10 miles of tech. A fun thought experiment I ask people to do that usually puts this one to bed: Imagine the most useless, technically incompetent, lazy sack of f…

Why doesnt that happen enough in current unionizes jobs ?

Re: Alphabet's Median Pay Nears $200k

#29

> In its proxy, Alphabet asked shareholders to vote against an investor proposal seeking a management review of potential abuses of Google’s digital platforms, such as Russian interference in U.S. elections. I feel like this is the most interesting part of the article, even if it's not relevant to the main content.

It's really not. Have you ever read one of those proxy voting guides? Investors propose all manner of stuff and the board systematically asks you to vote against.

Re: Alphabet's Median Pay Nears $200k

#30
post #3

Seems really low. Imagine if they unionized!

I have always wondered why Americans see their unions as so dysfunctional and harmful. I have never had problems with unions as en employer. Then I learned that US has completely different union system from Europe. You guys have so called enterprise-level bargaining with union shops and agency shops where workers must be part of an union or pay the fee for an union. Then union negotiates pay in enterprise-level. I ca…

Agreed. Per sector is much better. The companies in that sector still can compete on a level playing field. In the US the company with the worst labor practices has an advantage.
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