New Facebook tool allows employers to suppress “unionize” in workplace chat

Post by BiteCode_dev » Fri, Jun 12, 2020, 7:42 PM UTC

ryguytilidie wrote: post #285

BiteCode_dev wrote: post #27

Clearly, they don't play online games with a chat lobby. They would have quickly learned that such features is useless, as it's easily bypassed: - in novembre, we should cost them the electrons. Ionize! - It's time we u_nionize - un10n1z3 people ! - let's fetch the U:\N\I\O\N\I\Z\E file - all go to http://unio.ni/ze - so we should do the u-thingy - what about talking to Mr Ulysse Nionize - never too late to ｕｎᎥｏｎｉｚｅ…

Somewhat similar. I used to moderate a web forum and last summer I met someone from Scunthorpe. He said "yeah, its a small town, you've probably never heard of it." But I HAD heard of it because when I used to moderate that forum, we had someone from Scunthorpe sign up and the site blocked them for profanity. It was because their name contained the word "cunt". I've always found this funny and will remember Scunthorp…

Post by Apocryphon » Fri, Jun 12, 2020, 7:48 PM UTC

umeshunni wrote: post #377

Lio wrote: post #133

> Facebook is quietly helping to set up a new pro-tech advocacy group to battle Washington > The employee noted that many Facebook team members are now questioning the moral compass of chief executive Mark Zuckerberg. At some point you need to look at the skull emblems on your uniform and ask yourself, "Hans, are we the baddies?". IMHO I've never heard one of these stories where I thought Facebook was doing the right…

> IMHO I've never heard one of these stories where I thought Facebook was doing the right thing. Not once. It's almost like the media is pushing some kind of narrative here against an entity they compete with.

Post by mcv » Fri, Jun 12, 2020, 8:00 PM UTC

mattmcknight wrote: post #371

mcv wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Netherland, unions negotiate with employers, generally with the government also at the table, to agree on workplace conditions and pay scales that apply to the whole industry, and not just the union members. The employer gains nothing by hiring a non-union member, and besides, a non-union member can always join the union if they want to.

I think a lot of people worry about these pay scales being limiting. In the US, they tend to end up being based on years of service or credentials, rather than about productivity or quality.

Post by notnap » Fri, Jun 12, 2020, 8:02 PM UTC

tehjoker wrote: post #403

hedora wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unions would be much more attractive if US were an open shop country. Instead, we’re closed shop, which means that, once a union is in place, you can’t choose to join a different union. This routinely leads to situations where corrupt unions abuse their own members. For an example of how this works in practice, look at the UAW’s conduct with UC’s grad students. Years ago, they negotiated salary caps for grad students…

The idea of having individual employees choose which union they want sounds a lot like the idea that consumer choice drives change (which usually does not work except in the case of huge boycotts, which are limited in their effects). Unions are about democracy in the workplace. If everyone is in a different union, there can be no legitimate democratic decisions on behalf of the workers. EDIT: There's a bit of an exce…

Post by trowawee » Fri, Jun 12, 2020, 8:07 PM UTC

mennis16 wrote: post #301

dijit wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the same argument I see americans make a lot. "Unions are bad!", no, the concept is fine, you have some bad ones. "Police are bad!", no, the concept is fine, yours are just untrained and overburdened. "Public transport is bad, I need a car!", no, the concept is fine, you just have bad public transport and that forms your opinion.

Not really your main point but there are quite a few US "metro areas" with fairly sparse layout/wide scope, so I think public transit actually is a harder problem in the US than it is in e.g. Europe. That said even the cities that don't have this excuse tend to have mediocre at best transit here (for example Boston).