Tech Workers Deserve a Union: An Interview with Ethan Marcotte

Post by HDThoreaun » Thu, Sep 14, 2023, 3:08 PM UTC

afavour wrote: post #190

abigail95 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have very very heavy lifting to do if you're trying to prove a productivity improvement leads to a worse outcome. Farming automation and the green revolution didn't make us all unemployed - it meant 90% of us could do something else instead of farming. We used the productivity to just invent new forms of work that weren't possible and aren't possible in a lower productivity economy.

“Technology will free us from a life of drudgery!” has been the promise for what, over a hundred years now? We all sit around at our leisure while robots prepare our dinner. What actually happened in agriculture is that technology enabled massive conglomerates to dominate the industry. I see few guarantees that technological progress is going to free me up to do something else that enriches my life.

Post by nordsieck » Thu, Sep 14, 2023, 3:09 PM UTC

shortrounddev2 wrote: post #199

vasco wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do unions help with those? - Do unions enforce remote work? - Do unions enforce an offer letter to turn into actual employment for someone who isn't even a member yet (they haven't signed anything)? - Do unions make people have a better handle on their mental health and do companies with unions have lower rates of burnout in their workforces?

Unions are democratic organizations. If those things are important to you, you can speak up at a union meeting

Post by pramsey » Thu, Sep 14, 2023, 3:15 PM UTC

alphazard wrote: post #22

Don't unions work best in fields where quality is very uniform and expertise counts for very little? I'm thinking about low skilled jobs that can be mastered in months or years. Unions create salary progression, and benefits for seniority where there is otherwise no reason for them to exist. When no one does anything better than anyone else, it makes sense to negotiate as a block, individuals have no power. Now compa…

Post by screye » Thu, Sep 14, 2023, 3:18 PM UTC

djha-skin wrote: post #236

screye wrote: post #207

American scale and polarization make it impossible to have moderate conversations around social tools like unions. A union doesn't need to be a mediocrity enforcing, all-encompassing beaurocracy. Programmers don't need a union to ensure fair pay or minimum hours. Our concerns are different, and a limited union can help. Eg: 1. Programmers need to be given 6 months heads up before big change in employment situation. (…

1. I got cut from my company during the holidays in 2016. I had a job less than a month later and was double paid for some days while the severance overlap with the new job. 2. This one is interesting to me, but also might be mildly insulting to a laborer fighting for it because they actually get tired at the end of a day's work. On call is stressful, but it's first world stressful. Furthermore, you can usually do so…

Post by Kye » Thu, Sep 14, 2023, 3:25 PM UTC

nordsieck wrote: post #90

itsoktocry wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The best engineers are worth literally 10x the worst engineers Uh, I'm pretty sure the best employees in any field are worth 10x what the worst employees are, whether you're writing code, assembling a car or gutting fish. The economics of labour suggest unions are most valuable where there's a monopsony buyer of labour. Big Tech might fit that bill, especially when we know they colluded to depress salaries.

> Uh, I'm pretty sure the best employees in any field are worth 10x what the worst employees are, whether you're writing code, assembling a car or gutting fish. I've worked at FedEx as a package handler before. That is absolutely not the case there. The absolutely best employees might be 3x more productive than someone who's mediocre with 2 weeks of experience. When the job is picking up boxes off of a conveyor belt…