221–230 of 303 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't understand how people perceive corporations as an individual that seeks to negotiate with you on neutral grounds.
They don't. But supply and demand still wins. A union may be necessary if there is a monopoly on employment. Nuclear power facilities for example.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> fiduciary duty to do so Is that actually so?
No. The post represents a misrepresentation or misunderstanding of what fiduciary duty is, but that isn't surprising. It seems to be misapplied or misunderstood in the overwhelming majority of times it comes up in conversation.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Downvote to disagree is a perfectly fine thing to do on HN and not a sign of anyone's depravity.
Down voting for disagreement is base behaviour. Of course nothing is stopping somebody from being base on HN, neither in real life. We've all met our fair share of rude and ignorant people. They're not going anywhere.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
US-Finland expat here, and yes, I quite like my union. But I especially like my unemployment fund: 100 euros a year gets me 50% of my pre-tax salary for a year if I lose or leave my job. Unemployment insurance plans seem underrated in general by FTEs, both in the US and elsewhere. Without it, your ability to exercise both halves of "voice or exit" in the corporate world are severely curtailed. Like life insurance, it…
$100 euros a year does not get you 50% of your pre-tax salary for a year. That 100 might be what you paid, but that is not anywhere close to what that costs. Do not confuse the cost of something with the price you pay. At 100 per year they should just make it free. I'm not sure what the real cost of unemployment is per year (there are people who's job it is to figure this out - they have more data than me), but it is…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You struggle to imagine anyone understanding current fair treatment does not guarantee future fair treatment?
It is hard for me to imagine a situation where I feel like I am being treated well at a company and then decide that I want to add another level of bureaucracy and additional fees by joining a union. Edit: to add, I am not at all opposed to unions. They provide a valuable service in many industries.
So all of the comments I've seen so far are (predictably) armchair snark from both sides of the political spectrum. Perhaps the reason for this is that there is a very conspicuous lack of information here. For all we _actually_ know, this could be a fake account posting a fake announcement to a fake twitter. 1. Why did the Fastmail employees decide to form a union? Were the working conditions poor? Was the pay below…
I am going to assume your questions are in good faith. While I know nothing about this specific campaign, I am a member of the union they purport to be joining and have worked on a half-dozen new organizing campaigns. Local 13000 is a real local, and it would make sense for them to be joining it. Most of your questions can be answered by reference to labor law and the union's internal "law" (i.e. the CWA constitution…
I'll also note that I had no idea when I wrote this (as most probably do not) that Fastmail is apparently an employee-owned company, which changes the color of this dramatically. I'm still not totally sure I see the point of the union in this case, but it means that some of my questions are essentially not applicable here.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
No. The post represents a misrepresentation or misunderstanding of what fiduciary duty is, but that isn't surprising. It seems to be misapplied or misunderstood in the overwhelming majority of times it comes up in conversation.
I mean that any competent CEO would oppose a union forming at their company because it will objectively be bad for the shareholders of that company. Any CEO who encouraged or did nothing to resist a union forming because of their own moral convictions would be breaching their duty to do what is best for their company. I would argue it would be grounds for firing them
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You realize how collective bargaining breaks down when you aren’t a united front right?
If you are forced to be in the union, you're not united...you're coerced. If you choose to be, you are.
Does anyone have any resources for stopping unions from being formed? I've started taking steps to join the "Union" at my FAANG, in hopes of sabotaging it. I can't think of anything worse for software developers than having some politically motivated organization to deal with in addition to management. You can see how well unions have gone for software engineers in the past, (Boeing is one example that has a strong u…
> I can't think of anything worse for software developers than having some politically motivated organization
Unions are not politically motivated. They are a social collective response from workers to counteract the disproportionate power imbalance between employees and corporations. All great advancements in worker rights were done by some kind of collective organized pressure from workers vs employers.
> Does anyone have any resources for stopping unions from being formed?
Your servility wouldn't help you a thing if your employer decides to go through another round of layoffs. You are just a disposable cog in the machine for them. You could be next, and yet you are trying to disband the only group of people that are incentivised to help you: your fellow workers. It's also within workers full rights to unionize, this is something that your predecessors fought tooth and nail to obtain. Shame on you!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am going to assume your questions are in good faith. While I know nothing about this specific campaign, I am a member of the union they purport to be joining and have worked on a half-dozen new organizing campaigns. Local 13000 is a real local, and it would make sense for them to be joining it. Most of your questions can be answered by reference to labor law and the union's internal "law" (i.e. the CWA constitution…
Thank you for the response. There is lots of interesting info here that the announcement doesn't even hint at. I'll also note that I had no idea when I wrote this (as most probably do not) that Fastmail is apparently an employee-owned company, which changes the color of this dramatically. I'm still not totally sure I see the point of the union in this case, but it means that some of my questions are essentially not a…
I am a socialist, but I don't think it requires understanding of the socialist critique of capitalist social relations to see that worker ownership is not a generally applicable model for extending economic self-determination.