101–109 of 109 posts
I'm firmly convinced that tech workers will come around to unionizing once they accidentally reinvent it under a different name
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At each of the companies I've worked at in this field, management and developers had a close and healthy relationship. Introducing collective bargaining would only have created an artificial distance between individuals. One company stands out as a good example. Great benefits, sub par pay. They actively solicited feedback on a regular basis, and at one point gave out near universal raises when they introduced pay ba…
>In short, we got everything we needed, and it has been fair. Some employees individually bargained for more time off, or for work from home time, or higher pay. There is nothing preventing a union from bargaining a system like this. We have this at my work. Everyone gets 20days off for holiday, but other than that we have a 12.5% annual bonus ('13th month') with a system where people can opt for 7.5% bonus in return…
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Wages set by the free market can be below what is necessary to survive, and it is our job as citizens to ensure public policy exists (and yes, unions) to ensure wage floors that allow people to live with dignity and without chronic stress from the fear of destitution. You don’t have to agree with this sentiment of course, that’s what votes, elections, and the ability to organize are for.
> Wages set by the free market can be below what is necessary to survive ... and this conveys the fact that the work to be done, isn't considered valuable enough to support a human life. Making these kinds of jobs illegal just puts them out-of-reach of youths and speeds up the perennially-villified yet inevitable process of automation.
> The tipping point came in January, when management offered additional stock to a handful of high-level male engineers, including Westergard. Employees suspected Lanetix planned to fire lower-level female engineers, many of whom graduated from Hackbright, an all women’s coding boot camp, as did the female engineer fired in November. What's the full story here? Layoffs typically happen when a company has cashflow iss…
Maybe I’m just hopelessly jejune but I find it hard to believe in 2018 moustache-twiddling top-hat wearing Capitalist fatcats were like bwahahaha let’s sack all the women.
Of course they absolutely deserve to be sued into oblivion, I just don’t see the gender angle, correlation is not causation.
Edit: oh I see, they were hired from a gender-segregated bootcamp. So sexism is baked into the company’s DNA.
I'm firmly convinced that tech workers will come around to unionizing once they accidentally reinvent it under a different name
Personal anecdata: every company I've worked at would have been worse off (and worse to work at) if the developers had been unionized. I've also avoided working anywhere that thinks you can only be professional if you're wearing a button down shirt and / or a tie, so I don't doubt that some places might benefit. Edit: to be clear, I've never advocated for a union, and I doubt I ever will so long as I am fortunate eno…
Think of it as insurance. When misfortune strikes - it will be too late.
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Genuine question: Do other high-skilled professions have unions (like marketeers, scientists, lawyers, doctors, electrical engineers, ...)?
In Alberta, Canada, professional engineers are barred from joining unions. While not universal, it is quite common for provincial engineering associations to bar their members from joining unions. Engineers are also exempt from many labour law protections (overtime, minimum wage, vacation time, etc.). Needless to say, I am not exactly happy with the current state of affairs.
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Engineers, Lawyers and Doctors have professional associations rather than unions. Arguably, this is what software engineer should have. The American Medical Association (AMA) is extraordinarily influential. Edit: one could argue the difference between a professional association and a union is a matter of degrees. A professional association certainly seems an easier sell. Possibly a professional association with aspec…
All of those professional associations were enshrined with their exclusive rights by law. We live in a democracy, and the law is at least nominally enacted for the public good. The case for requiring professional licensure was that it would protect the public from unqualified practitioners, and it would allow bad apples to be held to account. If you want a professional association like engineers, lawyers or doctors,…
I think in practice, the line is much fuzzier than you describe. Union rights are also written into law with the implication that they benefit society directly and indirectly. An electricians' union at least ostensibly benefits society through making certain qualified people engage in electrical work and even having qualified medical attendants has obvious benefits.
Of course, one can point to huge potential benefits to society from making certain that various sorts of software is constructed correctly so the case for a professional software engineers' association isn't that hard.
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Personal anecdata: every company I've worked at would have been worse off (and worse to work at) if the developers had been unionized. I've also avoided working anywhere that thinks you can only be professional if you're wearing a button down shirt and / or a tie, so I don't doubt that some places might benefit. Edit: to be clear, I've never advocated for a union, and I doubt I ever will so long as I am fortunate eno…
I doubt I ever will so long as I am fortunate enough Think of it as insurance. When misfortune strikes - it will be too late.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I doubt I ever will so long as I am fortunate enough Think of it as insurance. When misfortune strikes - it will be too late.
I think in that case I would be better off putting the money in savings than paying into dues.