Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not saying that the whole industry will be replaced, just that tech stacks might change, paradigms might change (see going from mainframes to PCs) etc. It would suck to find yourself unemployable in your mid-50's, let's say. It also kind of sucks to always have to keep up with the newest trends - perhaps at some point in your life you would actually want to do smth else than program all the time. In a world of atomiz…
I think the political power argument is both the best and worst reason for union membership: In my opinion, democracy is basically dead unless you can raise a lot of cash and use it to force your issues. So you're either disenfranchised or you're a billionaire or you're part of a group like a union that can raise cash and use it for things you care about. That's a good argument to be in a union. Or it would be, excep…
Unions were never as powerful as the capitalist elites. All worker rights were hard-won (often with the price of life) and there has always been a lot of counter-pressure from capitalists. For a while, following the New Deal (in the US) and WW2 globally, workers had a social context that favored them a little.
Starting with the Reagan-Thatcher era though, political power has shifted rapidly in favor of capital. Neo-liberal ideology has become the dominant intellectual lens through which ("well educated") people evaluate the world. Policy makers have likewise shifted greatly towards the right-wing. New Labour in the UK [1] and the New Democrats [2] in the US are essentially center-right groups. Actual leftist positions are considered fringe in the Western World nowadays. This has in turn greatly affected the political power of unions, which are historically left-wing movements.
Leftist movements can gain ground as long as the people with actual power are somewhat amenable to their goals. This hasn't been the case in about 4 decades.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Labour [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democrats