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Silicon Valley workers may pursue collusion case as group

reuters.com

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Re: Silicon Valley workers may pursue collusion case as group

#41

Post by mullingitover »

crazygringo wrote: post #9

Not that I'm disagreeing with this outcome at all... But if agreeing not to poach is collusion and conspiracy... Then how is it that it's legal for workers to form unions and strike? Isn't that just as much "collusion and conspiracy" from the other side? I mean heck, consumers organizing to boycott a product is a kind of "collusion" and "conspiracy" as well that is just as arguably "anti-market". Is there anyone who…

> Then how is it that it's legal for workers to form unions and strike? Isn't that just as much "collusion and conspiracy" from the other side?

Unions are a good thing for civilization, so much so that forming a union the very first purpose that is stated in the list of reasons for writing the Constitution.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union...

Re: Silicon Valley workers may pursue collusion case as group

#43

Post by [deleted] »

mikeyouse wrote: post #14
redwood wrote: post #13

The problem with laws like this is they're very difficult to prove because you can create fairly arbitrary criteria for what you want in an employee and claim that one of those things you want is for them not to have been significantly molded by a different large bureaucratic entity with its own culture and processes. It's trivial to prove this is going on, but what I mean is: difficult to reach the legal burden of p…

> The problem with laws like this is they're very difficult to prove Not when the DOJ has subpoena power. After a Google recruiter reached out to an Apple engineer, Steve Jobs in an email to Eric Schmidt: "I would be very pleased if your recruiting department would stop doing this," Schmidt, forwarding that email to his team: "Can you get this stopped and let me know why this is happening?" Google's Staffing Director…

[deleted]

Re: Silicon Valley workers may pursue collusion case as group

#44

Post by pravda »

yetanotherphd wrote: post #36
smtddr wrote: post #25

Hmm... so while we have the whole gentrification thing going on, those on the outside of tech are watching us complain that maybe we don't get paid enough. Imagine what the outside-of-tech people think when reading this article. The recession and/or effects of it isn't over for a lot of them. If there was an article about bank or oil company execs complaining that they don't get enough money we'd probably all be expl…

Only people who don't understand that wages come from the value a person produces. Lawyers, doctors, professional athletes, also get high wages and are entitled to them. If you want to adjust income inequality you have to do it across the board, through taxation, not by shaming individual industries. We get paid so much because we produce that much value. But if these allegations are true, we aren't getting paid enou…

Interesting examples. Doctors are part of a cartel. Also lawyers. Although I don't think all lawyers get high wages.

Professional athletes are unionized. They would be earning much less money if they weren't.

Re: Silicon Valley workers may pursue collusion case as group

#45

Post by yetanotherphd »

pravda wrote: post #44
yetanotherphd wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only people who don't understand that wages come from the value a person produces. Lawyers, doctors, professional athletes, also get high wages and are entitled to them. If you want to adjust income inequality you have to do it across the board, through taxation, not by shaming individual industries. We get paid so much because we produce that much value. But if these allegations are true, we aren't getting paid enou…

Interesting examples. Doctors are part of a cartel. Also lawyers. Although I don't think all lawyers get high wages. Professional athletes are unionized. They would be earning much less money if they weren't.

yeah it's hard to find examples of high wage workers who aren't in some sense unionized. Not really sure what your point is though. After all, if their wages are in part due to being part of a cartel, then tech workers who earn that wage without a cartel are even more deserving of it.

Re: Silicon Valley workers may pursue collusion case as group

#46

Post by beedogs »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #35
zedshaw wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oooh boy, I get to PG you and point you at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man as my answer for your first comment. Breaks down like this: I said this law is right. You then say I'm saying all laws are by definition good and then attack that restatement of my position, which isn't what I said. Your disagreement on semantics is just plain wrong. If the law they broke is a "conspiracy" law, then the fundamental diff…

I honestly don't know how to respond to this. Here are some of my thoughts. > I said this law is right. Here are your words: "Collusion is [...] not bad unless it's illegal, and what we've decided in the US is [...]". Looking at this, and the rest of the comment, I can see that: 1. You can imagine US collusion law being in a state other than what it is ("what we've decided in the US is [...]"). 2. The only argument y…

Jesus Christ. Just stop posting.

Re: Silicon Valley workers may pursue collusion case as group

#48

Post by pmorici »

crazygringo wrote: post #9

Not that I'm disagreeing with this outcome at all... But if agreeing not to poach is collusion and conspiracy... Then how is it that it's legal for workers to form unions and strike? Isn't that just as much "collusion and conspiracy" from the other side? I mean heck, consumers organizing to boycott a product is a kind of "collusion" and "conspiracy" as well that is just as arguably "anti-market". Is there anyone who…

I think it's kind of funny all the responses you your legitimate question are essentially people presenting their political opinions. There is a factual answer to your question though. In the early 1900's people tried to argue exactly that that unions were an illegal conspiracy under the Sherman Antitrust Act. This interpretation was against popular opinion at the time and in 1914 under the Clayton Antitrust Act the legality of organized labor was clarified making it specially legal. The short answer to your question as to why Unions are ok but collusion between companies is not is because there is an exception in the Antitrust laws.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_labor_law#Workpla...

Re: Silicon Valley workers may pursue collusion case as group

#49

Post by smtddr »

yetanotherphd wrote: post #36
smtddr wrote: post #25

Hmm... so while we have the whole gentrification thing going on, those on the outside of tech are watching us complain that maybe we don't get paid enough. Imagine what the outside-of-tech people think when reading this article. The recession and/or effects of it isn't over for a lot of them. If there was an article about bank or oil company execs complaining that they don't get enough money we'd probably all be expl…

Only people who don't understand that wages come from the value a person produces. Lawyers, doctors, professional athletes, also get high wages and are entitled to them. If you want to adjust income inequality you have to do it across the board, through taxation, not by shaming individual industries. We get paid so much because we produce that much value. But if these allegations are true, we aren't getting paid enou…

So... what do you think about the salaries of teachers in public schools?

Also, I bet bank & oil execs believe they make the world-go-round and add a lot of value too. After all, banks & oil touches pretty much all our lives as much as computers do, right?

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