Unions in the Software Industry?

#1

Post by Extended0088 » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 3:29 PM UTC

Are any software engineers out there part of a union?

I find it strange that I have never heard of unionising in my 15 years as a professional software engineer.

I'm concerned that the cause is that we've had it so good for so long as an industry that it's never been a priority. We've never needed collective bargaining in order to get good working conditions and salaries.

We shouldn't take that for granted. Take a look at Amazon as an example. I imagine the working conditions and benefits at AWS are pretty amazing. Compare that to the people who are working in the warehouses. It's the same company - the AWS people are only treated well because the market for software engineers is more competitive than the market for warehouse operators.

What's going to happen as the market becomes less competitive and corporations don't have to treat us well anymore? I feel like we will be very atomised and unable to fight back.

Re: Unions in the Software Industry?

#2

Post by Bostonian » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 3:56 PM UTC

Three reasons unions will probably not catch on among programmers are

(1) Programmer productivity varies greatly, making a common pay scale a bad fit.

(2) Programmers often work remotely. It's not like a factory where striking workers stand outside and intimidate replacement workers.

(3) Unionization in the private sector has fallen steadily in the U.S. as unionized companies have tended to be less competitive. For example, GM went bankrupt in 2009. Foreign companies building auto factories in the U.S. have located them in right-to-work states.

Re: Unions in the Software Industry?

#3

Post by Extended0088 » Mon, Dec 04, 2023, 9:11 PM UTC

Bostonian wrote: post #2

Three reasons unions will probably not catch on among programmers are (1) Programmer productivity varies greatly, making a common pay scale a bad fit. (2) Programmers often work remotely. It's not like a factory where striking workers stand outside and intimidate replacement workers. (3) Unionization in the private sector has fallen steadily in the U.S. as unionized companies have tended to be less competitive. For e…

Maybe we need to be more creative and do things like picket PRs!