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For those people suggesting programmers shouldn't unionize, read the op-ed in Financial Times written by Sequoia's Michael Moritz this week to see why programme
by p_monk 9y ago
For those people suggesting programmers shouldn't unionize, read the op-ed in Financial Times written by Sequoia's Michael Moritz this week to see why programmers should unionize ASAP:
https://www.ft.com/content/42daca9e-facc-11e7-9bfc-052cbba03425 https://www.ft.com/content/42daca9e-facc-11e7-9bfc-052cbba03...
In this article, he suggests Silicon Valley engineers should be worked to the bone like their Chinese counterparts. Some of the things he suggests in the articles:
1) End vacation days (he refers to taking a vacation day as "stealing")
2) Workers should get used to not seeing their kids
3) End the weekend (employees should work 14 hour days, 6-7 days a week)
4) Buildings should turn off the heat. Instead, employees can wear coats and scarves at their desks.
5) Physical fitness should be discouraged.
- jdross 9y agoAnd yet here we are today in Silicon Valley with lavish perks, much higher than average pay in the country for software development, and no unions. We also have the ability to fire untalented or unpleasant people, and promote especially talented individuals regardless of age or tenure. You don't need to work at any company that looks like the above. And I don't know of any company that looks like the above.
- Apocryphon 9y agoI'm sure there was an assembly line in '70s Detroit with this same conversation.
- paxy 9y agoWhat's your argument here? Every assembly line worker in 70s Detroit was unionized.
- Apocryphon 9y agoThe "here we are today, look how good we have it" narrative is complacent and dangerous. Eventually you will be disrupted.
- altstar 9y agoAnd the point is unions didn't help to counter it.
- Apocryphon 9y agoWhy make the assumption that unions of the future need to be identical to the unions of the past? Do self-driving cars need to resemble classic hot rods?
- oh_sigh 9y agoPlease, don't pile on the mentally ill. The symptoms of Parkinsons include: amnesia, confusion in the evening hours, dementia, or difficulty thinking and understanding, which may explain his absolutely ludicrous article in FT
- paxy 9y agoSo programmers across the country should unionize because one guy has an opinion?
- p_monk 9y ago"Some guy" Moritz is one of the most esteemed partners at the most prestigious VC firm in the world. He's a multi-billionaire with immense power. He's not "some guy." "has an opinion" He wrote an op-ed in the most widely read international business journal. This isn't an opinion, it's a rallying cry.
- acchow 9y agoExcept none of these are happening in SV, and I can't imagine them happening in the foreseeable future.