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Unions are reactionary organizations. They tend to create and enforce rules around how things work now. Unions don't like it if new technology lets two workers
by humanrebar 9y ago
Unions are reactionary organizations. They tend to create and enforce rules around how things work now. Unions don't like it if new technology lets two workers do the work of forty.
- theyinwhy 9y agoI don't think it is about technology. In general, unions don't like people to get fired (without proper compensation). If new tech does more work for the company but no one gets fired I see no reason why unions would have anything against it. However, the whole firing topic is really only filling up a fraction of unions' time. Unions' main tasks are overwatching safety regulations, crunch times, etc... so that the actual time spent at/for the company is better quality whise. This leads to happier, healthier programmers which should be in their employer's interest as well, see e.g. negative press and lack of battle proven personel at telltale.
- briandear 9y agoOk. We have automated the build process. We don’t need you anymore. Thanks for your service, here’s two weeks’ severance. A union would go nuts in that scenario. Which then supports the theory that unions would oppose technology that improved efficiency since they would care more about the protecting the production input than they care about optimizing the production output.
- ramy_d 9y agoYeah because that's really shitty. If you actually cared about that person you wouldn't throw them out, you'd train and place them elsewhere within your company because they are good employees that contribute positively to your culture.
- humanrebar 9y agoUnions are just as responsible for being myopic and irresponsible. Shouldn't the teamsters be leading the way in retraining truck drivers given the coming automated truck apocalypse?
- theyinwhy 9y agoThere are plenty of trainings offered by unions. However of course, each union offers the courses it has expertise in. Asking a trucker's union to offer courses in Javascript is not feasible. This article is one of many discussing the dawn of truck automation in very much detail: https://teamster.org/news/2018/01/teamsters-union-perspective-automation-featured-rolling-stone https://teamster.org/news/2018/01/teamsters-union-perspectiv... As you can see unions are in fact discussing this very broadly without jumping to easy conclusions. Automation by ML is a complex topic on all levels. We are just at the beginning of what will be very interesting times regarding policing automation, ML, and AI.
- giantsloth 9y agoAll organizations are reactionary and necessarily settle on the state of the world at the current moment. This is an extremely bizarre line of logic you are using. There is always version lock in at some point, and NO workers like change if it's going to cause them to lose their livelihood. This has nothing to do with unions. Why do you care more about protecting artificial constructs like companies at the expense of power given to people building the products?
- ovao 9y agoA company is comprised of many parts — including its employees. Calling it an artificial construct may be legally and semantically valid, but it’s also dismissive to the reality that any company is more than just the ink on its articles of incorporation (or whatever). The argument is much more nuanced than you’ve proposed.
- humanrebar 9y agoI honestly don't care about companies. But I don't care about union bosses either. Unions do just as poor a job as employers in preparing workers for tectonic shifts in employment patterns. For example, when the ACA passed, unions were more concerned with their constituency and their carve outs than with decoupling employment from healthcare. Same story for all the business interests.