3 ms·

I'm 46 years old. I can't think of one example where I was exploited as a tech worker. I'm from a union town, grew up in a union family. I support unions. Th

I'm 46 years old. I can't think of one example where I was exploited as a tech worker. I'm from a union town, grew up in a union family. I support unions. The UAW was very important to the country and the middle class. I'm just not sure where the need is in tech. I think it might hurt us, if anything. Tech workers are not fungible. We do have quite a bit of leverage. Your average factory floor worker is fungible and has almost zero leverage.

tenpies 7y ago
I am also worried about who would end up leading these unions. If traditional blue collar jobs, where members are most certainly not Left-leaning already end up with literal communists in the leadership, I cannot imagine how bad it would get when the membership is largely Left-leaning.
newen 7y ago
I have heard too many stories of overworked programmers (lots of stories if you google it), especially in the gaming industry, and let's not forget Amazon's NY Times story a few years back, to think that there is no worker exploitation going on in the industry like you say.
- GaltMidas 7y ago
  I think your examples are valid. I wonder though if it's a choice for someone to work 80 hours a week at $40k to make video games versus 37 hours a week at $80k doing forms over tables stuff for The Bobs. Is that a choice or exploitation?
  - braindouche 7y ago
    It's a choice to get a highly competitive "dream job" that's full of long hours and crap pay. It's exploitation when you're given crap pay, work extremely long hours, your company clears close to two billion dollars in profit that year, and then lays you off (to use recent news about Activision Blizzard as an example). I'm not necessarily against companies making money, because fully automated gay space communism isn't yet a practical option. I'm not against working long hours, and I'm not against prioritizing things other than money in someone's career choice. That's all valid! What I do have a problem with is companies taking advantage of people and hurting them. I would suggest reading about crunch I the video games industry, and remember that people take big pay and benefits cuts just to work in these places. Here is one to get you started: https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2018/01/16/crunch-the-video-game-industrys-notorious-labor-problem.aspx?amp https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2018/01/16/c...
linuxftw 7y ago
Tech workers are becoming more fungible. More and more employer consolidation in the industry. More globalization.
logfromblammo 7y ago
You're thinking only one move ahead, at best. Negotiation works best when done from a position of strength.
njepa 7y ago
Tech workers face the same issues as most white collar workers. It's common to be unfairly treated in regards to promotions, workload, overtime etc. But the biggest issue is probably equity. It would probably be worth unionizing just over that.

tenpies 7y ago

I am also worried about who would end up leading these unions. If traditional blue collar jobs, where members are most certainly not Left-leaning already end up with literal communists in the leadership, I cannot imagine how bad it would get when the membership is largely Left-leaning.

newen 7y ago

I have heard too many stories of overworked programmers (lots of stories if you google it), especially in the gaming industry, and let's not forget Amazon's NY Times story a few years back, to think that there is no worker exploitation going on in the industry like you say.

GaltMidas 7y ago
I think your examples are valid. I wonder though if it's a choice for someone to work 80 hours a week at $40k to make video games versus 37 hours a week at $80k doing forms over tables stuff for The Bobs. Is that a choice or exploitation?
- braindouche 7y ago
  It's a choice to get a highly competitive "dream job" that's full of long hours and crap pay. It's exploitation when you're given crap pay, work extremely long hours, your company clears close to two billion dollars in profit that year, and then lays you off (to use recent news about Activision Blizzard as an example). I'm not necessarily against companies making money, because fully automated gay space communism isn't yet a practical option. I'm not against working long hours, and I'm not against prioritizing things other than money in someone's career choice. That's all valid! What I do have a problem with is companies taking advantage of people and hurting them. I would suggest reading about crunch I the video games industry, and remember that people take big pay and benefits cuts just to work in these places. Here is one to get you started: https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2018/01/16/crunch-the-video-game-industrys-notorious-labor-problem.aspx?amp https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2018/01/16/c...

linuxftw 7y ago

Tech workers are becoming more fungible. More and more employer consolidation in the industry. More globalization.

logfromblammo 7y ago

You're thinking only one move ahead, at best. Negotiation works best when done from a position of strength.

njepa 7y ago

Tech workers face the same issues as most white collar workers. It's common to be unfairly treated in regards to promotions, workload, overtime etc. But the biggest issue is probably equity. It would probably be worth unionizing just over that.