4 ms·
As someone without any context, 1. Why they are unionizing? 2. Why are they joining a union from a completely different industry? What would this achieve?
by throw93 7y ago
As someone without any context,
1. Why they are unionizing?
2. Why are they joining a union from a completely different industry? What would this achieve?
- iscrewyou 7y agoThe article answers all these questions.
- bt848 7y agoIt doesn't. Where does the USW come into the picture, if PATP is affiliate of the DPE, considering that USW is _also_ an affiliate of DPE? I don't get it and I wished the article explained it.
- msbarnett 7y ago> Where does USW come into the picture, if PATP is affiliate of the DPE, considering that USW is _also_ an affiliate of DPE? The PATP is a new chapter of United Steelworker’s union. Why steelworkers? Because the union isn’t just a steelworker’s union, although it retains that name in common usage for historical reasons (and also because it’s short enough to say). The union’s full name is The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union. Years of erosion of union strength and membership in the US has led to a lot of union mergers. The PATP is not part of the DPE. The DPE is a branch of the AFL-CIO. The AFL-CIO is a federation of unions — a metaunion, if you will. The DPE helped the PATP organize, that’s the DPE’s job. But the DPE isn’t a union itself, it’s an umbrella organization for professional employees represented by the AFL-CIO’s member unions.
- msbarnett 7y agoPerhaps you should consider reading this submitted article, which contains all of the context that answers your questions.
- bluGill 7y agoI don't see those answers. Why the steelworkers - the article specifies the con: they know how to represent steel workers not programmers - this was never addressed.
- msbarnett 7y agoSmall nit: The article doesn’t specify that con, it quotes an HCL executive who was claiming it’s a con. I mention this distinction because the claimed “con” is based on an implicit misrepresentation of what the USW is (it is not, counter to its common name, just a union that deals with steelworkers), and it’s important to attribute the misrepresentation to the party that was motivated to misrepresent things, and not the newspaper that merely quoted it.
- bluGill 7y agoI'll take your correction. However it just reinforces the claims that this is a bad article: a good reporter should have dug into this question.
- msbarnett 7y agoI think that boils down to false equivalence. If the reporter had dug into rebutting claims in the quoted email from HCL’s management, a lot of people would accuse the article of having a pro-union bias however much it was just trying to provide a full explanation of the situation to readers. Consequently most news organizations these days just publish two verbatim claims from opposing sides and make no attempt to actually sort out any underlying facts lest they be perceived as “biased”.
- lonelappde 7y agoReporters with integrity report facts and don't print lies. If reality has a bias, they follow it. Criticism from demagogues is a badge of honor.
- mrosett 7y agoMany unions (like the United Steelworkers) have expanded well beyond their original industry and exists as all-purpose unions. The name only exists for historical reasons.