4 ms·

I'm not a big fan of unions. Certainly not in this case. I think where they are more effective is where the workers are largely interchangeable and do not posse

by jm4 7y ago

I'm not a big fan of unions. Certainly not in this case. I think where they are more effective is where the workers are largely interchangeable and do not possess abilities that are unique from other workers - or at least an environment where uniqueness is not valued by the company. Think highly regulated industries or an environment where you need a highly reliable and consistent baseline more than you need high performers or creativity. Unions can protect those workers that are largely interchangeable from the company throwing them out like garbage in favor of someone cheaper or who will put up with more crap for a paycheck. Unions are good at establishing consistency at the expense of innovation. I think unions are the wrong answer in tech. Knowledge workers are not equal, their innovation and uniqueness is valuable and they should not be lumped together into one class where there is little to no incentive to stand out. Frankly, I'm surprised these types of people would be interested in a union in the first place because they are the likeliest beneficiaries of there not being a union and the most equipped to successfully go out on their own.

davidcbc 7y ago
The NFL players association is a highly successful union for people with unique abilities. Same with the Screen Actors Guild. Highly specialized labor benefits from unionization as well.
- jm4 7y ago
  The NFL is also the only successful employer of professional football players which makes that situation unique. There are several gigantic tech companies and millions of other jobs available that aren’t at Google. Do you have another example?
  - davidcbc 7y ago
    There is literally another example in my previous post.
CydeWeys 7y ago
I think you misunderstand why tech workers are organizing. It's because they have moral or ethical qualms with what their employers are doing, not because they aren't making enough money. You're right, if the latter were their issue, then they could just shop employers, and they do. It's not that. Googlers are organizing now because they disagree with actions the company is taking. They want to have a greater say in what kind of stuff the company does and they want safety from retaliation for speaking their mind. A union contract would go a long way towards accomplishing these goals. Even a year ago the argument that Google didn't need unions was much stronger. Now that employees are actively being fired by management, wanting a union to protect against that makes a lot more sense.

by jm4 7y ago

davidcbc 7y ago

The NFL players association is a highly successful union for people with unique abilities. Same with the Screen Actors Guild. Highly specialized labor benefits from unionization as well.

jm4 7y ago
The NFL is also the only successful employer of professional football players which makes that situation unique. There are several gigantic tech companies and millions of other jobs available that aren’t at Google. Do you have another example?
- davidcbc 7y ago
  There is literally another example in my previous post.

CydeWeys 7y ago

I think you misunderstand why tech workers are organizing. It's because they have moral or ethical qualms with what their employers are doing, not because they aren't making enough money. You're right, if the latter were their issue, then they could just shop employers, and they do. It's not that. Googlers are organizing now because they disagree with actions the company is taking. They want to have a greater say in what kind of stuff the company does and they want safety from retaliation for speaking their mind. A union contract would go a long way towards accomplishing these goals. Even a year ago the argument that Google didn't need unions was much stronger. Now that employees are actively being fired by management, wanting a union to protect against that makes a lot more sense.