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The number 1 reason to form a union in the tech world is so a company can't pull a Disney. Replace all your full time workers with imported 'contractors' and f

The number 1 reason to form a union in the tech world is so a company can't pull a Disney. Replace all your full time workers with imported 'contractors' and force you to train them. Getting rid of the 'contractor' loop hole in tech will be better for everyone.

hinkley 7y ago
I'm interested in someone setting minimum quality requirements for code, and I've no faith in my government to do that well. No, I said that wrong. I have every faith in my government screwing that up spectacularly. From what I understand from other industries, the safety guidelines are often, at least initially, heavily informed by the professional bodies of those industries. Later on watchdog groups start to propose more stringent rules. We haven't really discussed any of this stuff very concretely and we'd have to start somewhere (other than legislation please).
scarface74 7y ago
You really aren’t aware of all the union factories that picked up and moved their entire operations to another country to avoid unions? As far as the contract “loophole”. Every time I’ve worked as a contractor, my net income including taking into account the loss of benefits was hire than I made as an FTE.
xur17 7y ago
> The number 1 reason to form a union in the tech world is so a company can't pull a Disney. Replace all your full time workers with imported 'contractors' and force you to train them. How do they force you to train your replacement? There are plenty of jobs in tech right now, you could (and should) just walk out the door if something like that occurs.
- heavyset_go 7y ago
  Some people have bills to pay and mouths to feed, and don't want their kids going without health insurance for potentially months between jobs. The individual market for health insurance is terrible and COBRA is another expensive liability for someone without a job.
- GaryNumanVevo 7y ago
  IIRC, they literally included a clause in their contract that they wouldn't receive their severance pay / layoff benefits if they didn't train contractors. This is also something a union can help with, you can't negotiate that clause out of your contract, but collectively you can.

hinkley 7y ago

I'm interested in someone setting minimum quality requirements for code, and I've no faith in my government to do that well. No, I said that wrong. I have every faith in my government screwing that up spectacularly. From what I understand from other industries, the safety guidelines are often, at least initially, heavily informed by the professional bodies of those industries. Later on watchdog groups start to propose more stringent rules. We haven't really discussed any of this stuff very concretely and we'd have to start somewhere (other than legislation please).

scarface74 7y ago

You really aren’t aware of all the union factories that picked up and moved their entire operations to another country to avoid unions? As far as the contract “loophole”. Every time I’ve worked as a contractor, my net income including taking into account the loss of benefits was hire than I made as an FTE.

xur17 7y ago

> The number 1 reason to form a union in the tech world is so a company can't pull a Disney. Replace all your full time workers with imported 'contractors' and force you to train them. How do they force you to train your replacement? There are plenty of jobs in tech right now, you could (and should) just walk out the door if something like that occurs.

heavyset_go 7y ago
Some people have bills to pay and mouths to feed, and don't want their kids going without health insurance for potentially months between jobs. The individual market for health insurance is terrible and COBRA is another expensive liability for someone without a job.
GaryNumanVevo 7y ago
IIRC, they literally included a clause in their contract that they wouldn't receive their severance pay / layoff benefits if they didn't train contractors. This is also something a union can help with, you can't negotiate that clause out of your contract, but collectively you can.