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I agree that unions have been an important player for worker rights and in some countries even the advent and enforcement of democracy. However, unions really
by cynusx 6y ago
I agree that unions have been an important player for worker rights and in some countries even the advent and enforcement of democracy.
However, unions really make sense when workers are a "commodity" and easily replaceable to the point that they are ground down into poverty. Steel workers and drivers would be a good example of such jobs.
In software engineering, you have plenty of options to change jobs and go to a better company. The market demand for software engineers is massive and you are definitely not in a job where you have to suffer through bad management.
A company in tech that unionized can only mean one thing
1/ The management is really crap
2/ The workers are so unskilled they can't find jobs elsewhere
Would you outsource work to such a company?
- pjmlp 6y agoApparently many US companies do, because they outsource to European companies and we do unionize across full sectors, not single companies. Everyone from the cleaning personal to upper management gets part of the deal. Plus apparently some haven't yet grasped that in many economies across the world, Software Engineers are indeed replacement cogs, they just cost little more per month than other cogs.
- cynusx 6y agoIn my opinion there is a big difference between being forced by regulation to unionize and to be forced by your own employees to unionize. The management can't be blamed for the regulation and the employees clearly didn't decide to unionize because they don't believe in their own chances of finding employment elsewhere. If the forcing function is external then there's no reason to assume the company's performance will be subpar from a buyer POV
- pjmlp 6y agoI really don't get this US point of view how unions have anything to do with job performance or ability to find jobs.