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Is there as much of an effort to unionize in other countries where tech salaries are markedly lower? I only seem to hear about efforts to organize in the US, bu
by mullingitover 6y ago
Is there as much of an effort to unionize in other countries where tech salaries are markedly lower? I only seem to hear about efforts to organize in the US, but Europe's tech salaries are far lower across the board. You'd think that efforts to organize there would be more fruitful.
- bsanr2 6y agoMany European tech markets are supported by robust social welfare systems and a culture of unionization within other industries that creates a sort of economic herd resistance to employer abuse.
- whimsicalism 6y agoGoogle at least has some form of worker council in Europe because of organizing + local law.
- licnep 6y agoMost workers in europe are unionized, but at least here in Italy, there is no union specific to tech workers. Tech workers fall either under the unions for factory workers or commerce workers, which have lower standards for salaries. So one reason salaries stay low is not so much that workers aren't unionized, but that a computer engineer is lumped together with an assembly line worker. As the european tech sector grows it would make sense for tech-specific unions to emerge.
- asymptosis 6y agoIn Australia there is still a reasonable amount of unionisation, although membership percentages dropped off markedly when a past government sharply curtailed union powers. In particular, the "right to strike" as understood by much of the developed world is now restricted to only certain circumstances; basically, we can only strike once every few years when negotiating for a new agreement. Once the agreement is in place, taking collective action against hostile management makes you a target for civil liability. (Which isn't to say it doesn't happen, but the threat of civil damages certainly has a chilling effect whenever the prospect of "unprotected action" is raised.)