They don't either in the non-union corporate world either. They pay as little as they can get away with. They'll assign as much work as you can possibly do, and

They don't either in the non-union corporate world either. They pay as little as they can get away with. They'll assign as much work as you can possibly do, and then pile on more, and set unreasonable demands. The moment you surmount them, there's more work.... But here's your COLI for the year. And, it's a common and well understood in the tech field that if you want better pay, you job hop. An employer who's paying you X knows that X is enough, and won't give any real merit raise increases. This is only for people who just apply to "jobs" and accept whatever money is given. You're entirely in control of negotiating terms and it's easily possible to negotiate wildly different employment terms than your coworkers at medium to large companies. Thinking otherwise is for people who aren't talented, lack the ability to negotiate and don't have any imagination. I know several software engineers who have negotiated for $500k+ cash compensation at their employers because they had skills that are in demand and it was worth paying them that. You would never be able to do this with collective bargaining arrangements.