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I think unions should change the way they work and focus on helping people find other jobs. Trying to get a company to meet your demands about increased wages

I think unions should change the way they work and focus on helping people find other jobs. Trying to get a company to meet your demands about increased wages and benefits seems futile in a world where competition is local and global. For example, if a tech union offered networking opportunities, resume-building help, internships, and access to companies looking for employees, I would join.

SuoDuanDao 5y ago
I agree, it's also very difficult to do one's best by the customer when there's such an adversarial relationship inside the company structure. I think Unions work better when they're more like guilds, where the primary focus ins perpetuating best practises and serving the public, with fair wages for work done being a natural consequence of the best workers being union members.
- bee_rider 5y ago
  Unions would work better if they were more like guilds, in the sense that guilds and professional societies serve an entirely different type of worker, with jobs that are in higher demand and have more training requirements. So yes if unions had to do a very different, much easier job, they'd probably do great.
- user-the-name 5y ago
  That is grossly ignorant of the history and purpose of unions, and what they have achieved.
  - SuoDuanDao 5y ago
    You're right, it's entirely informed by what I see unions doing in my workplace today.
    - user-the-name 5y ago
      Yes, that would indeed be very ignorant if that is the sum total of your knowledge.
mrkentutbabi 5y ago
Its all about power dynamics. Kellog here decided that they have more power on their side so why should they come to the negotiating table. If you look at /r/antiwork you’ll realize that these demands are more and more moving goalposts. I don’t understand that subreddit. They think jobs grow on trees.
- scollet 5y ago
  There are infinite jobs. What other parts are confusing about the ethos?
  - mrkentutbabi 5y ago
    There are infinite jobs????
slothtrop 5y ago
It's obviously not futile evidenced by the fact that unions broadly speaking tend to immediately boost wages.
user-the-name 5y ago
Absolute nonsense. That is utterly worthless, and giving up a massive amount of power for basically nothing at all. It would be pure insanity to do so.
bee_rider 5y ago
You are describing a professional society. Typically engineers for example will join something like IEEE, ASME, or AIChE. The reason for this difference is that in the case of well paid, in demand professions like engineering, it is typically a better strategy to just have enough money stored to to bridge the gap and move on to another job quickly if your employer is shitty. Laborers don't typically have those privileges, so they form organizations that help them defend their current jobs.
maerF0x0 5y ago
> if a tech union offered networking opportunities, resume-building help, internships, and access to companies looking for employees And I would add, banning employers that use anti-labor tactics... Bring in "Scabs" ? Lose access to the best people until restitution is made. Edit: I also think incentives can be better aligned by bringing more equity or corporate performance pay eg: you get $20 an hour base pay, but $15 an hour is actually in company stock or bonuses on profit etc. IIRC westjet (canadian airline) had a lot of success making every single employee have equity pay ("be an owner/shareholder") ...

SuoDuanDao 5y ago

I agree, it's also very difficult to do one's best by the customer when there's such an adversarial relationship inside the company structure. I think Unions work better when they're more like guilds, where the primary focus ins perpetuating best practises and serving the public, with fair wages for work done being a natural consequence of the best workers being union members.

bee_rider 5y ago
Unions would work better if they were more like guilds, in the sense that guilds and professional societies serve an entirely different type of worker, with jobs that are in higher demand and have more training requirements. So yes if unions had to do a very different, much easier job, they'd probably do great.
user-the-name 5y ago
That is grossly ignorant of the history and purpose of unions, and what they have achieved.
- SuoDuanDao 5y ago
  You're right, it's entirely informed by what I see unions doing in my workplace today.
  - user-the-name 5y ago
    Yes, that would indeed be very ignorant if that is the sum total of your knowledge.

mrkentutbabi 5y ago

Its all about power dynamics. Kellog here decided that they have more power on their side so why should they come to the negotiating table. If you look at /r/antiwork you’ll realize that these demands are more and more moving goalposts. I don’t understand that subreddit. They think jobs grow on trees.

scollet 5y ago
There are infinite jobs. What other parts are confusing about the ethos?
- mrkentutbabi 5y ago
  There are infinite jobs????

slothtrop 5y ago

It's obviously not futile evidenced by the fact that unions broadly speaking tend to immediately boost wages.

user-the-name 5y ago

Absolute nonsense. That is utterly worthless, and giving up a massive amount of power for basically nothing at all. It would be pure insanity to do so.

bee_rider 5y ago

You are describing a professional society. Typically engineers for example will join something like IEEE, ASME, or AIChE. The reason for this difference is that in the case of well paid, in demand professions like engineering, it is typically a better strategy to just have enough money stored to to bridge the gap and move on to another job quickly if your employer is shitty. Laborers don't typically have those privileges, so they form organizations that help them defend their current jobs.

maerF0x0 5y ago

> if a tech union offered networking opportunities, resume-building help, internships, and access to companies looking for employees And I would add, banning employers that use anti-labor tactics... Bring in "Scabs" ? Lose access to the best people until restitution is made. Edit: I also think incentives can be better aligned by bringing more equity or corporate performance pay eg: you get $20 an hour base pay, but $15 an hour is actually in company stock or bonuses on profit etc. IIRC westjet (canadian airline) had a lot of success making every single employee have equity pay ("be an owner/shareholder") ...