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Campaigns aren't really necessary. There's plenty of history and first hand experience to go along with it. No question unions led to many improvements histori

Campaigns aren't really necessary. There's plenty of history and first hand experience to go along with it. No question unions led to many improvements historically in the lives of American workers, but they're also responsible for a lot of problems (including causing many businesses to close entirely). In many cases their tactics have been questionable. Sometimes those demands lead to a lot of long term side effects for all of us too. Want to know why your healthcare goes through your employer? Unions. Maybe you see that as a good thing? Maybe not? But unions are the reason it's there. In a software industry that's seen dramatic increases in demand and compensation, it's also questionable why people would even see a need? What is supposed to be the big benefit in this field that pays well, offers great flexibility in hours and location, cushy benefits and numerous opportunities for personal development?

ravenstine 5y ago
> In a software industry that's seen dramatic increases in demand and compensation, it's also questionable why people would even see a need? What is supposed to be the big benefit in this field that pays well, offers great flexibility in hours and location, cushy benefits and numerous opportunities for personal development? Exactly. I really can't name one reason, besides in a hypothetical scenario where an entire tech firm was made up of employees who are married with kids and aren't being paid enough such that 2 to 4 months of unemployment would be a big deal. But even in that case, I have a hard time seeing that being a huge problem because it just seems so rare that anyone gets let go unless the company is in serious trouble. Plus in tech so many of us have the skills to be our own employer if need be. That's not to say it's always an alternative to employment, but that's an opportunity there for many of us that doesn't exist in most other fields. A particular company would have to have serious problems and its employees would need to lack leverage for a union to be conceptually necessary in tech, at least in the United States. I can't speak for the rest of the world.

ravenstine 5y ago

> In a software industry that's seen dramatic increases in demand and compensation, it's also questionable why people would even see a need? What is supposed to be the big benefit in this field that pays well, offers great flexibility in hours and location, cushy benefits and numerous opportunities for personal development? Exactly. I really can't name one reason, besides in a hypothetical scenario where an entire tech firm was made up of employees who are married with kids and aren't being paid enough such that 2 to 4 months of unemployment would be a big deal. But even in that case, I have a hard time seeing that being a huge problem because it just seems so rare that anyone gets let go unless the company is in serious trouble. Plus in tech so many of us have the skills to be our own employer if need be. That's not to say it's always an alternative to employment, but that's an opportunity there for many of us that doesn't exist in most other fields. A particular company would have to have serious problems and its employees would need to lack leverage for a union to be conceptually necessary in tech, at least in the United States. I can't speak for the rest of the world.