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There are things beyond compensation that individuals cannot easily negotiate by themselves. For example, a reasonable ask could be to never get contacted by bo
by lovecg 5y ago
There are things beyond compensation that individuals cannot easily negotiate by themselves. For example, a reasonable ask could be to never get contacted by boss or work colleagues (about work) outside of work hours (unless oncall, etc.). In the absence of group coordination that a union provides this work arrangement is simply out of reach for most.
- beachy 5y agoA union won't help you get your own tailored work situation, where you enjoy never ever being contacted after hours. They'll work for a situation where everyone gets that, and everyone is treated the same. That's the whole point. Goodbye work flexibility for your entire company.
- relaxing 5y agoNo, it’ll help everyone get their work situation where they enjoy never being contacted after hours. Or if your position requires after hours work, it’ll ensure you are fairly compensated. Goodbye ability for upper management to demand unpaid overtime or fire people for violating unspoken “agreements.” (Obviously being union doesn’t force everyone into the same position description.)
- lovecg 5y agoWell yeah that’s the idea. Things like “never being contacted after hours” only work if everyone agrees to it. If there are a few people on the team who “defect” by getting work flexibility and start pinging people at night, the whole culture quickly reverts to “it’s ok to ping people at night”. You’ll be free to choose non-union jobs, it’s just there will now be an option for a “business hours only” workplace where there’s none now.
- queuebert 5y agoBingo. There is a reason why pay at big tech is so high. I've never heard an ex-Google employee complain about the pay, but I've heard plenty complain about work-life balance.