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Tech unions make no sense at all. In a capitalist world there are 2 main things: the means of production and the ownership of outputs. Unions are a purely capit
by nemo44x 4y ago
Tech unions make no sense at all. In a capitalist world there are 2 main things: the means of production and the ownership of outputs. Unions are a purely capitalist concept and exist to limit exploitation since the workers do not control the means of production or the outputs since they trade their labor for a paycheck.
Tech workers however do control the means of production since their knowledge is their own property. The computer they work on is a mere commodity and irrelevant to the means of production.
Because the means of production are owned by the worker, they demand an extremely large share of the outputs in the form of paychecks many standard deviations above average labor, first class healthcare, stock grants which has made hundreds of thousands of us wealthy, and other first class benefits.
What can a union do other than lay claim to your ownership of the means of production?! You control that and a union would love to get a piece.
- UtopiaPunk 4y agoTech workers don't own the code they write for their employer, or the infrastructure they maintain for ops. Tech workers don't receive a share of profits that result from the value they create for the company. Tech workers don't have complete control of their schedules. I'll grant that working in tech often means more control and flexibility than other professions, and the pay is usually decent. But at the end of the day, tech workers are creating value for their bosses, and the bosses are the ones who benefit and tell the workers what to do. A unionized workforce would tip the balance a little more in favor of workers (and a worker-owned cooperative would flip the script entirely). A strong union ran by the rank-and-file would be awesome for tech workers.