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Idk if this is an American/West thing but here unions are the main reasons why workers are not exploited and have rights.
by gandalfgreybeer 4y ago
Idk if this is an American/West thing but here unions are the main reasons why workers are not exploited and have rights.
- jfengel 4y agoSame here in America. It's just that in America we resent that people with rights cost more, so every mistake any union has ever made must be proof that they want to resurrect Stalin and make him President for Life.
- closeparen 4y agoThe main reason American workers are not exploited is that they can easily get other jobs and would be difficult to replace (but when that’s not the case, they are).
- guerrilla 4y agoIncorrect, please look up why you have 8 hour work days and other labor laws.
- closeparen 4y agoWho is “you”? Software development and most IT related occupations are exempt from overtime. Hardly anyone on HN has an 8 hour workday by law. Ditto for professional, managerial, and administrative - careers that most people would not, in fact, exchange for those with rights. The law can give a bit of leverage to people who otherwise have none, but I’d wager there are more people who have leverage of their own than whose employers are only restrained from abusing them by law/contract. Especially in a tight labor market like today’s (outside tech).
- acdha 4y agoIt’s an American thing: there’s been money pouring into promotion of libertarianism and anti-union ideas like “right to work” laws ever since the Great Depression-era reforms lead to better compensation and rights for workers. A lot of influential writers, preachers, etc. got substantial funding and promotion for generations so now you’ll find many people who are conversant with these ideas but never really understood their origin as a coordinated campaign rather than an organic movement.