5 ms·

The threat of industrial action is a great motivator for employers. Unionising your workplace makes that threat possible.

jjtheblunt 4y ago
does that work better than jumping to a preferable employer (assuming such is possible)?
- photonbeam 4y ago
  Yes, it means they cant pick you off one by one, but have to negotiate against a group that has real leverage
- everforward 4y ago
  That assumes everyone has that option. There's likely not enough "preferable employer" jobs for everyone to have one in many sectors. There's also a divide between tactics efficient at the individual level and that efficient at a national or global level. E.g. you can tell an individual they should be a doctor/lawyer/engineer/etc and that's good advice, but if everyone does it then who grows food and cleans floors and etc?
ec2y 4y ago
You obviously don’t have my sucky union. The idiots let our agreement lapse over the pandemic and can’t their act together for a new one. (I’d suspect they were being union busted but I’m in Australia where unions are normal.)
- sudosysgen 4y ago
  There are heavy limitations on union industrial action in Australia that make this sort of thing much more likely to happen. It's a tremendously contrived system and as a result Unions often up very chummy to the employer as elements which may be more amenable to confrontation can get frustrated with the immense complexity and difficulty that brings. Any kind of industrial action used for bargaining is almost impossible to get authorized. I'd say the Australian union system is one of the worst in the world, and most Australian unions are structurally busted.
missedthecue 4y ago
This is why truckers (unionised) make a lot of money while software devs (nonunionised) scrape by
- kar5pt 4y ago
  How do you put on pants in the morning?
  - missedthecue 4y ago
    My comment was facetious satire illustrating that productivity increases, not cartels, are the key to rising wages. I'm sorry it was difficult to understand.
    - fuzzfactor 4y ago
      In a place like SV what percentage of truckers have been laid off compared to software people? How many are really increasing productivity in the long run anyway? When you think about it, their own employers must be satisfied with the lower productivity of a smaller staff or they wouldn't be kicking people out. Edit: Not my downvote. Corrective upvote actually.

jjtheblunt 4y ago

does that work better than jumping to a preferable employer (assuming such is possible)?

photonbeam 4y ago
Yes, it means they cant pick you off one by one, but have to negotiate against a group that has real leverage
everforward 4y ago
That assumes everyone has that option. There's likely not enough "preferable employer" jobs for everyone to have one in many sectors. There's also a divide between tactics efficient at the individual level and that efficient at a national or global level. E.g. you can tell an individual they should be a doctor/lawyer/engineer/etc and that's good advice, but if everyone does it then who grows food and cleans floors and etc?

ec2y 4y ago

You obviously don’t have my sucky union. The idiots let our agreement lapse over the pandemic and can’t their act together for a new one. (I’d suspect they were being union busted but I’m in Australia where unions are normal.)

sudosysgen 4y ago
There are heavy limitations on union industrial action in Australia that make this sort of thing much more likely to happen. It's a tremendously contrived system and as a result Unions often up very chummy to the employer as elements which may be more amenable to confrontation can get frustrated with the immense complexity and difficulty that brings. Any kind of industrial action used for bargaining is almost impossible to get authorized. I'd say the Australian union system is one of the worst in the world, and most Australian unions are structurally busted.

missedthecue 4y ago

This is why truckers (unionised) make a lot of money while software devs (nonunionised) scrape by

kar5pt 4y ago
How do you put on pants in the morning?
- missedthecue 4y ago
  My comment was facetious satire illustrating that productivity increases, not cartels, are the key to rising wages. I'm sorry it was difficult to understand.
  - fuzzfactor 4y ago
    In a place like SV what percentage of truckers have been laid off compared to software people? How many are really increasing productivity in the long run anyway? When you think about it, their own employers must be satisfied with the lower productivity of a smaller staff or they wouldn't be kicking people out. Edit: Not my downvote. Corrective upvote actually.