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As a practical matter it means that I, as a Software Engineer, will now have to think long and hard before I submit a resume to one of these HR departments with

As a practical matter it means that I, as a Software Engineer, will now have to think long and hard before I submit a resume to one of these HR departments with a history of informing current employers. We can bet that a good many job applicants asked "I don't want to make waves at my current job, but I saw your opening and it looked like such a great fit... So would you please keep my application confidential?" What were they told in response by the hiring HR departments?

nailer 15y ago
TBH I don't see employer unions as different from employee unions. Individual employees/employers will band together for mutual benefit. Then one, for significant personal benefit, will break ranks. The market decides what point that is. I say this as an employee.
- cynoclast 15y ago
  But unions exist to counter the grossly disproportionate amount of power that an employer has especially in a depression like this one, where unemployment drives down the cost of labor.
- _delirium 15y ago
  A large company in effect already is an employer union; whereas you typically negotiate as just one individual (unless you're part of a union), the hiring manager isn't negotiating with you by himself as a human free to use his judgment, but as part of a large organization that's agreed on common terms coordinated across all its hiring managers and departments. Hence the difficulty in negotiating changes to employment agreements: rather than a situation where, e.g. a representative of the company and a representative of the employees get together to negotiate things like non-compete terms, a representative of the company, which has worked out a coordinated strategy, is sitting down with an individual who isn't coordinating with anyone. The union analogue of a group of companies, representing a large sector of an industry, coordinating with each other, would be more like the old-school industry-wide unions, which would present demands to employers as a unified front, and simultaneously go on strike from all the employers in the entire sector if their demands weren't met. That's not allowed anymore; since the Taft-Hartley Act (1947), unions have to individually negotiate in good-faith with their employers, and industry-wide "labor action" is banned.

nailer 15y ago

TBH I don't see employer unions as different from employee unions. Individual employees/employers will band together for mutual benefit. Then one, for significant personal benefit, will break ranks. The market decides what point that is. I say this as an employee.

cynoclast 15y ago
But unions exist to counter the grossly disproportionate amount of power that an employer has especially in a depression like this one, where unemployment drives down the cost of labor.
_delirium 15y ago
A large company in effect already is an employer union; whereas you typically negotiate as just one individual (unless you're part of a union), the hiring manager isn't negotiating with you by himself as a human free to use his judgment, but as part of a large organization that's agreed on common terms coordinated across all its hiring managers and departments. Hence the difficulty in negotiating changes to employment agreements: rather than a situation where, e.g. a representative of the company and a representative of the employees get together to negotiate things like non-compete terms, a representative of the company, which has worked out a coordinated strategy, is sitting down with an individual who isn't coordinating with anyone. The union analogue of a group of companies, representing a large sector of an industry, coordinating with each other, would be more like the old-school industry-wide unions, which would present demands to employers as a unified front, and simultaneously go on strike from all the employers in the entire sector if their demands weren't met. That's not allowed anymore; since the Taft-Hartley Act (1947), unions have to individually negotiate in good-faith with their employers, and industry-wide "labor action" is banned.