4 ms·

You don’t have to be oppressed to form a union. Most professional athletes, for example, are unionized. And they’re often very well paid.

umeshunni 4y ago
Also, Doctors, Actors etc
- LastTrain 4y ago
  Nowhere did I say Bandcamp engineers can't have a union, or even whether it makes good business sense for them. It might, it might not. Maybe this will end up being better for Soundcloud engineers in the long run if you know what I mean. I was reacting to the idea that it somehow furthers the cause of organized labor, it doesn't.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
    > I was reacting to the idea that it somehow furthers the cause of organized labor, it doesn't. It absolutely does, by helping to (re)normalize the idea that the employer/union duality is the common, sensible, ubiquitous arrangement.
- abandonliberty 4y ago
  Don't we call those guilds, associations, academies, etc.? Unions traditionally refer to blue collar/factory work. I don't know what the difference is.
scaramanga 4y ago
Not to mention gladiators i ancient rome, many of whom were paid very well... You're quite right that this is a completely ridiculous argument. A well paid slave, is still a slave.
- LastTrain 4y ago
  This is the mockery and tone deafness I was referring to. No, no one at Bandcamp is a slave, and to say so is an insult to people who are. Do you hear yourself? It is the height of privilege to think you are a slave at your well paid, fun engineering job.
  - scaramanga 4y ago
    https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irony https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irony It is simply risible to pretend that the tech-industry has not created a new generation of piece-workers. Or that conditions cannot be bad (even unacceptable) in a well-paid and otherwise privileged job. Perhaps you simply lack insight to realise that by writing this comment you have become the thing my comment was mocking? :) "You Gladiators, look at the purse awarded to you! And you call yourself a common slave! It is an insult to the slaves who toil in the mines!"

umeshunni 4y ago

Also, Doctors, Actors etc

LastTrain 4y ago
Nowhere did I say Bandcamp engineers can't have a union, or even whether it makes good business sense for them. It might, it might not. Maybe this will end up being better for Soundcloud engineers in the long run if you know what I mean. I was reacting to the idea that it somehow furthers the cause of organized labor, it doesn't.
- PaulDavisThe1st 4y ago
  > I was reacting to the idea that it somehow furthers the cause of organized labor, it doesn't. It absolutely does, by helping to (re)normalize the idea that the employer/union duality is the common, sensible, ubiquitous arrangement.
abandonliberty 4y ago
Don't we call those guilds, associations, academies, etc.? Unions traditionally refer to blue collar/factory work. I don't know what the difference is.

scaramanga 4y ago

Not to mention gladiators i ancient rome, many of whom were paid very well... You're quite right that this is a completely ridiculous argument. A well paid slave, is still a slave.

LastTrain 4y ago
This is the mockery and tone deafness I was referring to. No, no one at Bandcamp is a slave, and to say so is an insult to people who are. Do you hear yourself? It is the height of privilege to think you are a slave at your well paid, fun engineering job.
- scaramanga 4y ago
  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irony https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/irony It is simply risible to pretend that the tech-industry has not created a new generation of piece-workers. Or that conditions cannot be bad (even unacceptable) in a well-paid and otherwise privileged job. Perhaps you simply lack insight to realise that by writing this comment you have become the thing my comment was mocking? :) "You Gladiators, look at the purse awarded to you! And you call yourself a common slave! It is an insult to the slaves who toil in the mines!"