4 ms·

Because the business needs you to keep putting out fires in the old tool while your younger, cheaper replacement trains on the new tool!

jayd16 3y ago
Sounds like a union could help but I guess the odds of that are slim.
- CamperBob2 3y ago
  Is there anything a union can't help with, in your estimation?
  - jjoonathan 3y ago
    Plenty. U**ons solve one problem only: when value created is high but leverage (=pay) is low. The fact that this problem pops up all over the damn place should tell you something about our relationship to u**ons.
    - red-iron-pine 3y ago
      it's not just low pay. children used to work 10 hours a day and lose hands in machinery. hell, kids are dying in factories now, and the rules just keep getting rolled back further. miners get black lung or asbestos exposure. dudes boiled alive in machinery that didn't have fail safes. company towns that only paid in scrip and then charged you 3x the price of regular goods. people had to fight and die for an 8 hour workday. the bourgeoisie programmer types who've never had to work actually dangerous jobs tend to forget just how incredibly brutal working conditions used to be.
      - pianoben 3y ago
        Seriously! People forget that bosses responded to unionization with actual violent assault, including sending literal bombers against striking miners (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain). Children get to go to school and not work because Unions fought. We have a weekend because Unions fought. We have an eight-hour workday because Unions fought.
      - CamperBob2 3y ago
        We have laws to address those things now. You wouldn't believe the paperwork when someone gets boiled alive at work nowadays.
  - jayd16 3y ago
    Of course they don't help everything but setting up a seniority system is a common and well tread union policy and solves the stated problem.
  - Spooky23 3y ago
    Big companies with standardized jobs are great for unionization. Union bureaucracy is a great answer to corporate or government bureaucracy. Basically, a big, inflexible place is a good unionization candidate. A smaller, nimble org is a lousy place for a union.
Terr_ 3y ago
"What happens when we need more workers who know the new tool? Shouldn't we invest in training?" "No, we'll hire them away from our competitors. Let one of them invest in training."
asow92 3y ago
Sounds like the old tool maintainer isn't leveraging their scarcity power. If their skills are in high demand and short supply, and they can't be replaced, then shouldn't they make things take longer as they learn new tool? Of course this accelerates the business’s desire to adopt the new tool sooner, so they best hurry!

jayd16 3y ago

Sounds like a union could help but I guess the odds of that are slim.

CamperBob2 3y ago
Is there anything a union can't help with, in your estimation?
- jjoonathan 3y ago
  Plenty. U**ons solve one problem only: when value created is high but leverage (=pay) is low. The fact that this problem pops up all over the damn place should tell you something about our relationship to u**ons.
  - red-iron-pine 3y ago
    it's not just low pay. children used to work 10 hours a day and lose hands in machinery. hell, kids are dying in factories now, and the rules just keep getting rolled back further. miners get black lung or asbestos exposure. dudes boiled alive in machinery that didn't have fail safes. company towns that only paid in scrip and then charged you 3x the price of regular goods. people had to fight and die for an 8 hour workday. the bourgeoisie programmer types who've never had to work actually dangerous jobs tend to forget just how incredibly brutal working conditions used to be.
    - pianoben 3y ago
      Seriously! People forget that bosses responded to unionization with actual violent assault, including sending literal bombers against striking miners (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain). Children get to go to school and not work because Unions fought. We have a weekend because Unions fought. We have an eight-hour workday because Unions fought.
    - CamperBob2 3y ago
      We have laws to address those things now. You wouldn't believe the paperwork when someone gets boiled alive at work nowadays.
- jayd16 3y ago
  Of course they don't help everything but setting up a seniority system is a common and well tread union policy and solves the stated problem.
- Spooky23 3y ago
  Big companies with standardized jobs are great for unionization. Union bureaucracy is a great answer to corporate or government bureaucracy. Basically, a big, inflexible place is a good unionization candidate. A smaller, nimble org is a lousy place for a union.

Terr_ 3y ago

"What happens when we need more workers who know the new tool? Shouldn't we invest in training?" "No, we'll hire them away from our competitors. Let one of them invest in training."

asow92 3y ago

Sounds like the old tool maintainer isn't leveraging their scarcity power. If their skills are in high demand and short supply, and they can't be replaced, then shouldn't they make things take longer as they learn new tool? Of course this accelerates the business’s desire to adopt the new tool sooner, so they best hurry!