4 ms·
> Thinking about the middle class in the previous generation, it was unions that effectively ensured a labor job meant a secure future. I wonder if that's the s
by stego-tech 1y ago
> Thinking about the middle class in the previous generation, it was unions that effectively ensured a labor job meant a secure future. I wonder if that's the solution (again).
It is, and they are. It’s why Reagan fired ATC strikers and blackballed them. It’s why private enterprise stockpiled machine guns and chemical weapons against strikers back in the Gilded Age. It’s why companies will spend billions to block Unions rather than just give workers the few million or so more they need over a decade to just maintain a standard of living. It’s why they’ll close down stores, warehouses, offshore jobs and outsource to contractors to penalize Unions.
Unions are a direct response to the inequality of Capital allocation and distribution.
- wingspar 1y agoWasn’t the PATCO ATC strike illegal?
- Group_B 1y agoYes, federal workers are not allowed to strike
- stego-tech 1y agoThat didn’t make the strike or its messaging any less valid. Employers frequently strongarm politicians to make strikes and organized action illegal, at which point a dangerous precedence is set and violence is often the ultimate outcome. If your job is so important that a strike should be illegal, then that job should also compensate you and your colleagues so well that a strike isn’t even a remote consideration. ATC was being treated like shit, weighed the pros and cons, and decided to strike. And now in 2025, literally everything they struck against (outdated tech, short staffing, high burnout, low wages) is still here, and still causing harm.
- xnyan 1y agoThe American Revolution, wasn’t it illegal?
- aydyn 1y agoUnions are not effective when there's such a surplus of labor and people willing to break lines. It wont work in today's tech labor market.
- pmyteh 1y agoThe traditional response to that was violence against scabs, for better or for worse: it keeps people from breaking picket lines even when otherwise willing. This photo in particular captures something of it: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Strikers_Riot https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Strikers_Riot
- xienze 1y ago> The traditional response to that was violence against scabs And how are you going to do that when the scabs are in India? Unions work in “physical” domains (like plumbing, factory work, etc.), not so much in “virtual” domains where all you need is a computer to do your work and there’s an entire world full of workers who would think they’ve died and gone to heaven if they could make half your salary.
- franktankbank 1y ago> when the scabs are in India Lol good luck with that.
- silisili 1y agoSure it would. There are way more employed tech people than unemployed. Imagine if every single person at a company like MS up and went on strike tomorrow. Could MS replace them all with scabs? Sure, with enough time and money. But it wouldn't happen overnight, and things would get very dire if not company ruining in the meantime.
- idkwhattocallme 1y agoA digital strike by all employees for a week to get a collective bargaining agreement in place to show companies just how far AI has to go as a replacement would be powerful.