7 ms·
Tech salaries are too high for people to do that. At least in Europe. Having an union will fuck with peoples salaries.
by zwnow 11mo ago
Tech salaries are too high for people to do that. At least in Europe. Having an union will fuck with peoples salaries.
- triceratops 11mo agoSoccer players in Europe are in unions. Tell me again how low star players' salaries are.
- consp 11mo agoThe vast majority of IT jobs pay pretty meager here. There are some exceptions but not that much. You gave to be "manager" to get any decent pay most of the time.
- zwnow 11mo agoHmm most people I know earn well above median and whenever I look at my regions statistics it confirms that... Joining an union would mean cuts to these people. I am a fan of unions for low pay jobs but not in tech.
- esseph 11mo agoUnions of low wage jobs have extremely limited bargaining power compared to a much smaller group of people with far more specialized skills that are in demand.
- distances 11mo agoWhy do you think unions would mean salary cuts? Unions don't set maximum salaries. You are absolutely free to negotiate your salary, raises, promotions, and so on. In the Nordics quite many tech workers are in unions. For most people it's perhaps just about habits and solidarity, but they do offer tangible benefits like free consultation and legal representation in a case of dispute with your employer.
- zwnow 11mo agoBecause companies are going to base salaries on collective agreements with the union which are usually lower compared to the salary high paying jobs have. At least that's how unions work in my country. Unions are powerful because they can call for protests and employees who are in a union cant get laid off due to joining the protest. But its not worth if the job already has way better working conditions than like 80% of jobs out there.
- vincnetas 11mo ago"unions dont set max salaries" you are free to negotiate better salary. fact that union had agreed with company on minimum salary, does not change anything for you. yes the company can say "hey you asking too much, we talked with unions" but company can say the same either way "hey you asking too much, market is tough". so unions just the lower bar.
- distances 11mo agoI don't think your salary negotiation position is diminished by having some kind of a lower bound. Skilled employees should be able to get a higher salary if the employers value their skills, and that does happen all the time also in countries with strong unions, like those Nordics. Even without unions Europe wouldn't have US tech salary levels, those numbers come from other market dynamics.
- skirge 11mo ago"decent" is undefined, IT is far above average in most countries, and it's nice work in warm office.
- melvinroest 11mo agoWhat companies are they working for?
- zwnow 11mo agoIn Europe you can make a lot of money in consulting given you also work a ton. With a regular 40h/w job it usually comes over time or with leadership roles. But entry level jobs are often well above median already. Not 6 digit silicon valley numbers but more than enough for my locals cost of living. Pretty company independent in my experience.
- z3dd 11mo agoI don't think you know what you're talking about, or you are omitting western Europe. In Germany/Austria most workers are on collective bargaining agreements (different and specific for each industry, incl IT) which is regulated by unions plus org-specific councils (Betriebsräte in AT/DE, similar in other countries). Similar for Switzerland, also Collective labour agreements in Netherlands. Seems to be similar in Spain and France but these I didn't have experience with. So yeah, your comment is at least misleading or ignorant and bullshit at most
- tonyedgecombe 11mo agoYet isn't it a regular complaint that European tech salaries are half of what they would be in the US?
- baq 11mo agoHalf? Most folks would be eternally grateful for half
- autoexec 11mo agoIsn't it a regular complaint that American tech workers don't get the kinds of benefits they would in Europe, especially healthcare? Even someone with a very nice American salary can be bankrupted by medical expenses very easily in America. When Americans do end up bankrupt it's usually medical debt that is to blame. It seems like there should be room for a happy medium somewhere where some workers in the US maybe don't get the same salaries but are also not having to spend so much on healthcare, get more time with their families, get better just protections, etc. Once you make enough money that you're not really worried about meeting your bills and can pretty much buy what you want the peace of mind is more important than the bragging rights you get over who has a bigger paycheck.
- mlrtime 11mo agoNo, I don't see those complaints anywhere. US workers are paid so much more that the lower salary + higher taxes are not worth it. Especially due to the fact that many of the high paying SWE jobs include very good health insurance. So I so 0 benefit for me to join a union.