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Unions suffer from the same problem as communist states: they are theoretically superb, but practically cumbersome and prone to abuse. A successful union shoul

by sago 12y ago

Unions suffer from the same problem as communist states: they are theoretically superb, but practically cumbersome and prone to abuse. A successful union should be able to - Guarantee minimum wages and conditions for all employees. - Hold management to account on malpractice towards employees. - Not limit individual employees ability to command higher wages or conditions than the minimum. - Not limit the ability of companies to make decisions that improve the health of the company. - Allow employees to be agile in what they need from the company, without calcifying previous agreements. - Not privilege the employment of union representatives. In practice good unions hit some of these, but not all. And anti-union folks tend to carp on the ones that they're poor at. I'd love to see a model for how to unionise that provided all these qualities. They aren't called 'unions', but there are professional organizations that act as unions and are generally respected: doctors, accountants, etc. They don't hit all my points, but I think, on balance, programmers would benefit from something similar.

pessimizer 12y ago
>Not limit the ability of companies to make decisions that improve the health of the company. The only purpose of unions is to limit the ability of companies to make decisions that improve the health of the company (at the expense of the people who work for it.)
- sago 12y ago
  Why put the last phrase in parentheses when removing it would totally alter the meaning? The only purpose of surgeons is to hack into peoples bodies and mess about with their internal organs (when the person's health would be worse if they did not). See? It's easy to play those games. Employment isn't a zero sum game. Employees can benefit from a healthy company. Unions should facilitate the growth of a company in ways that do not exploit the workforce.
Frondo 12y ago
Private enterprise suffers from the same problem as capitalist states: they are theoretically efficient, but in practice, a handful of people at the top become richer and richer, while everyone else is squeezed into de-facto indenture. As they say, capitalism works in theory. Once you get out into the real world, though, you need some kind of check on that imbalance of power.

by sago 12y ago

pessimizer 12y ago

>Not limit the ability of companies to make decisions that improve the health of the company. The only purpose of unions is to limit the ability of companies to make decisions that improve the health of the company (at the expense of the people who work for it.)

sago 12y ago
Why put the last phrase in parentheses when removing it would totally alter the meaning? The only purpose of surgeons is to hack into peoples bodies and mess about with their internal organs (when the person's health would be worse if they did not). See? It's easy to play those games. Employment isn't a zero sum game. Employees can benefit from a healthy company. Unions should facilitate the growth of a company in ways that do not exploit the workforce.

Frondo 12y ago

Private enterprise suffers from the same problem as capitalist states: they are theoretically efficient, but in practice, a handful of people at the top become richer and richer, while everyone else is squeezed into de-facto indenture. As they say, capitalism works in theory. Once you get out into the real world, though, you need some kind of check on that imbalance of power.