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I think it's time for you to join the real world. Union workers are not entitled. You are coming from a place of entitlement if you think that life is that good

by wfo 12y ago

I think it's time for you to join the real world. Union workers are not entitled. You are coming from a place of entitlement if you think that life is that good for most workers. Union workers are trying to regain some semblance of power in an exploitative relationship. Many employers (all of the most efficient and therefore successful ones) are abusive. Even the hyper-entitled, and therefore hyper-libertarian software engineers are abused by their employers - employers break the law and collude to depress wages, if you want a real example from the news. Employees as a whole in this country are currently getting screwed -- because of a very well funded and long-running campaign by business interests to destroy unions through criminal action, regulatory capture, propaganda, etc. Incidentally it's much easier to convince software engineers to turn on each other and work against their best interests, all it takes is a quick ego stroke -- claim 'no, we're only going to screw over the \bad\ engineers, and you're not one of them... are you?' Fortunately some of them trying to stop it. Complaining about gas prices changing because of those pesky entitled blue collar upstarts acting above their class and demanding to be treated like human beings doesn't particularly endear people to your cause either. There are arguments to be made against unions; none of these are them.

akulbe 12y ago
Before I comment, I want to clarify. I'm not trying to come across like a jerk. I certainly think there are things about the current system of employment that can improve. But you can negotiate what you get. I stand by the statement that you don't always get what you want, but you can compromise with an employer and meet in the middle. Digging your heels in (like unions often do) isn't very productive. If you don't like the terms, you can look for employment elsewhere, right? One other thing to consider... remove the gatekeeper/middleman. By that, I mean work for yourself. It's not easy, but you have more flexibility to charge what you want, and go after the things that are important to you, in your work. In addition to working for yourself, I'd like to add that having multiple streams of income, even small, can give you a greater degree of freedom.

by wfo 12y ago

akulbe 12y ago

Before I comment, I want to clarify. I'm not trying to come across like a jerk. I certainly think there are things about the current system of employment that can improve. But you can negotiate what you get. I stand by the statement that you don't always get what you want, but you can compromise with an employer and meet in the middle. Digging your heels in (like unions often do) isn't very productive. If you don't like the terms, you can look for employment elsewhere, right? One other thing to consider... remove the gatekeeper/middleman. By that, I mean work for yourself. It's not easy, but you have more flexibility to charge what you want, and go after the things that are important to you, in your work. In addition to working for yourself, I'd like to add that having multiple streams of income, even small, can give you a greater degree of freedom.