- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- technology@lemmy.ml
- technology@lemmy.zip
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- technology@lemmy.ml
- technology@lemmy.zip
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Tech unionization is something that kind of makes me want to start another company.
It would be interesting to go union by default from the get go. Yes I’d be setting up conflict, but I expect everyone that would join would be very into the experiment and we’d all want to make it work well.
are you thinking of a cooperative?
That is absolutely one model, but I think it might be better to have an explicit union setup to avoid the co op elements being perverted into old school capitalism over time and nobody wants to unionize there because it is nominally a co op.
It might be more interesting to setup an explicit capitalist vs union structure where the capitalist side has strict bylaws in place to enforce union negotiation and support. That would probably be more honest over time as I think systems tend towards power for those that are running things one way or another.
A co op could work really well though if the company stayed smaller and had strict guidelines for membership and clear processes for removal of bad actors.
Definitely worth a lot more thought.
both coops and unionized companies operate within a capitalist structure and on the market (usually). Neither model can emancipate itself from its context. So I’m not sure about what aspect you expect to be different. And coops can be run with good governance where power structures are explicit, managed and democratically altered to reflect the values of the members. The case where you have few people controlling everything is a dysfunction, it’s not part of the model (and also can happen with unions).
I’m a 4th year computer science student, what can I do to support tech Unions?
you can volunteer in some alt-albor organization that supports unions externally, like Tech Workers Coalition: https://techworkerscoalition.org/
Looks promising! Glad to see there’s a group active in Canada!
yep, it’s one of the new chapters and it’s pretty active and growing fast. You should join.
Serious question from an idiot: I work in tech but I’m the only guy in the company doing so (solo IT) so there’s no chance of a Union, right, because I’m all alone and no one to unionize with? Or are unions able to cover multiple companies, like The IBEW or something? I guess I’ve never really looked much into it. I do actually like my job and have successfully negotiated better pay on my own behalf, so maybe it’s not necessary? Minus I am in an at-will state so might be not worth it?
you can unionize with the rest of the workers. They are called “wall to wall unions” when you do not organize by department/profession but by company. In some countries they are the norm.
Workers skeptical of unions in a survey of 1,900 tech professionals conducted by the career site Blind cited specific concerns: that unions are “not meritocratic,” “prevent innovation,” and “hold back earnings of top performers.”
Looking at my non union job where idiots make millions and it has taken years to get even the basics of ci/cd implemented.
that unions are “not meritocratic,” “prevent innovation,” and “hold back earnings of top performers.”
When they make comments like that, they always assume that they are the “top performers”, getting the best deal already (edit: or on track to be one of them in the future). That assumption is usually wrong.
I think it is more the opposite. They have worked with some people who are terrible at their job. And the idea that those terrible people would get the same pay angers them. And that is the trick. How does a union ensure the people who do a good job actually get paid better than those who don’t. The answer is of course that they can’t. This is because there is no objective standard for doing a good job in tech. Everyone’s idea of a good job is different.
