Management's role isn't necessarily to break unions but to keep workers compliant with company objectives.
If the company is open to a union, they'll only impede it (and keep lower management out of the loop) so much so to make it a burden for workers to manage.
If they're more offensive, they'll do what Apple, Trader Joe's, GM, Microsoft, Walmart and other conventional businesses do: take a complete about-face from whatever purported values the company is about and use their own legal prowess to weaken the constitutional rights workers have (it's only a crime if you're tried and sentenced when it comes to companies weakening unions).
Anyone skeptical about the power of #unions and what they can do for workers (and remember; if you don't own the means of production, you are a worker) should check out Iceland with its 92.2% participation.
Today three large unions, that collectively have around 1/5th of the nation as members, agreed to terms with industry representatives and the government for all kinds of workers benefits for the next four years.
Unions work, as long as people join them.
https://www.ruv.is/frettir/innlent/2024-03-07-langtimasamningur-til-fjogurra-ara-undirritadur-406805
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asking for a friend— can anyone hook me up with someone who knows about #techunions (#unionizing at a #tech company)? she and some of her colleagues just got screwed out of a raise based on sales and workflow metrics they had no control over and they’re ready to revolt
Part of why tech workers at huge orgs like this need a union:
Being compelled to relocate to a forced birthing state is violent as hell
So much more to collective power than just getting paid
https://www.theverge.com/2024/1/14/24037904/apple-san-diego-siri-ai-team-relocating
Tech workers when everyone is hiring: lol, I don’t need to unionize. Look how well I negotiated for myself!
Tech workers when there are layoffs everywhere: I don’t have time to unionize! I’m desperate to get a job right now!
#unionize #unionStrong
I'd personally argue (and do argue, in fact!) that you should take the evidence of such agreements and facts to mean that you actually have nothing to lose by becoming... labor aware, let's say. Don't make my mistakes: reject ERGs, which are a way of tracking groups likely to unionize (hot tip: ERGs are for underrepresented groups, which are typically the groups most impacted by layoffs, so guess which groups are _probably_ a little more... labor aware?). Don't be quite so obviously pro-labor; they have enough lawyers and enough capital on hand to not give a single shit about whatever action you could potentially bring against them.
But do form a union. Or a guild; there are too many companies owned by too few stockholders to _not_ also form agreements across company boundaries. And not one of those unions that's already waved the white flag to get their foot in the door, either.
It's our best bet against the technological abuse we're seeing.
RE: For anyone curious about this: if you formally disagree with the reason behind your layoff, congratulations! You're blacklisted. And if you follow up with compelling evidence of mistreatment, congratulations! You're DEFINITELY blacklisted and should probably follow that thread to whatever end it has for you. If you sign the settlement offer, which is probably what you're going to do because justice is about who has the most capital and they've cut off your funding, congrats, you're now _legally_ barred from working for any company they own ever again. It's standard language and they won't remove it.
What's interesting, however, is much like a warlock pact, the only thing I'm _not_ barred from talking about is the specific agreement about what was considered a settlement. I can talk about literally everything else. I low-key suspect they do this so that particularly mouthy people (me) will discuss what happens when you try and face off against corporate and how even if you win, you lose. Why else let me freely talk about everything?
RE: ...
For a long time I had trouble with the concept of unionizing programmers, because it felt like we're already so privileged compared to blue-collar workers.
What I realize now is that all that privilege vanishes like a mirage the moment people start talking about unionization. Or the moment interest rates go up.
1/ Hallway Track 003 You Deserve A Union is open for registration!
Adhoc free Zooms, recreating the best bits of conferences: the hallway chat after a great session.
Thursday 26 October 2023
2:30pm Pacific | 5:30pm Eastern | 10:30pm London
With:
* Jacky Alciné (https://jacky.wtf), Union organizer, ex-Code for America
* @beep@follow.ethanmarcotte.com of You Deserve a Tech Union
* Clarissa Redwine, ex Kickstarter United
* Johanna Weststar, Associate Prof. Weestern University
[cont]
https://verylittlegravitas.com/hallwaytrack
Attached: 1 image
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Holy shit looks like the WGA pretty much got *everything it wanted*, including structural change.
UNIONS WORK.
https://www.wgacontract2023.org/the-campaign/summary-of-the-2023-wga-mba
I don't know how to convince more workers in tech that we need unions. We sorely do and I'm hoping that the strikes are showing why. That's why I can't wait for @beep@follow.ethanmarcotte.com's book about tech unions at https://abookapart.com/products/you-deserve-a-tech-union to come out. It's cheaper than an O'Reilly subscription and will put you into what will make the industry and the industries we touch so much better.
I'm not going to act like an expert on labor organizing. I didn't have that term in my vocabulary four years ago. Now it's one of the anchoring aspects of my life and something I'm deeply passionate …
fellow tech workers, looking at the screenwriters guild striking, do you not feel that we too need a union? how many pointless layoffs have there been so these huge companies run by trust fund goons could do stock buybacks?
we need a union.
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