Why Tech Professionals Now Share a Fate with the Working Class | Hacker News Reader

Why Tech Professionals Now Share a Fate with the Working Class

fastcompany.com

22 pointsjackgavigan6 comments

That moment when tech workers realise that they have been working class all along

Which is why I always chuckle when tech workers fight labor regulations or unions.

You are not a temporarily embarrassed millionaire. One day you will be old, and it will be harder to find work. Or you will be discriminated against without recourse. Or your employer will try to work you beyond what they're paying you for. Or you will have a wife and family you want to spend time with outside of your job.

Organized labor was never about protecting the mediocre. It was about providing labor with negotiating power against capital.

You never stop to think that you can be pro workers right and still against unions? I don't want whole businesses pretending they're for workers right. The cost of union is resources that could be spent on workers themselves.

You need to look into the millions union repa spent on themselves. Read up on recent scandals in Sweden for instance.

I generally don't tolerate admin-work, so I might be connecting here.

>You never stop to think that you can be pro workers right and still against unions? I don't want whole businesses pretending they're for workers right. The cost of union is resources that could be spent on workers themselves.

Most of the stuff you take for granted in your work, including children of 10 years old not working in factories, you had it because of unions...

>The cost of union is resources that could be spent on workers themselves.

Only without unions, nobody cares about the workers. It's then just the measly bargaining power/influence you have as an individual against some huge company, or a whole industry (or all industries combined, when speaking of basic labor laws).

Now, if you want to say some unions are corrupt, union leaders make side deals, etc, some fight for BS, yes. But that's a sign that unions are broken, not that they are bad in themselves. Historically their role for the improvement of labor conditions was tremendous.

That's not a union problem, that's an accountability problem. Same with Congress. As with government, apathetic, unengaged voters/stakeholders are where the blame lies.

Unions work, but its members must hold it accountable. Shareholders hold management's feet to the fire, why would workers not do the same?

Too late. The kids around here believe that the world donating 50 Billion dollars to prop up a Mark Zuckerberg, so that he can bring virtual reality (or whatever else) to the masses is worth while.

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