For some reason, the most vocal aspect of tech workers tends to be this libertarianish pure merit based persona that is insulted by any type of collective bargaining.

I think that attitude rules the day because tech related industries are in an extended growth period, and the more “legacy” aspects of the industry use offshoring and guest workers to maintain total control. (The armies of programmers churning out Java at banks, etc.)

While rockstar engineers exist, and everyone on the internet is a genius, the reality is that almost nobody has meaningful negotiation power over a big tech company. I’ve seen more than my share of top talent at big tech companies get dumped in hardship roles or be mistreated because their big boss/sponsor retired or moved on, and they were held hostage by vesting periods, etc.

Growing up, I had family who were steamfitters, firemen and operating engineers. All of them were treated better as skilled labor or with clear work rules than the bullshit that I’ve been forced to deal with in my career. Not complaining -- I've lived a charmed work life in many ways!