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Comment by alexk307 | Hacker News Reader

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alexk307·

> It's possible we'll see a generational wave of unionization.

One can only hope. Collective bargaining is the most powerful tool to dismantle income inequality and corporate greed.

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Or persistent labor strikes and disruptions. See France

Unions in France are weaker and less prevalent than in many European countries. They organize strikes more often because that's often their only bargaining chip.

that doesn’t sound like an employee problem

Oh no, 5 weeks of paid time off, 35 hours work week, universal retirement fund, physically hard jobs getting to retire early. And once a month some trains don't come in, and they dare warn you a week in advance. France is truly unlivable, a socialist hellscape :(

I'd gladly give up convenience and the need to have everything available to me at all times, for more collective bargaining and better treatment of human beings. If a labor force goes on strike, you should probably ask yourself why, and if you would do the same, rather than just taking it as a disruption to your life. Would you rather get your crap from Amazon in one day, or would you rather support better treatment and benefits for 10s of thousands of human beings?

It's not really a convincing argument for most people, many would pick the former, and that's why Amazon is successful despite bad labor practices or unionization.

This is not true at all in the case of unions. Salaries are much higher in the US than in other equivalent economies with higher levels of unionisation.

Now worker representatives in boards, that would be very beneficial.

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