Comment by mjr00 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mjr00 | Hacker News Reader

> That decision sparked worker outrage. More than 2,000 comments have been posted on Farmers employees’ internal social-media platform, most of which were negative or crying and angry emojis, according to postings viewed by The Wall Street Journal and interviews with employees.

So this "revolt" was the same as any other return-to-office "revolt"... a bunch of crying about how unfair things were on some internal social platform, and then quiet acceptance of the new-new normal. Even the Amazon "walkout" protest last week only got 100 employees to show up.

As it was pre-COVID, if you want a flexible work situation, make yourself valuable enough that you can demand it. Senior and specialized roles were frequently WFH pre-COVID simply because local talent didn't exist, even in markets like SF or Seattle.

If your role is "generic tech employee doing generic things at large corporation" you don't have bargaining power. It might not be fair, but until unionization happens, it's the way the world works.

No bargaining power but "I'm just gonna leave" power is quite high. It doesn't actually take that many people to quit before it starts to landslide which is why companies try really really hard to control the narrative of employees leaving.

not really. they expect a certain percentage to be quitting based on this decision, which has better optics than another layoff

“I’m just gonna leave” power is not as high as “I need to pay my bills and feed a family” power.

> "I'm just gonna leave" power

For a lot of companies, that's a feature, not a bug. You get to avoid layoffs and all the costs associated with that.

And that is why tech workers should finally unionize. The amount of negotiating power we're just throwing away because of ideological blindness is insane.

This makes no sense to me. Tech workers have way more flexibility than many other types of workers. If you aren't comfortable with your employers practices, go find another employer. No need for a union to do that.

Collective bargaining will always have more negotiating strength than individuals changing employers.

The owning class right now is collectively moving to worsen work conditions by colluding in getting people back into the office. Workers should answer collectively as well or it will not go anywhere. Sure, you can change employers, but more and more employers are cracking down in the same way.

I’d rather work in office

So do I but a union helps with conditions on that too.

Unions aren't just for the poors. Take a look at the WGA strike - writers aren't exactly an oppressed class but they know they are key to the success of their industry - and are asking for meaningful compensation/contracts. They will likely succeed since the actors guild is also joining the strike.

Your solution of voting with feet is an extreme countermeasure, many people want to improve 1 or 2 things about their workplace, not leave. Unions help with all of this.

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