This is just another form of layoffs, I think. The problem is that many other execs will follow. It's bizarre how this is purely about making life worse for the engineers without any rational reason.
There's absolutely a rational reason: many people in management went into management because they enjoy having power over people, and they can have more power over employees who are physically in office.
that's superficial power
This is absolutely another form of layoffs. Google get the double benefit of 1) loose head count 2) only keeping dedicated* people.
They do loose people with the highest agency as they will be the first to leave.
* Those dedicated people could also just be most in need.
The dev logic is "fuck you I've got mine, you go get yours" but only as long as "line goes up".
NOTHING about unions prevents an individual being rewarded for their individual merits or jumping from job to job.
Unionized companies don't grow according to the stock market but according to profits, sales and customer orders, so you never see mass hires because the stock market went up, you also don't see mass fires because the market went down.
That's why there isn't a huge salary difference between a senior and a junior, at least not like in the US where seniors can make 4-8 times as much as a junior.
Unionized companies here also look down on job hoppers (people who jump ship for more compensation every 2-3 years) and tend not to hire them.
So yeah, from historical evidence we have so far, from my PoV, unions and crazy compensations that also grow like crazy in sync with the stock market, are mutually exclusive. Do you want uniuonized slow stable growth that lags the stock market, or do you want to make money in sync or above the stock market? Pick one.