Comment by prewett | Hacker News Reader

Comment by prewett | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

Speaking for myself, I see unions as frequently corrupt, being intransigent (such as essentially making Detroit not cost-effective) and just as self-serving as management. Every union experience I have had or hear about involves arbitrary rules (we're not allowed to do that, union rules; you have to get that union to do that). Why would I want to pay dues for that? Furthermore, I see no reason for a union; software development is not commodity labor. If I have to join a union to software development I'm probably going to go find a new career.

Additionally, software developers tend to be pretty anti-gatekeeper, so if we are opposed to even credentialing, such as other engineering disciplines, why would there be any appetite for a union?

Yeah, that's exactly the attitude I was talking about, thanks for the stellar demonstration.

A union isn't any of the things that the capital class wants you to think they are. Have you ever wondered why anti-union propaganda is so well funded? Think about it for a minute.

A union is just when you and your co-workers pool your collective power so that the owners can't push you around. That's it. What you do after that is up to you.

None of the things you mention are things I've seen in my union covered jobs in the UK.

I've never heard of union rules here. Employees are not required to be part of the union in order to get their benefits, the unions just negotiate with employers on behalf of all employees. I've also never heard of credentials/gatekeeping for unions in the companies I've worked in.

For reference, I was working as a software developer at a University on a research project: I got the benefits of the higher education university (nationally negotiated pay scales, holiday benefits, etc) but was not a member.

Pay was lower, yes, but that wasn't mandatory; that was just the budget of a research project.

thank you, agree. There are lots of us who see through the bullshit of unions. The poeple pushing unions think they have a better shot of navigating the politics of unions than a free market, which is why they push it so hard.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com