Why Labor Unions And Silicon Valley Aren’t Friends, In 2 Charts

Oh this is moronic.

Trades unions did not come into existence to protect the jobs of middle income workers just to spite the selfless and innovative capitalists.

The move out of the fields and into towns was unbelievably painful for the families and workers living through it. Starvation was common throughout nineteenth century Britain, workhouses a reality for swathes of the population. And then they were exploited by the privileged - sexually sometimes, almost always working in dangerous conditions.

Unionisation gave them a voice and a place at the table - it took long years, with real violence, death and sacrifice as the cost.

I am just fucking outraged that this is now dismissed as fat union leaders taking their lazy time to protect disrupted jobs. It's a meme I see here in the UK too and each time I fail to hear how amazingly innovative the bosses are, because most could not manage their way out of a paper bag.

And there is one more reason I think that the history of unions is important - they came out of a period when almost all the workers moved out of the fields and into the factories - and we are on the cusp of a time when all the workers will move out of the offices, and into cyberspace.

I am a middle aged, middle class, educated, skilled worker in the fifth largest economy in the world. Trying to exploit me is like trying to take advantage of a Hippo with a headache.

That is not true of all of the other seven billion people who will benefit from a trip to cyberspace. Some will lack education, healthcare, security, credit, law and plain good luck.

They will need unions. Those unions will not look like the current damaged crop. But they will be needed - history tells us that much. Now disrupt in that direction and I will be there to help.

It's interesting to note though that the concept of a universal livable wage is a solution that some technologists would advocate. Many of us realize that it's simply a matter of time before tech replaces a significant percent of human workers (as it did horse workers at the end of the 19th century). Once that happens trouble will brew and the sooner we figure out how to solve it efficiently and effectively, the smoother the transition will be for society.