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Comment by 67726e | Hacker News Reader

I hope they unionize and demand higher wages. Higher costs for human drivers will increase the incentive for driver-less cars, right?

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No, if all the services are unionized, those same unions will then use every means possible to get new laws passed that say you can't have a driver-less taxi. They won't just go quietly, as they watch robots take over, just like taxi drivers aren't now when confronted with uber.

Not every union is a political powerhouse capable of doing such. Eventually you'll reach a point where it becomes economically feasible for a company to wholesale fire it's drivers and roll out it's fleet of driverless cars. It's certainly possible that a union could push for a law against such, but that sounds a bit more like fear-mongering and an anti-union bias than anything else.

Not only that but they will drive the whole efficient and affordability premise into the ground just for the betterment of their drivers. In this case, with the competition being what it is, it would be more for the detriment.

This is a lot of anti-union FUD. Unions generally now don't seek to ban or outlaw non-union operations in the same field. Remember there are A LOT of unions and behaviors and platforms of various unions range widely.

As a resident of New Jersey, please, no more unions.

Maybe I'm skewed - I'm from South Carolina - but I don't necessarily view unions as a monstrosity, surprisingly. I do hear the horror stories, but there must be some middle ground.

There's definitely a middle ground. I have a couple friends who are in unions, and they're very pro-union. They don't claim they're perfect, just that it's sure better than not having one.

I can certainly imagine why they would love their unions. They are great for the people, but shit for our states economy. Unfortunately, they have such lobby power it's tough to stop them here.

I find it amazing how well working-class unions have been demonized in modern American society. Especially when this[1] is happening. There was a comment on another post a few days/weeks ago about how the AMA and bar associations are basically unions for professionals that have avoided this demonization and that the software industry ought to consider something similar to prevent the fixing of wages and the depressing of wages using foreign workers. If such unionization directly benefited you, would you be in support of it then? (honest question)

[1] http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2014/11/daily-c...

Who wouldn't? But for every good thing about unions I can name you a bad. It's a matter of the individual and how they are effected. As an example, look at Camden, NJ. Most of it's industry vacated for other states because union labor in New Jersey is extraordinarily high (and powerful).

Another example, look at the cost of Metlife Stadium vs. whatever the stadium the Cowboys play in now. it's about 30% HIGHER in cost. Again, no fancy gadgets or beach front property, it's in swampland occupied by highways built by union labor.

Unions historically have done great things for workers and continue to do so. However, they have a habit of forcing corporations to move elsewhere and pissing off non-union laborers as a result.

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