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Discussion on: Should we form a labor union?

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steveblue profile image
Stephen Belovarich

Wondering if anyone is for a union for people in technology?

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cara_margot profile image
Cara Margot

Idk what is up with the comments here, wildly discouraging. We've got Thatcherites...anti-tax folks....my fave euro dude who thinks jumping straight to socialism (which he doesn't have...in the first place...because democratic socialism != socialism...) is more viable than talking about unions, not realizing that 1. socialism is a Bad Word in the US, 2. socialism won't come about without the working + middle classes connecting on labor issues...
Also 'anti-pattern' guy lmao....

I love the idea of unionizing but uh look at this mess lol y i k e s

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steveblue profile image
Stephen Belovarich • Edited

There is a lot of disinformation out there about any organization who wants to challenge the status quo. 🤷‍♂️

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sansseryph profile image
Kyla • Edited

That and it reeks of "I got mine"-ism. Still no responses to your point of how do we as a collective empower marginalized/oppressed people in the industry.

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Anna Costalonga

I would very much be for it. I am in Europe and frankly I do not agree with what has been written in the comments above, that much is already covered by law.
That is not true. Let's take the blackmail of illegal questions in job interviews. Even if they are illegal, even if discrimination is a well established crime, both in European and US legislation, still employers are asking illegal questions and use discrimination against sex, origin and marital status. Technical interviews that do not have anything to do with the job itself, but are just an humiliation for candidate developers. Companies that are rejecting good developers only because they are older.
Companies that are rejecting good developers only because they do not hold a degree. And some will tell you that you are rejected because you dont hold a CS degree only at the end of all the 5 steps of the recruiting process.
Now, I ask myself: what do all these arbitrary criteria and rejections have to do with INNOVATION? I think on the contrary that exactly these malpractices are skimming off good candidates and prevent innovation.
I would thouroughly support a trade union for developers - it is needed now more than ever. The course of future now is that many developers' jobs are bound in less than 20 years to be replaced by robots, if we let employers do what they do and how they want.

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sansseryph profile image
Kyla • Edited

I'm in favor of having unions and would love to see the tech industry move to having them as long as they work to making work environments more inclusive and equitable for marginalized folks.

Thank you for writing this up and creating space for discussion!