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A comment on Ask HN: Why don't developers unionize?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: Why don't developers unionize? by ThrowawayR2 on Saturday February 04, 2017 @12:08PM (#13567743)
All of those response are incorrect. The correct answer is "I can call my network and have five offers inside of a month that pay me as much or more than I'm making here."

If you need a union to push back for you, well, sorry but most likely you're not keeping up with the average for your profession.

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Re:Ask HN: Why don't developers unionize? by giaour on Saturday February 04, 2017 @12:25PM (#13567839)
Imagine that you're on an H1-B visa. If you utter the phrase you've suggested, you could be fired on the spot and have until the end on the day to leave the country.

If, instead, you're engaged in a collective labor action, your employer cannot retaliate by firing you.

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Re:Ask HN: Why don't developers unionize? by ThrowawayR2 on Saturday February 04, 2017 @12:48PM (#13567974)
How about fixing the H1-B law instead?
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Re:Ask HN: Why don't developers unionize? by giaour on Saturday February 04, 2017 @01:02PM (#13568057)
Sure. Until that happens, developers should unionize. An adequate fix would take years to implement, and congress is unlikely to pass one within the next 4-8 years, so I don't think your suggestion is likely to be relevant within a reasonable timeframe.
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Re:Ask HN: Why don't developers unionize? by 6t6t6t6 on Saturday February 04, 2017 @08:11PM (#13570147)
At this moment developers have an unusual power that comes because of the scarcity of good developers. This does not happen in many other professions and will, for sure, not last forever for the programmers. The day you won't be able to just walk to the next company, you will miss to have the power to negotiate with your employer and not just obey him or run away.

Do you remember 2004?

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