Then I learned that US has completely different union system from Europe.
You guys have so called enterprise-level bargaining with union shops and agency shops where workers must be part of an union or pay the fee for an union. Then union negotiates pay in enterprise-level. I can see how this is extremely harmful and entrepreneurs must fight tooth and nail against unionizing.
Most of the world has so called sector level bargaining. Unionized workers negotiate for all workers in an entire industry. Union representing electricians negotiates with federation representing companies that hire electricians. After they reach a deal that covers enough unionized workers the deal is extended to the whole industry. You essentially negotiate minimum wage per sector plus benefits.
This was long the practice in the US auto industry.
Discussed in this story:
https://www.freep.com/story/money/business/2015/09/08/uaw-pr...
Organize for the people that clean your office space, organize for marginalized peoples, organize to make the world a better place, not just your industry. Think what would happen if AWS was without site reliability for 72 hours.
>gosh what the tech industry could accomplish with a union
Much less than it does now.
I've had odd jobs at union places. I know career workers in union-dominated industries.
We don't want it within 10 miles of tech.
A fun thought experiment I ask people to do that usually puts this one to bed:
Imagine the most useless, technically incompetent, lazy sack of flesh that you were unfortunate enough to share the title of "engineer" with(and office space too).
In a union, they'd be very nearly impossible to fire, and based on tenure would probably make more than most of their peers.
Multiply ^^ said scenario over multiple tech companies and a few thousand workers, and see what happens.
I worked 4 years in a Canadian Auto Workers unionized plant. This is not my experience, whatsoever.
If you do your job, you can't be fired because you rub your manager the wrong way (imagine that?). If you don't, there's a process to fire employees. A union is just that: a union of people. If you're a cancerous employee, the union doesn't want to work with you either.
There is a reason for outsourcing, and its not just cost.
Unions aren't really compatible with the mindset in Tech today, in my experience knowing people. Small movements start, bikeshedding happens, and everything fractures.
My sister in law is a unionized nurse practitioner. Unionization raised her salary a bit, but most importantly stabilized her schedule.
We had a fantastic team and boss. Everyone wanted us to be non-union.
Then... The union factory people demanded we joined the union.
We became a heated center of debate despite 0 of us wanting to join the union.
We survived, and I get paid for lunches!(they dont)
I'm terrified of labor organization specifically because of vague and ill-defined goals. Without a well defined purpose, the goal of an organization turns to self-perpetuation, and can do so at the expense of members.
Of the reasons to organize, the most convincing to me is an ethical opposition to abusing the time, privacy, and mental state of users who have no practical option but to trust the tools we build.
Get a critical mass to build and commit to specific and articulate goals. On screen and upfront. Then, and only then, will I entertain the idea of a union to implement it.