Re:Microsoft CEO defends US military contract that employees...
by pdkl95 on Tuesday February 26, 2019 @12:29AM
(#19252196)
> And they can quit if they disagree with the business path Microsoft ultimately chooses.
Or, they can collectively petition, negotiate, or even apply direct political pressure against their employer.
Is that what the real argument is about here? Lots of fear and anger that if engineers start to gain experience with the power of collective action, they might start to have notions about creating a union?
I strongly agree.
The employees very clearly have the right to speak their minds, on their time. And they can quit if they disagree with the business path Microsoft ultimately chooses.
Microsoft typically has the right to fire employees if they're not compatible with the business path that Microsoft chooses to pursue.
Overall it's a simple context. Each side has to choose what's most important. Microsoft historically is nowhere near as ideologically driven as Google and other modern Silicon Valley companies, it's obvious what Microsoft will choose to do.