Re:How tech workers at Kickstarter formed one of the only un...
by intended on Thursday October 08, 2020 @10:42AM
(#24719493)
The ethos of SV and the original libertarian thought that pervaded early firms also opposed unions. The early success of the firms, especially in days when growing fast in unchartered waters was all that mattered, it was a great refutation of the idea that you needed unions to take care of workers, and appeared to support the ideals of early founders.
The ideal has not weathered well - it works if you are on the cutting edge, where the degree of constraints are much lower.
But for the rest of the bell curve, some form of collective bargaining seems to be useful.
Maybe part of the reason is that, at the bleeding edge frontier, people who can work there are few and far between. This gives them market power and so can command/negotiate price.
Anyway, as long as everyone thinks of tech as the bleeding edge, its hard to make the case for unions.
Plus: America has a history of unions being a politicized topic, so it tends to result in strong views.
The ideal has not weathered well - it works if you are on the cutting edge, where the degree of constraints are much lower.
But for the rest of the bell curve, some form of collective bargaining seems to be useful.
Maybe part of the reason is that, at the bleeding edge frontier, people who can work there are few and far between. This gives them market power and so can command/negotiate price.
Anyway, as long as everyone thinks of tech as the bleeding edge, its hard to make the case for unions.
Plus: America has a history of unions being a politicized topic, so it tends to result in strong views.