Exactly. So a unionized tech company would be a company that attracts people who don't have the skills to earn lots of money. I doubt such a company would thrive among competitors with top level programmers

The assumption here is that pay consistently corresponds to skill in the tech industry. An alternative factor that comes to mind is geography.

You're completely right, but with that geography comes a larger pool of very talented people to compete with.

I think it more or less evens it out

The original poster asked me what the downside were, and I just told you.

It is a very real downside, to me, and many other highly paid software engineers, that forcing us into collective bargaining agreements would result in us making significantly less money.

So thats the downside. It is very clear, and obvious. We would make less money.

So, given that we would make significantly less money, you can expect us to fight and sabotage efforts to force us into collective bargain agreements.

Good luck, you'll need it. Because right now, the anti-union side, in tech, is winning, and unions are not popular at all.