News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Instacart to cut 1,900 jobs, including its only union roles. Parent comment

Re:Instacart to cut 1,900 jobs, including its only union roles by whalesalad on Thursday January 21, 2021 @03:06PM (#25863530)
Living in Detroit and knowing a lot of people who work in the auto industry I can tell you that for every ounce of goodness that comes from a union there is an equal and opposite ounce of badness. The shit that I hear people get away with is remarkable. And yet they continue to come to work day after day with seeming impunity, continuing to assemble vehicles, etc...

I am personally anti-union because inevitably they become so large that they succumb to their own internal forces and become beurocratic and misguided.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Instacart to cut 1,900 jobs, including its only union roles by sojsurf on Thursday January 21, 2021 @04:28PM (#25864515)
Also from Detroit metro, and was coming here to say the same thing. I moved here from out of state and the more I talk to folks who work in the auto industry, the more I'm convinced that unions are a large obstacle to the revitalization of Detroit's auto industry.

While they bring stability and job security to workers who are invested in excellence and quality, they also bring stability and job security to workers who have no desire to be productive. This is demotivational for anyone who needs to work with these employees and has an outsized effect on the organization. To quote a friend, "I love my work, but I can't get anything real done because I need sign-off from X, but he sits around all day, doesn't really work, and no one can fire him."

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Instacart to cut 1,900 jobs, including its only union roles by whalesalad on Thursday January 21, 2021 @04:42PM (#25864704)
The whole "he just sits around - no one can fire him" is painfully true.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Instacart to cut 1,900 jobs, including its only union roles by athms on Thursday January 21, 2021 @06:34PM (#25866193)
You can find this in non-union companies too. I worked at SAP (SuccessFactors) for seven years and had to interface with many people that were incompetent and lazy, yet protected from termination because of company politics.
[ Parent | on HN ]