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A comment on Microsoft Workers to Form Company’s First Union in the U.S.. Parent comment

Re:Microsoft Workers to Form Company’s First Union in the U.S. by mschuster91 on Wednesday January 04, 2023 @08:22AM (#34245216)
> That’s not to say you can’t collaborate and organize. Ive organized my coworkers to make changes before, no union involved.

Informal organization (i.e. without the legal protections that formal unions have) only works in industries where the staff isn't fungible. A warehouse, fastfood chain or a lot of IT industry has the advantage for the employer that the staff is fungible. Fire everyone, pay a bit in fines for anti-union activities, and hire fresh staff that won't unionize because they know what happened to the last ones.

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Re:Microsoft Workers to Form Company’s First Union in the U.S. by bluGill on Wednesday January 04, 2023 @09:25AM (#34245813)
Unions work best when the people need some amount of training such that you can't just hire new people, but otherwise they are inter-changeable. If you work an assembly line your pace of work is dictated by the slowest station/worker, no matter how good you are at your job you are not better than anyone else. Tech work there are ways you can be better than someone else and so unions don't work as well. (don't confuse with don't work at all, just that they don't work as well because we are not all in it together)
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Re:Microsoft Workers to Form Company’s First Union in the U.S. by mschuster91 on Wednesday January 04, 2023 @10:52AM (#34247011)
> just that they don't work as well because we are not all in it together

It's one thing to say that in tech people can have different performance levels. But stuff like PTO, actually meaningful sick leave, maternity/paternity leave, retirement benefits, healthcare, workplace safety, overtime work, using people for work they have not been hired, equipped or training for - there everyone is in the same boat, but tech's aversity to unions has an effect like the infamous "crabs in a bucket" mentality.

Even wages... it's not "just" performance levels that dictate these. Unions also serve for those who are not as conflict-happy or those who cannot negotiate due to external factors (e.g. visa enslavement, they have family to take care of and can't afford the potential of being out of work for a couple weeks while they set up new employment)... unions sacrifice a bit of individual wealth for common wealth for everyone.

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