Sounds like a union could help but I guess the odds of that are slim.

Is there anything a union can't help with, in your estimation?

Plenty. U**ons solve one problem only: when value created is high but leverage (=pay) is low.

The fact that this problem pops up all over the damn place should tell you something about our relationship to u**ons.

it's not just low pay.

children used to work 10 hours a day and lose hands in machinery. hell, kids are dying in factories now, and the rules just keep getting rolled back further.

miners get black lung or asbestos exposure.

dudes boiled alive in machinery that didn't have fail safes.

company towns that only paid in scrip and then charged you 3x the price of regular goods.

people had to fight and die for an 8 hour workday.

the bourgeoisie programmer types who've never had to work actually dangerous jobs tend to forget just how incredibly brutal working conditions used to be.

Seriously! People forget that bosses responded to unionization with actual violent assault, including sending literal bombers against striking miners (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain). Children get to go to school and not work because Unions fought. We have a weekend because Unions fought. We have an eight-hour workday because Unions fought.

We have laws to address those things now. You wouldn't believe the paperwork when someone gets boiled alive at work nowadays.

Of course they don't help everything but setting up a seniority system is a common and well tread union policy and solves the stated problem.

Big companies with standardized jobs are great for unionization. Union bureaucracy is a great answer to corporate or government bureaucracy.

Basically, a big, inflexible place is a good unionization candidate. A smaller, nimble org is a lousy place for a union.

"What happens when we need more workers who know the new tool? Shouldn't we invest in training?"

"No, we'll hire them away from our competitors. Let one of them invest in training."

Sounds like the old tool maintainer isn't leveraging their scarcity power. If their skills are in high demand and short supply, and they can't be replaced, then shouldn't they make things take longer as they learn new tool?

Of course this accelerates the business’s desire to adopt the new tool sooner, so they best hurry!