alt Hacker NewsI wouldn’t mind unions except they get involved in all sorts of political battles that I would get opted into. I would rather they focus on the barebones of negotiation for compensation instead of taking it over like it’s their personal nonprofit.
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Everything is political. Politics have been heavily intertwined with work forever. The history of unions is intertwined with literal government violence.
Negotiations for compensation is like the least life-impacting thing a union can do. Tech workers are well paid and capable of negotiating.
Things like work hours, quality of life, paid leaves, etc are important and can’t really be negotiated by the individual. Every labor victory from yesterday is the status quo but every future one is politics.
The cool thing about a union is that you actually can have a say in what political battles they fight
You just can't do that if you only want to be a passive member
The political battles will involve you, whether you want it or not. When work law changes to make it legal to work you to the bone, to collude on salaries, to cut your insurance and every company in the country does so, your precious "negotiation" is useless.
Unions exist because the other option was to beat the everliving shit out of your boss because your work conditions were unacceptable. Both sides would do well to remember that.
It really depends on the union, mine concentrate on less hours for a salary that follow inflation, parental leaves and a gold plated drug insurance. I work 32.5 hours per week in the summer, have 24 days off, 2 personal days and 12 statutory holidays; that's 36 paid days off !