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After watching execs talk about the #GoogleLayoffs, all I can really say is this:
If you are in tech you need a strong union.
If you are in tech you need a strong union.
If you are in tech you need a strong #union.
After seeing what happened at #twitter, after seeing yet another round of nonsense layoffs across so many good people at so many companies, we need unions and we need them yesterday.
If you are in a union already, build strength. We are going to need it.
Every worker in every industry deserves a union, and tech right now is having a clear demonstration of how our lack of unions hurts us.
I just heard an exec say that it was "unfortunate" that we couldn't fire people faster in other parts of the world because of labor protections. Sit with that for a moment.
In the US unions are one of our very very few tools to give us any chance at all.
We need strong unions to push back against this sort of callous insensitivity backed by unchecked greed.
Are #unions a perfect tool? Frak no. Any given union or collection of unions is going to have a long history of shitty decisions and problematic behaviors if they have existed for more than a few years. Unions are comprised of people are not immune to any of the things that make people people.
But I would rather stand with my fellow workers in an imperfect alliance than get fraked over by unchecked corporate greed again and again without recourse and without any resistance.
@hrefna Just adding that the *scope* of reductions was also up in the air due to labor protections. Not just timing.
@hrefna I am a unionist from Germany. The legal framework is great, yet, if people do not join, out of reasons that are beyond me, everything remains pink unicorn crap. At times my fellow citizens drive me into resignation. They seem to enjoy coercion by autoritarian structures.
@tanoujin where do I sign up?
@zonorti depends a bit on your type of trade. Woodcarvers go here: https://www.verdi.de/ueber-uns/mitglied-werden
@tanoujin but what about IT people?
@zonorti they got you covered. Are you precarious entrepeneur?
@hrefna in Germany a common software engineering contract will require you to work until the end of the quarter + 3 months.
It is insane to me that people are simply locked out. Job over.
Of course it goes both ways. The worker gets job security. The business gets knowledge security.
@hrefna
Yes quite true
@jcmacomber @hrefna workers are wealth makers. We need unions who can asset that properly and not take small percentages but can shout loud enough to represent the reality that they are the ones who work and make the profit - no one else. Be audacious. Because it's all true and we not need to take neoliberal doctrine as a basis for negotiation etc just because it is the prevalent dogma for employers - we can use simple reality instead
@hrefna in tech, I've always seen unions as cat herding, but now I think there might be value to at least attempting it. I've been part of the upper percent, and also the lower greater percentage. I've seen companies toss out bunches of good tech workers for their bottom lines...
I guess I should start collecting tech catnip, and try to convince others that if we don't hang together, we will surely hang separately. I've got to admit that it still feels foreign.
@hrefna social dialogue is never a bad idea. That’s why ILO.
@hrefna just say no to unions
@cwizprod1 @hrefna didn't see the because part. What's your reason?
@Anarchy_How @hrefna because in my experience unions cause far more problems than they ever help solve. Like home owners associations. look good on paper, really bad idea.
@cwizprod1 @hrefna Sorry, that's a bit too vague and unsupported for me yet.
What do mean, exactly, in your experience?
@Anarchy_How nope. you get nothing else.
@cwizprod1 Cool to part ways. When you have reasons or sources, feel free to rejoin.
@hrefna any good suggestions for tech unions? IWW takes us, but isn't focused on tech.
@hrefna Interesting when CEOs do a bad job, they fire employees who had absolutely no responsibility for Exec actions. #GoldenParachutes for corporate, nothing for people who do the actual labor.
@hrefna not much is ever said about online English tutors...big companies have sussed out how to use us to their benefit. Zero hours, considered self employed, low pay and no chance of unionisation as we are spread out globally with no way to organise. 4 years ago I had guaranteed hours at 22 ph.Now I'm allocated hours depending on what clients want at 12 dollars PH. Race to the bottom. I'm in Europe.many Asian students so timetabling works for me but lots of us teachers up at 4am to work
@hrefna
As a retired Teamster, I agree 100%.
“The only effective answer to organized greed is organized labor.”
— THOMAS DONAHUE
@hrefna I too have heard this in various meetings. The reason cited is morale.
There was an obvious other solution of course, which clearly crossed nobody's mind
@hrefna Just imagine what would happen if you had a national sys admin Union with idk, 80% of all sys admins.
And then you go on strike.
All servers just run online Doom deathmatches. The entire internet is just doom. #GeneralStrike #TechUnion
@hrefna We need ANY union. Periodt.
@hrefna my impression is that IT people don't form unions even facing these levels of layoffs for several reasons:
* they already have high salaries, which means they should have good emergency funds for cases like this
* the job pool is still growing, despite what happened between '22-23.
Even BTO mandates seem irrelevant, since the opportunity to switch to greener pastures is still there.
I think that is a rational set of reasons to have not done it by now. But it's not a very good set of forward looking reasons.
On the other side of this equation, most of the biggest tech companies have now moved to the stage where they return money to investors. Dividends, stock buybacks, etc. More focus now goes to managing costs which means layoffs and downward pressure on salary.
Things will only get worse for non-union employees.