Someone in your team mentions it over lunch. A few people across the engineering department have started talking about forming a union. There is a group chat and a meeting next week, and you have been invited. For most of your career, unions felt like something that happened in other industries. Now the conversation is sitting next to you.
It is becoming more common. Over the last few years, union campaigns have appeared at game studios, at some of the largest technology companies and among contractors who work for them. Rounds of layoffs, arguments about pay, hours and return to office, and worries about automation have all pushed people who once felt secure to think about collective bargaining. In several countries, laws already give workers a clear right to organise, and that will not change because the work is software.
You do not have to have a strong view yet. But it helps to understand the ground, whoever you are.
Learn the basics before you decide anything. What a union can and cannot do where you live, how recognition works, what membership costs. Read from more than one source, including people who are against it.
Respect other people's choices in both directions. Some colleagues will be passionate. Others will be uneasy or simply uninterested. Nobody should be mocked or pressured for joining, or for not joining. Keep it out of code reviews and stand ups.
If you manage people, be especially careful. In many places it is unlawful to threaten, punish or quietly sideline someone for organising, and even an offhand remark can be taken badly. Ask HR what the rules are before you say anything at all, and keep treating everyone exactly as you did before.
And notice what the conversation is really about. People rarely start talking about a union when they feel heard. If your team is talking, it is worth listening to the reasons, whatever happens to the campaign.
The workplaces that handle this well will be the ones where people can discuss how they are treated openly, without it turning into a fight.
– Asael Shinder
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