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Discussion on: How can we stop age discrimination in tech?

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

What do you think the likelihood of unionization in our industry would be? I've seen efforts but I'm skeptical this would ever come to be.

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gsogeek profile image
Matt Ballance

There was a big push in the late 90's by CWA (Communication Workers of America) to try to organize some tech workers under the WashTech name but it seems to have fallen off quite a bit, and they don't seem to be listed on CWA's page anymore.

From a personal perspective, I have a few questions about trying this:

  1. Would software development even fit with a traditional U.S. style Trade Union, with the large number of independent contractors, agencies, and freelancers out there, and how many different ways there are to "do development"?
  2. From a U.S. perspective, we are part of an industry where off-shoring happens at large corporations even without having to deal with a collective bargaining agreement, will those same corporations think twice about moving to a place without a union if they now have to negotiate for labor?
  3. There's also a question of which union group out there really understands software development enough to be effective in representing software developers and the industry's needs?

I'm not sure any of them really do at this point in time. I suppose someone out there may find a way to organize, but I'm not sure it'll be anytime soon.

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Gunnar Gissel

I feel like it's pretty low among the hn crowd, but there are a lot of developers working for big faceless corps and in the government that might be organizable. I don't feel like the average dev working at a bank or hospital thinks they are going to hit the jackpot with their options.

I'm not really sure what umbrella devs should organize under... Teamsters doesn't seem quite right. AFL/CIO? IWW?

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v6 profile image
🦄N B🛡

Never say never.

But remember that there is a heavy price to be paid for unionization.

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Erebos Manannán

The IT industry IS unionized, it's just the crazy oddball US where no sensible things ever happen, where people are not respected, and corporations get to do everything they want. What the US needs is for every industry to be unionized, and it's just insane that this isn't happening.

However, the IT industry is unlikely to be anywhere near the ones leading that, as IT workers generally have among the best working conditions and compensations in the world.