Perhaps part of the reason I've never needed a union is that I've long held the belief that I have the right to tell employers "this is what I'll accept and that is what I won't put up with". In theory, I've always been fully prepared to stick to my guns on such statements, but, in practice, I've never been challenged on them, even to the point of one (salaried) job where I told the boss up front that I don't believe in unpaid overtime and, a year and a half later, while he was telling everyone else that their 60-hour weeks weren't enough, he never said one word to me about my 40-hour weeks.
The people who provided the stories related in my previous post are indeed in unfortunate situations, however they are also in the even more unfortunate situation of working in "union shops", which is to say that the union has so thoroughly cowed the employer that you basically can't work there without being a member. While union shops are, AFAIK, technically illegal due to their incredible capacity to produce and preserve corruption, they seem to be impossible to get rid of in practice. e.g., At the local telco, where my dad works, you don't have to join the union... but you'll still pay the union dues even if you don't, you'll still be unable to work if the union decides to strike, and, as an extra bonus, all of your coworkers will go out of their way to treat you like shit for not being one of them, in some cases to the point of minor vandalism. How are you realistically supposed to start your own rival union in that situation?
In reply to Re^4: Should Programmers Unionize?
by dsheroh
in thread Should Programmers Unionize?
by Velaki
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