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0 pointsJumpCrisscross2y ago0 comments

> Maybe if China had labor unions their software engineers wouldn’t be working 996

Again, you're ignoring that countries with terrific worker protections have, on average, low union penetration. The one is uncorrelated with the other. In America, unions principally serve as a distraction. We periodically throw a few industries a bone while most workers get zero protection.

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4 comments · 2 top-level

janalsncm2y ago· 1 in thread

Individually, workers have very little bargaining power. Collectively, we have a lot of power. So unless you’re arguing that workers would deliberately argue for fewer protections, I don’t see how not having collective bargaining could lead to more workers’ rights.

The fact of the matter is, God gave us Sunday off and unions gave us Saturday off. Unions were the reason child labor was banned in the U.S. We have worker’s comp and the 40 hour work week was standardized. None of those things would’ve resulted from the benevolence of profit maximizing corporations.

JumpCrisscrossOP2y ago

> unless you’re arguing that workers would deliberately argue for fewer protections, I don’t see how not having collective bargaining could lead to more workers’ rights

Unions are inefficient--only those represented get benefits. And they're unnecessary. Most countries with good worker rights have low union penetration. Unions in America are a dead end. They let electeds toss a bone to the ten percent of Americans in a union while delaying broad reforms.

toomuchtodo2y ago· 1 in thread

Unions are the only path to success when Congress is operating in a degraded governance state. Do you know how many worker hours will be exhausted in suboptimal labor conditions waiting for Congress to pass human labor protections? Strong legislative labor protections would be wonderful, but they are not on offer in the present day United States.

Congress won't function until the cohorts who vote for representatives unwilling to champion broadly popular policy or labor protections dies out. That's going to take a hot minute, even assuming a death rate of 1.8M voters over the age of 55/year.

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/what-you-need-to-kn... (Control-F "Figure 1")

JumpCrisscrossOP2y ago

> Unions are the only path to success when Congress is operating in a degraded governance state

Congress is divided, but still generally productive [1]. Expanding labor protections simply isn't a political priority. Also, this can be done at the state and local levels.

> Do you know how many worker hours will be exhausted in suboptimal labor conditions waiting for Congress to pass human labor protections?

About as many as there are laid off writers? Ten percent of Americans are in unions [2]. Doubling union membership in a year has less effect than waiting ten years to pass protections into law.

[1] https://datainnovation.org/2023/01/visualizing-congressional...

[2] https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/union2.pdf

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4 comments · 2 top-level

janalsncm2y ago· 1 in thread

JumpCrisscrossOP2y ago

> unless you’re arguing that workers would deliberately argue for fewer protections, I don’t see how not having collective bargaining could lead to more workers’ rights

toomuchtodo2y ago· 1 in thread

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/what-you-need-to-kn... (Control-F "Figure 1")

JumpCrisscrossOP2y ago

> Unions are the only path to success when Congress is operating in a degraded governance state

Congress is divided, but still generally productive [1]. Expanding labor protections simply isn't a political priority. Also, this can be done at the state and local levels.

> Do you know how many worker hours will be exhausted in suboptimal labor conditions waiting for Congress to pass human labor protections?

About as many as there are laid off writers? Ten percent of Americans are in unions [2]. Doubling union membership in a year has less effect than waiting ten years to pass protections into law.

[1] https://datainnovation.org/2023/01/visualizing-congressional...

[2] https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/union2.pdf

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