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0 pointsCapricorn24811y ago0 comments

> But if tech workers don't acknowledge their privelege, they shouldn't be shocked when no-one else turnsout to support them

It's hard not to read your comment as anything but virtue signaling, and doing so in a way that makes everyone worse off.

You seem to think being a part of a union means you think you have a bad job and everyone should pay special attention to you. Forming a union does not mean you are asking for anything, it means you are giving yourself protection to ask for things in the future without being fired. That's perfectly sensible.

Most tech workers I know are well aware they have desirable positions and do not see it as a bad job. Is there something specific you want people to do to acknowledge their privilege? I would guess not, short of "don't ever complain about your job, ever," which is not realistic in any profession

And as a side note, "tech" means a lot of things. There are lots of people in tech making a teachers salary with no benefits. Doesn't mean it's the worst job ever, but it's probably not most people's image of what "tech" is.

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5 comments · 2 top-level

tmoertel1y ago· 2 in thread

> Forming a union does not mean you are asking for anything, it means you are giving yourself protection to ask for things in the future without being fired.

The way I've always done it is that if I want something my employer won't give me, I find someone else who will and go work for them (or start my own company). What's wrong with that model?

maleldil1y ago

You might find yourself in a job market where that isn't possible.

tmoertel1y ago

Okay. If I'm in a job market where what I want isn't possible, what does that reality suggest about my demands, the market, and the people who ultimately set the prices in that market (i.e., the public)?

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JimTheMan1y ago· 1 in thread

Virtue signalling, not at all.

I work as an regular engineer in construction and I have a very cushy job compared to the boots on the ground working in the mud. I am conveying what I and everyone else thinks about tech working conditions.

Also not against unions, I have to work with unions in my day to day.

Yeah, when people choose to write an article about 'how bad they have it', don't expect sympathy from anyone else if you 'don't have it that bad'. Christ, you all get paid 3 x plus the median salary... Go work a job with better conditions that pays less! Or use your incredible market power to move to a place that does have better conditions (which you all have seem to done anyway!)

Unionise for gods sake, but jeez it would help if some of you had to scrape a little in your past prior.

Capricorn2481OP1y ago

> I am conveying what I and everyone else thinks about tech working conditions

What you think about tech is not reality, but a riff on it. It's a cathartic exercise. The salary is generally higher, but not everyone gets paid very well and they have exactly zero protections. I know people who are working horrific conditions for not much pay. And it's not good if a new grad in debt can be replaced so easily even when they do their job well. So yes, people are going to ask for unions.

Not everyone who is a programmer has never shoveled shit. So when you say things like

> but jeez it would help if some of you had to scrape a little in your past prior

I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. It's clear you just have an image in your head of a programmer informed by nothing but stereotypes in your social circle. Programmers are not people with histories to you, but strawmen who were born into the role and don't have a life before or after. This is not in service of advocating for conditions of workers in your life, but just appearing class conscious when it's anything but. That's the virtue signaling.

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