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irfanka | 8 years ago

Exactly the reason why there aren't any Software Developer Unions these days.

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m-j-fox|8 years ago

You're kidding, right? Programmers are decently paid but should strike for a 40-hour work week.

jhall1468|8 years ago

I work 40 hours a week. Sometimes I work 45, and I usually offset it by cutting it shorter the next week. I have no need (or desire) to "strike" just because some businesses/orgs/teams are garbage.

uxp100|8 years ago

When I was hired I became the best paid person I knew. I think it would be pretty hard to unionize, but damn if I ain't pissed that that wage fixing scandal wasn't a bigger deal. I work at one of the guilty companies, and I would be happier if I felt like most workers even knew it happened. (even though this was not wage fixing for the average engineer, but for certain high profile roles.)

That's something a worker's organization would help with, even if I don't feel like I need them in wage negotiation.

wand3r|8 years ago

The 40 hour work week is arbitrary. It was made for railroad workers who had high workplace accident rates and worked 6-7 days a week. Many died because pre-implementation they worked at night w/o sufficient electric lighting as it was not widespread yet. After the war; WWI iirc, the framework was applied to other industries.

So if you don't want to work 40 hours, don't. I have much less sympathy for a software engineer who has better leverage than a kid who works at McDonalds and couldn't earn a living wage working 60 hours.

The fact that you could strike and not really sacrifice much; and if it failed find another job, puts you in a great position. Unions are good for protecting those that can't afford to protect themselves and are at a disatvantage. SE is not IMO a vocation that needs to organize.

irrational|8 years ago

Why would I strike for that? I'm salaried and typically work about 30-35 hours a week. I sit right next to my boss and he has no complaints about my hours or my work so I would be crazy to ask to work more hours. I'm actually shocked at how much they pay me for such enjoyable work.

wooter|8 years ago

no thanks. look at what collective/forced/politicized bickering over hours has done to the job market everywhere its been tried. look at the corruption. i enjoy my freedom to negotiate my terms as I, as an individual, and my employer see fit.

avar|8 years ago

This is US-specific, in some European countries at least you're automatically part of some union by law if you're a software developer. They don't tend to do collective bargaining, but they're there.

walshemj|8 years ago

There are plenty of unions that represent it/dev workers I.A.T.S.E and the CWA in the USA spring to mind Prospect in the Uk and IG Medien in Germany

fivestar|8 years ago

Intelligent people capable of negotiating their pay in a market such as that for software development would only be encumbered by unions. Are there warts? Sure there are. Nothing is perfect.

IntelMiner|8 years ago

That's an incredibly insulting and dismissive framing of the issue.

Unions are important in many industries, including software development. You and your employer may have a good method of negotiating your pay, but that doesn't make it universal

Belittling the presumed intelligence is completely unnecessary

anigbrowl|8 years ago

But software devs don't have a professional structure either, as doctors, lawyers, and engineers do, and arguably the industry is the worse for it.

Are there warts? Sure there are. Nothing is perfect.

Isn't that equally true for collective undertakings?

delazeur|8 years ago

Oh, come on. It has not been that long since we found out that major tech companies were colluding to suppress SWE salaries. Have you already forgotten?