From The Register:
Apple, Google, Adobe, and Intel's $415m settlement with Silicon Valley techies over wage-fixing accusations has been formally approved by a judge.
On Thursday, Judge Lucy Koh, sitting in the northern district court of California, gave her approval [PDF] to a deal that will see the tech giants compensate workers for potential lost wages related to their illegal "no-poaching" pact.
[...] After paying off the lawyers, the money will be distributed among the 64,466 class-action members making up the plaintiffs in the case. Another 56 people opted out of the settlement, reserving their right to pursue individual cases.
Apple, Google, Adobe, and Intel were the four remaining holdouts in the case over a large-scale conspiracy by Silicon Valley firms not to poach each others' employees in an effort to slow escalating wages. The pacts were said to involve executives in the companies' highest ranks, including Apple co-founder and longtime CEO Steve Jobs.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Immerman on Friday September 04 2015, @03:02PM
Which is why doctors, lawyers, and other high-profile professions don't have them, right? Oh wait...
Unions, like any organization, can get top heavy if the members don't actively resist the tendency, but so long as the executives are soaking up the lion's share of the profits there's a good argument to be made for their existence. Lower CEO pay to only 10x what the guy actually doing the work is making instead of 500x-1000x as is currently common, and THEN we can talk about how it's the union's fault that a shop isn't competitive.
Sure, spreading the wealth around might not actually grant very large raises, but until it's being done arguing against unions is just propping up the modern "aristocracy".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 04 2015, @04:26PM
Which is why doctors, lawyers, and other high-profile professions don't have them, right? Oh wait...
They have professional organizations, which are quite different.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Immerman on Friday September 04 2015, @06:06PM
Right. Higher dues. Greater restrictions on membership. Absolute veto power over where their members can work. And a legal mandate preventing competition.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday September 05 2015, @04:18AM