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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday July 02 2017, @06:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the unionize-now dept.

Computing is notorious for not having a worthwhile professional association. Some practitioners join the IEEE, the IET or the ACM. However, membership typically costs hundreds of dollars per year and offers little practical help to computer professionals working in small companies. If you're working for government or a large corporation or you're a super programmer in a well funded start-up then you probably have a union or you don't need a union. However, if you're the sole techie in a small business, appreciation for your dedication is just the start. What happens when you're asked to do something unethical or illegal? Where do you turn when a job goes sour? How do you avoid the problem? How can you avoid really toxic employers?

Rather than paying hundreds of dollars per year for talks and conferences, you require local experts who have first-hand experience of local employers and local employment problems. How can this be achieved reliably and cost-effectively? This is where our expertise should shine. Firstly, union entry should be at least as stringent as the conceirge union. Secondly, there should be a web-of-trust within each metropolitan region (and ideally between regions). In the best case, the network distance between all members should be four or less. Thirdly, an obligatory website should incur less hits than SoylentNews and therefore an upper bound for costs can be established for a volunteer effort. Essentially, it should be possible to run a union from donations of US$3000 per year or significantly less. Indeed, the major cost to members would be food and drink expenses when informally meeting other members.

So who wants to join a computer professional union with sensible fees and obligations?


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  • (Score: 3, Funny) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday July 02 2017, @07:46AM (5 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday July 02 2017, @07:46AM (#534115) Journal

    The solution is a large industrial shredder and a live TV feed. Once a few abusive employers end up getting turned into gory confetti in the real-life equivalent of a Mortal Kombat arena deathtrap--and several million people see it live--there will be some change.

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
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  • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Sunday July 02 2017, @08:38AM (1 child)

    by kaszz (4211) on Sunday July 02 2017, @08:38AM (#534120) Journal

    I'll see the silent IT worker avengers in the works ;)

    • (Score: 2) by kaszz on Monday July 03 2017, @08:41PM

      by kaszz (4211) on Monday July 03 2017, @08:41PM (#534572) Journal

      IT worker sees evil PHB incarnation walking the earth. Grabs his joystick to control the bot that grabs the PHB and tells him roboticly, "You will.. be shredded". "Must shredd.. shredd.." only to see the shredder valve open and suck him in while all the coworkers look in horror at the bits coming out. :p

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 02 2017, @08:39AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 02 2017, @08:39AM (#534121)

    More likely, President Camacho will empower Brawndo Corp. to use said shredder on troublemakers.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday July 02 2017, @02:04PM (1 child)

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Sunday July 02 2017, @02:04PM (#534158) Homepage Journal

      President Camacho sounds like a very smart cookie. I'd like to meet him ASAP. Please ask him to call me at 202-456-1414. #MAGA

      • (Score: 2) by UncleSlacky on Sunday July 02 2017, @03:27PM

        by UncleSlacky (2859) on Sunday July 02 2017, @03:27PM (#534172)

        I'd take Camacho over Trump any day - at least Camacho genuinely cared about his people and country, even if he had no idea how to do it himself.