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?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 02 2017, @06:09PM (5 children)
Wrong. You need to read your deep union history. Especially pre-WWII there was a substantial marxist undercurrent, and it's hardly surprising when you remember that in those days it was kind of cool to be a socialist.
After WWII, the mob figured out that the special union protections (such as immunity to antitrust legislation) were a really great way of extracting cash.
Unions need to be completely redefined to be useful in the USA. The reason union membership is dropping like a rock? Very little to do with evil management snake oil merchants, and a hell of a lot to do with blue collar workers giving them the collective finger.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 02 2017, @06:29PM (3 children)
1) No serious action to repeal Taft-Hartley.
2) Additional anti-union legislation at the state level.
3) Companies moving to The South, which doesn't have a history of union activity.
(Southerners identify "union" with the army that swept through their area in 1865 and destroyed everything it could find.)
4) "Trade deals" that disallow tariffs and enable easy offshoring of jobs.
Your simplistic explanation ignores all the big stuff that has happened post-Reagan.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday July 02 2017, @07:50PM (2 children)
If that wasn't a bit of tongue-in-cheek snark, you are epically uninformed and should STFU now before you further embarrass yourself.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 03 2017, @02:40AM (1 child)
One assumes your hometown wasn't on Sherman's route.
Mine was.
A century later, the work "Yankee" wasn't heard without it being preceded by "damned".
The word "union" definitely has a related foul connotation to this day.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday July 03 2017, @10:27AM
Context, my gradeschool-failing friend, context. Even southerners are capable of using and understanding it.
And, yes, Yankees should be preceded by "God damned, carpetbagging, snare-drumming". Unless you're talking about the baseball team.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 02 2017, @08:13PM
And it's cool again! Feel the Bern!