my tech department recently unionized, its great
one of the best things about it is enforcing the “other duties as required” and setting a hard limit on what that means, management has to accept it and they hate that shit
Resistance from the tech sector
Submitted 3 weeks ago by juergen@feddit.org to technology@lemmy.world
https://drewdevault.com/2025/04/20/2025-04-20-Tech-sector-restistance.html
Comments
thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 3 weeks ago
victorz@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
management has to accept it
Do they have to accept it by law? I’m realizing I don’t really understand how unions work. What is it that actually transfers the power from the company to the workers just by unionizing?
thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org 2 weeks ago
The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is where the power is, its a legally binding agreement between the Union and the Employer. The unions have lawyers that have crafted the language and there is a lot of back and forth until its agreed upon and then its binding for both parties.
When you get a union job, the position is represented by the union and the employer has agreed to the CBA. So as the union employee, if I feel that I am be asked to do something outside of my job description, I can request the union to audit the work which puts management under the microscope and well they don’t usually like that so they will create a cold war and force policy adherence to the letter. In the end everyone is usually more clear about what is acceptable and what is not.
But the real power is that if its not in your job description, you can really say no and they cant do anything about it. The “other duties and responsibilities” should never be more then 8 hours in 2 weeks. If it does, it needs to be included as part of your job description. And the union has a death grip on that description with the CBA.
ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
Laws obv vary by country, but in the US, a corporation is legally required to recognize and bargain with a union if over 30% of their employees choose to unionize.
pulido@lemmings.world 2 weeks ago
Yes, let’s resist fascism with consumerism.
Completely ignoring how one empowers the other…
ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
Solid post from Drew, agree with everything there.
He mentions doing your best to join in your local communities with like minded folk. Here’s a good guide on how and where those folk might be to join up with.
And if you follow his advice to unionize, I highly recommend the IWW). They’ll help you form a grassroots union that’s directly controlled by you and your coworkers. And they’ll help you no matter what kind of job you have! Beefing it up is one of the best things we can do to resist.
timewarp@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I’ve been saying this for such a long time, the tech industry needs unions. It also needs crowd sourced legal assistance as well because it isn’t going to be easy. They’ll fire of course at first despite being illegal, then they’ll want migrants that they can threaten with deportation if they don’t comply. Even if Trump goes away, unions will be necessary to keep corporations accountable.
WizardofFrobozz@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
What a wild goddamn thing to say when US citizen children with cancer are being rounded up and deported to countries they’ve never lived in. Please, share. Where have you drawn the line?
barsoap@lemm.ee 2 weeks ago
Basically any union in Germany has access to an army of lawyers, your dues double as legal insurance covering anything related to work and welfare.
MITM0@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
How about a tech cooperative ?
fyzzlefry@retrolemmy.com 3 weeks ago
No one was talking about sabotage