I think that an even worse problem is that the media and corporations generally have succeeded in making most of us equate unions with evil, greed, laziness, etc.

Look at how Walmart is praised for successfully keeping unions at bay. Same for MacDonalds and several other corporate chains.
Look at how, when people hear that competing chains pay their employees an average of $17.00 per hour and Walmart averages $10-$11 per hour, people generally say the the non-Walmart folk have it too good and use it a 'proof' that unions are wasteful and harmful.
Look at how unions, because of these fabricated yet widely believed premises about unions, have taken pay CUTS and staff cuts in recent 'agreements' and essentially have no muscle left because of threats to relocate to China. The press and Wall Street praise such outcomes! Stock values go up!!!

I'm afraid that there's a huge need to educate people about unions before any successful effort to mount a general 'developers' union' could happen.

To date management has successfully pleaded that they were over a barrel and had a gun held to their heads and so were forced to sign contracts they really didn't want to sign but had no choice. How the hell can a board of directors and shareholders accept such a lame and false argument when the chairman/president's job is to LEAD and make tough decisions and always keep the best interests of the company foremost? He/she admits dismal failure and incompetence yet not only keeps their job but also continues to collect handsome bonuses.

The world of business has turned topsy-turvy and government is following wholeheartedly. Governments serve the corporations and corporations serve the mighty dollar. "The people" are not factors anymore and th government and the media combine to ensure that it all stays that way.


>About time, however, the end result will probably not be good. History shows us that while unions have improved working conditions for employees, employers tended to only allow unions into their corporations under force of some type. It could be all locals refusing to work without a union, economic pressure, or even physical threat by union members (coersion). Given that those tactics will not fly today, it is more likely that rather than allow a union in or hire union members, companies will hire H1Bs or move offshore entirely. The only way it would work is if all techies joined, including H1Bs so everyone competed on an equal footing. I don't see H1Bs joining a union and risking not attaining employment when the next guy may come over here and just step into the first low-paying job they can find just to be here.
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>Time to start a mass movement on the web for all programmers in all fields to join the union and bring in the H1Bs!
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>>I found this quite interesting, was wondering how others felt about it...
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>>http://msnbc.com/news/985657.asp?0dm=C12IB