Comment by rwmj
7 years ago
Hopefully to more people in tech joining unions. Plenty of other well-paid professions are unionised (eg. doctors). For full disclosure I've been a member of Prospect, a non-affiliated union in the UK, for a few years. One of the advantages is free access to legal advice about employment issues.
Most tech offices (google included) already give all employees free access to legal resources. It's called an EAP (Employee Assistance Program)
Is that access to company legal resources or vouchers to independent lawyers? There is a big difference, especially when the legal issue is employment related.
The unionisation of doctors in America is one of the reasons that the American healthcare system is so bad though. Maybe we shouldn't encourage any industry to increase its inefficiency by unionizing, and instead just offer a set of universal regulations that keep workers (both skilled and unskilled alike) from getting shafted?
Very few American doctors are unionized. If you're referring to the AMA, it is specifically not a union.
If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck... well, let me quote the Atlantic's Matthew Stewart:
>You see, when educated people with excellent credentials band together to advance their collective interest, it’s all part of serving the public good by ensuring a high quality of service, establishing fair working conditions, and giving merit its due. That’s why we do it through “associations,” and with the assistance of fellow professionals wearing white shoes. When working-class people do it—through unions—it’s a violation of the sacred principles of the free market.