Comment by goatinaboat
6 years ago
many engineers were actively against - aghast, even - at the idea of unions
“Union” is a trigger word but call it an association like BMA, BALPA, or a Federation (Police) or even a guild, and everyone would be if not on board, at least willing to have a non-emotive conversation.
I have no doubt in my mind that most programmers would at least listen to the pitch if it was to join a guild.
And yet guilds are traditionally vehicles for monopoly and control. All the things Americans complain about with regards to unions, are actually guild-like behaviour.
Yes, but guilds are also the names of player-formed free associations in MMOs, which are what jumps to most software engineers' minds when they hear the word.
And in labour organisations "guild" has some unfortunate racist conations in the USA.
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The good old game of term switcheroo, Americans like to play it a lot