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Tech worker movements grow as threats of RTO, AI loom
(arstechnica.com)
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this post was submitted on 28 Dec 2024
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Fingers and toes crossed, get'em for every last penny!
luck is not gonna help. Only action and organizing can save us. Join a union too.
Oh, I would if I lived in a place which had such movements, believe me... As it is, all I can do is wish for Lady Luck to smile upon those who have the chance! Sure, it's a bad idea to bank everything on luck, but it can never hurt to have some on your side!
where do you live? The tech workers movement is reaching pretty much everywhere there's tech production.
Romania. There haven't been any significant developments in this sense around here, at least not as far as I know. Each company around here has a Wagers' Rep of sorts and they gather with other such Reps and discuss wage related stuff, but it's nowhere near as elaborate as a Union, nor has it ever felt significant in any relevant way.
Most people have kinda'... given up on this country. Everyone scrambles to eject themselves abroad as soon as humanly possible. Can't say I blame'em.
Are you aware that Romanian IT sector has the highest rate of unionization of any IT sector in the world? SITT is a case study studied all over the world. https://transform-network.net/blog/interview/the-romanian-it-workers-labour-union-showed-that-everyone-can/
It might not be the sexiest, most modern radical union, but it is a case of success with numbers to show. Maybe you can start from there.
Huh, I honestly had no idea, thank you! I'll certainly start looking into it! Perfect timing, too, quit my job so I could focus on trying to get into stuff like this!
I sure hope the fact that it isn't common knowledge (at least not among most of the people with whom I've worked during the past decade) is down to them being effective and not it being a hopeless cause, though... Speaking from personal experience (and I leave room for doubt because I have notoriously bad luck in general), it sure didn't feel all that grand working in this industry. Not about the work in itself, but the practices...
Pretty much anywhere outside the USA, the communication of tech workers unionizing is pretty much absent and expecially news about it. This is a big deal, but it doesn't say much about the actual penetration of unions in a given sector. It's a complex topic, but I explain it with the fact that the topic is pretty much uninteresting, unless it's a well-known brand is unionizing. Since most famous tech companies are American, there's enough mass of news there to actually push media outlets to cover news.
In Italy, where there are very few "well-known" IT companies, the topic is completely absent, to the point where IT union organizers from a city don't know about big wins by other IT unions organizers from another city. Nonetheless the narrative is not the thing, and there can be big impacts that become visible to the general public only after sociological studies.
So, long-story short, the fact you never heard about SITT doesn't say much about its effectiveness, just about their ability to communicate.
That is an interesting point, and I actually think I could help with this! I do very much like getting people with needs in touch with people with solutions!
Sincerely, thank you! I'm managing my expectations, but you sparked a bit of enthusiasm in me! Here's hoping I can help in some way.
Go for it. If you want to look for a very good example of union communication, look up "More Perfect Union". Very American, but it shows a way to bring union news to people in a cool way.
Resources, too, the whole kit and kaboodle! Again, really can't thank you enough!
On a side and completely personal note, I can't describe the big, fat smile I'd wear on my face if I could call myself a Union rep:))
if it happens, or simply if you get more involved into Romanian unions, reach out to me. I organize events to connect tech workers organizing interionationally, so we might do something.
That is most gracious, and it would be an awesome response to globalisation! Heck, it would only make sense to globalise Unions as well!
Thank you! I'll keep you updated in case I strike gold! And even if it doesn't work out for me, I'll ask around and I'll drop you deets for whomever proves relevant!
True, but for those of us laid off in the past couple years and spent months looking for a new job, I'm not really super eager to stick my head out and rock the boat.
This was the hardest job search I've had to do, even as far as multiple rounds of leetcode, and kind of reminds me of how annoying finding my first dev job as a recent grad. Not really looking to do that again any time soon lol
Though if my company tries to RTO us, it'll be a constructive dismissal for me (I spoke with a lawyer already before) and then I'll have to job search again anyway.
We probably won't get RTO'd though, we've been doing WFH for years here thankfully.