[greenyoda]

I don't think that joining a union would be advantageous to me either. But the words "advocate for themselves as a group" don't necessarily imply unions or collective bargaining. It could mean forming political action groups. If big companies spend a lot of money on lobbyists to put their ideas in front of politicians, why shouldn't their employees do the same?

[gozur88]

Isn't that what, say, IEEE and ACM are?

[greenyoda]

My impression of IEEE and ACM are that they're more oriented toward academia (e.g., publishing peer-reviewed journals) and less oriented toward the average working programmer. We might do better with an organization that's primarily focused on improving working conditions rather than propagating technical information. I think there's room for both kinds of organizations.

[skylan_q]

I honestly don't know, but haven't they been advocating for "lowering" of borders?

[gozur88]

I couldn't say. Presumably if they are that's at the behest of the members.