[zdragnar]

Personal anecdata: every company I've worked at would have been worse off (and worse to work at) if the developers had been unionized.

I've also avoided working anywhere that thinks you can only be professional if you're wearing a button down shirt and / or a tie, so I don't doubt that some places might benefit.

Edit: to be clear, I've never advocated for a union, and I doubt I ever will so long as I am fortunate enough to choose my employer, rather than the other way around. This is why, I am guessing, so many tech workers don't bother attempting to unionize.

[gaius]

I doubt I ever will so long as I am fortunate enough

Think of it as insurance. When misfortune strikes - it will be too late.

[zdragnar]

I think in that case I would be better off putting the money in savings than paying into dues.

[gaius]

Is there not at least two orders or magnitude difference between union dues and meaningful savings? Maybe even three or four!

[fisherjeff]

Can you elaborate on what would’ve been worse if the devs had unionized?

[zdragnar]

At each of the companies I've worked at in this field, management and developers had a close and healthy relationship.

Introducing collective bargaining would only have created an artificial distance between individuals.

One company stands out as a good example. Great benefits, sub par pay. They actively solicited feedback on a regular basis, and at one point gave out near universal raises when they introduced pay bands. They also realized that limited vacation but unlimited sick time was being abused by a minority, and changed to a PTO system that was far more fair to the majority of employees.

He'll, one of them had paid "overtime" even though we were salaried (havent had to work more than 40 at any of the others).

In short, we got everything we needed, and it has been fair. Some employees individually bargained for more time off, or for work from home time, or higher pay. Some were put on performance plans and improved, some were let go (and some not nearly soon enough).

IMHO, collectively bargaining contracts at any of those places would have been less successful at making everyone happy.

[apexalpha]

>In short, we got everything we needed, and it has been fair. Some employees individually bargained for more time off, or for work from home time, or higher pay.

There is nothing preventing a union from bargaining a system like this. We have this at my work.

Everyone gets 20days off for holiday, but other than that we have a 12.5% annual bonus ('13th month') with a system where people can opt for 7.5% bonus in return for more days off. This is just an example you can set the percentage yourself.

Or you can put it towards your pension, life insurance... idk there is a whole range of options.

[zdragnar]

A union could bargain for that, true. But, when you've already got it, there's a real concern that starting one will make difficult the already good relationship with management.