| 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. |
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.