[freshcatch_]

The way I heard it best explained is no one would try to start a union if it made them less money.

Better pay and benefits - my maximum out of pocket was lower than most deductibles. Democratizes the workplace - really helps keep management in check. You get real job security - firing is much less arbitrary with a steward fighting for you.

However, if people aren't active in union elections, bargaining etc. it can get really stale really fast

[chrisseaton]

> The way I heard it best explained is no one would try to start a union if it made them less money.

People could start a union so _they_ make more money, but _you_ could make less money.

For example pay by seniority. Great for the senior people in the union, not so great for you.

[gamblor956]

Pay by seniority is a thing that developers keep bringing up and not understanding the basic concept that seniority-based pay is a decision that unions can adopt or reject.

Hollywood unions, for example, do not use a seniority-based pay scale.

[chrisseaton]

If there’s an industry-wide closed-shop union and it votes for seniority pay then I’m out of luck. It’s replacing tyranny of the employer with tyranny of the majority.

[gamblor956]

I don't think you understand how unions work...

Closed-shop unions are illegal in the US, for starters, so you can't have a closed-shop industry-wide union.

The only industry-wide unions that exist set workplace protections and salary floors but no salary caps...and no indutry-wide union has ever embraced seniority-based pay because, being an industry-wide union, that regime wouldn't work across the very different economic environments of 50 states and their thousands of cities.

[justaman]

Software developers are so "in demand" right now, it seems like it would be better to not become a union worker and instead just shop around. It's really a sellers market for talent.