[jeffreybaird]

I mean, you have power over their lives with force. You can decide at a moment's notice that their livelihoods could be taken away. Or, you could sell your company to someone who would do that. A union just levels the playing field.

[gtsteve]

From my perspective, they have power over me. I need to keep them happy or they're going to find other jobs. Sometimes this means changing plans to ensure they're not overworked or to ensure that they get to work on interesting stuff after something reasonably boring like UI development (none of them really enjoy it but it has to be done). The business fails pretty rapidly without my development team and I know how lucky I am to have them.