[PittleyDunkin]

> Labor unions seem like the wrong model for organizing people in a lot of "knowledge workers." A professional association like the American Medical Association might be a better way to structure things.

Please explain—knowledge workers are still workers and the same benefits that labor unions provide to other workers apply just as much here.

Secondly, why would I ever care about a professional organization if I can't use it to collectively bargain? It doesn't seem to work this way for doctors; why would it work this way for us?

[dylan604]

Knowledge workers do not need to be there in the office like the labor unions. This can be used both ways. The WFH crowd uses it say they can work from home. The GP is suggesting companies thinking that if we don't need in-office workers, why not just offshore it altogether?

[toomuchtodo]

> why not just offshore it altogether?

Policy equivalent to tariffs to make it unfavorable to offshore vs hiring onshore talent. I.R.C. §174 implements this concept with an amortization delta between US and non-US based development and R&D cost accounting, for example.

"We can make you come into the office because we say so or we'll just offshore." might be challenging in the current zeitgeist.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/174

[spacemanspiff01]

How does 174 work with a outside contractor company?

[PittleyDunkin]

> Knowledge workers do not need to be there in the office like the labor unions.

Nothing about a labor union implies this, either, just that labor is necessary to produce revenue. This is still true for service-based companies, even if it takes longer for underinvesting in labor to hurt.

> The GP is suggesting companies thinking that if we don't need in-office workers, why not just offshore it altogether?

This is true regardless of if you're in a union or not. I'm not going just to toss the baby out with the bathwater. There isn't a situation where I don't want a union outside of maybe self-employment.