[shric]

You said “Unions are the *only legal way* for workers to improve their situation around compensation and working conditions.” (Emphasis mine)

My reply was not to say unions were bad or ineffective at accomplishing the goal, it was simply refuting your blanket statement.

[spopejoy]

In case you haven't noticed, the era of sw devs being able to leave and find better conditions/pay anytime they want is gone. But even in the good old ZIRP days, leaving for better pay is not an action that can be taken collectively. OP said "workers" not "worker": if you want to improve conditions at a given company, collective bargaining is all you have.

[kelnos]

I don't think that blanket statement is false if you interpret "workers" as "workers as a whole" (as I did when I first read it). Certainly an individual worker can quit and (try to) find a better-paying/better-hours job, but as GP notes, that method does not scale very far.