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Judge Rejects $324.5 Million Settlement For Tech Workers, Argues For More
An anonymous reader writes with this news from Reuters: A U.S. district judge on Friday ruled that the $324.5 million settlement negotiated by Apple, Google, Intel, and Adobe with the tech workers who brought an antitrust lawsuit against them was too low. The judge cited the settlement amount of a similar lawsuit brought against Disney and Intuit last year which resulted in plaintiffs obtaining proportionally more for lost wages. And yet, according to the judge, the current plaintiffs have "much more leverage". She cited evidence clearly showing Apple's Steve Jobs strong-arming the other companies in the suit into agreeing to a no-employee-poaching agreement, and in one instance, of Google failing to rope in Facebook into a similar agreement which resulted in a 10% increase of all Google employee salaries. In other words, clear evidence that the no-poaching agreement effectively suppressed the salaries of these companies' tech workers. Another hearing is scheduled for September 10.
the reason a government exists is to serve the people, not to earn a profit
- wrong. The reason that governments exist is our inertia, laziness and jealousy. Originally governments were all nobility with the power in hand to kill you.
Nobility running amok vs. people wanting to live their lives freer from that type of government is what gave rise to Constitutional monarchy, where nobility could not steal from people and kill people at will, there was finally some laws against that type of abuse.
American Republic was supposed to become a better form of government not by making a bigger government, but by protecting more of the FREEDOMS of individuals, this is the only reason to reform governments - better governance in our progression means freer individuals, which is what allowed USA to become biggest manufacturer and creditor nation on the planet before 1908 (*before politicians figured out how to use all of the wealth generated by that system to start a class warfare that eventually destroyed the most productive economy since the dawn of men*).
Goal of a company is to make profits.
Goal of a politician is to stay in power.
Making profits in a free market capitalist system means providing products and services to the willing market participants.
Staying in power for politicians means building a bigger and bigger army around himself, so that to dominate against other politicians in that version of the Game of Thrones and it has nothing to do with serving people whatsoever. Staying in power means building an army and the people are the ones that are feeding that army through stolen work and through reduced standard of living.
Profits in a free market capitalist society are the most moral goal that can be, since it does not use any coercion, it uses desire of other participants in that economy to trade with the company.
As to slavery, thievery, murder all of those concepts are government concepts first and foremost and in a free market economy people don't need governments to deal with any of it, private courts and private security is enough to deal with aberrations.
You can't handle the truth.
That this has not gone to a Federal Grand Jury appears more like corruption than anything else.
You're just noticing that there is corruption that goes on in favor of big business with impunity in the US? What are you, a fucking Republican?
Look where all this talking got us, baby.