Hi there. Wrote the article and thought I'd hop in. What Irish Samurai is saying is correct. The union itself provides a simple means through which skilled workers can lobby legislators, which sadly is the only way to effect change anymore. I briefly alluded to it in the article, but the chunk where I spoke further about how such action could curb outsourcing ended up being cut for use in another article. I realize a lot of the negative connotations unions can take on, but in industries where unions have _never_ existed, many corporations (like EA, et al) are able to treat their employees however they like. See ea_spouse's commentary on that. Quite simply, programmers are treated poorly in many situations because they're viewed as expendable. They need fair representation, and since folk heroes don't really catch on like they used to, collective bargaining is in order.
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Yeah, man. Long time lurker, but you snagged the words from my mouth.
Hi there. Wrote the article and thought I'd hop in. What Irish Samurai is saying is correct. The union itself provides a simple means through which skilled workers can lobby legislators, which sadly is the only way to effect change anymore. I briefly alluded to it in the article, but the chunk where I spoke further about how such action could curb outsourcing ended up being cut for use in another article. I realize a lot of the negative connotations unions can take on, but in industries where unions have _never_ existed, many corporations (like EA, et al) are able to treat their employees however they like. See ea_spouse's commentary on that. Quite simply, programmers are treated poorly in many situations because they're viewed as expendable. They need fair representation, and since folk heroes don't really catch on like they used to, collective bargaining is in order.