If your industry needs a union to avoid getting fucked, you should ideally find a better career.
I feel like I’m pretty neutral on unions. Not inherently bad, sometimes vital, but they can be a parasite on companies while being a double edged sword for labor. For example, I think legacy auto and its workers are in a tough spot with thin margins and offshoring. There is basically a shrinking pool of American workers needs being met at the expense of everyone else.
Game dev is also an interesting case because the problem comes from workers who are so desperate to be in the industry despite better options. They can already have better pay and work conditions. Just not from the companies they want it from.
It’s a marketplace. If employees aren’t taking advantage of employers when expecting more pay then employers aren’t taking advantage of employees when expecting less pay.
I’m neutral on unions too.
Labor unions for laborers make sense. The single industrial plant that employs every dad in our town shouldn’t have that much power over our lives.
Unions for laptop jockeys who can work in any city in the country or even other countries? If you don’t like your conditions go get different conditions elsewhere.
Or pursue your passion in a way that brings unique(ish) value, rather than doing what a commodity quantity of other people can (evidently) do. No problem with a commodity labor pool trying to collectively bargain higher wages, but if you're collectively bargaining it's a good sign you're a commodity labor resource, and if you're a commodity labor resource the market and your CBA put a cap on what you can expect to earn. It's good for some people but certainly never the only option for an individual.
I feel like I’m pretty neutral on unions. Not inherently bad, sometimes vital, but they can be a parasite on companies while being a double edged sword for labor. For example, I think legacy auto and its workers are in a tough spot with thin margins and offshoring. There is basically a shrinking pool of American workers needs being met at the expense of everyone else.
Game dev is also an interesting case because the problem comes from workers who are so desperate to be in the industry despite better options. They can already have better pay and work conditions. Just not from the companies they want it from.