(Reuters) -Wells Fargo employees at its Albuquerque, New Mexico branch voted to join a union on Wednesday, opening up a new frontier in the labor campaign against corporate America. Wells Fargo employees voted 5 to 3 in favor of joining the Communications Workers of America's Wells Fargo Workers Un...
Then imagine the bargaining power we'd wield if we had large and strong union. If you lack imagination, consider the example of what the power of collective action achieved during the recent upheaval at Open AI. CEO replacement, changes to the board of directors. Wow! We prefer being deluded by the fact that we're getting a better deal than many others, but it's only as much as corporations can get away with while having us work for them and not put up a lot of fuss. We saw the swift switch of attitude over the last year once they figured they had a few more workers than they needed.
Developers have great mobility, yes, but barring a few "key" employees, we're all pretty replaceable.
Wouldn't it be awesome if, instead of having to change jobs every 2 - 3 years to get a decent raise, the union just negotiated raises across the board for everyone?
The employees at that branch voted 5 to 3 in favor
It is so painstaking to unionize one branch at a time. There are more than 7000 branches, let alone back offices. The union isn't trying to get like all the branches in a city at the same time? Maybe a whole call center?
Do you think unions wanted to run hundreds of separate campaigns at the ~300 Starbucks who have successfully voted to unionized (who Starbucks has refused to sign a single contract with)? They aren't stupid and are grinding it out against absolute fucking goliaths one address at a time.
Just because one burger king on street A votes to unionize doesn't mean that another a block over would want to, and you also have to take into account many industries operate on franchise models so their employers may have only some similarities. Employers have desperately tried to build a wall between corporate and ownership ties when it comes to unions to prevent precisely what you suggest; mass unionization possibilities.