all 4 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[+] -8 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)
  • [–] 19 points 4 weeks ago (2 children)

    Did you say that with or without reading the article? Basically it’s saying with the recent AI push they’re losing leverage over employers and are getting worse deals. That’s the opposite of the desired effect that this community is pushing for. So I’m curious what you’re hoping for?

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 2 points 4 weeks ago

    This was not the spirit of the article. It made clear that a problem that has faced tech all along is unclear leverage. A factory worker stops working and nothing gets built so no profit. A R&D tech worker stops working and that just means some potential future technology that may or may not exist doesn't get built which doesn't immediately hit profits and may not at all.

    They were trying to explain the struggles of union drives in tech that have been here all along. The "worse deals" it attributes to the increased interest rates of 2022 and cracking down on "woke" workers.

    On AI they were saying that tech workers may now see themselves more like traditional workers rather than artisinal coding masters with low unemployment. This shift could cause a greater incentive to tech workers to discover their specific leverage to push for more security.

    It also highlighted how campaigns about specific demands (ie not working with military) are much easier to push than pushing for unionization which is more abstract and controversial.

    Very good read, lots of nuance.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 0 points 4 weeks ago

    Oh, no, I didn't read yet. I caught the headline before leaving for work 😅 and planned on reading, but hadn't gotten around to it.

    Well that's a bummer though, I was really hoping for leverage to be had, not lost! I'm in tech, and while I've made some strides in job security and pay, if my company ever decides its "not worth it" I'm out (they'd let me go).

  • source
  • parent
  • 6 comments in c/technology@lemmy.world view that post
    [–] 46 points 4 weeks ago (3 children)

    If they're going to treat us like factory workers, then we need to respond in kind and unionize

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 26 points 4 weeks ago

    Yeah and it shouldn't be piecemeal. There should just be a tech workers union. A national one. It's a lot harder to argue with a national organization. You can't just decide to move the company to Texas and tell people to move or be terminated.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 9 points 4 weeks ago

    This is pretty on point : "For many workers, yes — agentic coding systems have in many ways made it impossible for workers to really see coding as this artisanal craft, as many did previously. But there is also a group who see themselves as “high-agency” workers and hope to use these agentic coding systems to accelerate their careers. And in fact, these two wolves can exist in one person. For instance, a worker can feel proletarianized by these new AI developments in the field yet may be motivated to double down on using them because they are worried these tools will narrow the window for future job/career mobility (i.e., creating a permanent underclass) — and so, they may embrace grind culture and 9–9–6, largely for individualistic reasons."

  • source
  • [–] 6 points 4 weeks ago

    Ayyy is that Alberta on the mic? Based.

  • source