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109 points

Engineering is a skilled trade. We need our own union like every other skilled labor group.

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21 points

And they are smart enough to put us at the very bottom of the management ladder, even though we’re not actually management. That way we can’t legally unionize. In the U.S. at least.

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9 points

That way we can’t legally unionize. In the U.S. at least.

This must vary state-by-state, or have exceptions, because I could name examples of them (but I would rather not dox myself).

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11 points

It’s not every company, but that is what mine did. We’re “management” but we don’t manage anyone.

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12 points

I agree. I’m in pre-sales working at an AWS partner and honestly our whole team is treated as dispensable.

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15 points
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I have been laid off from every job (5 in total) since the pandemic. We are a subhuman commodity. Companies that are hiring now are exploiting the market by offering lower salaries.

Meta and Amazon are in their hiring season and they’ll start their layoffs again next spring or summer. And somehow, everyone forgets this fucked up cycle keeps happening in perpetuum.

We need to stop being afraid of mentioning the U word. We need better protection and rights as employees.

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14 points
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At Amazon literally every employee is dispensable. They have a firing quota.

Edit: to be clear I’m talking about the Amazon divisions outside the warehouse. They make managers fire a certain percentage of people on a regular basis.

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11 points

Depending on your country, that is the norm. Engineers here have at least 2 national unions to choose from, finance have a couple of unions, same with teachers, admin staff, etc. etc.

As usual, this is probably just US being victim of 'merican exceptionlism.

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5 points

“Skilled labor” is such a bullshit concept

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2 points

There are jobs that take weeks to learn, jobs that take years to learn, and there are even jobs that take a decade+ to learn. You ain’t putting the three-week old newbie in the latter two roles.

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3 points
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That’s true, but it devalues other labor which can be similarly/more difficult or skilled. I skimmed this article, but it seems to convey what I mean:
https://www.shrm.org/executive-network/insights/reshaping-narrative-time-retire-term-unskilled-labor

I understand what people mean when they say “skilled labor” and I don’t think it’s intended negatively normally fwiw

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