points by __alexs 3 days ago | 0 comments
Unions do not exist in a vacuum. They have to operate in the same fundamental power structures as everyone else.
If union A is like "work less let AI take the slack" and union B is like "work the same, use AI to achieve more, let AI help us win" I'm joining union B every time.
[–] spacebanana7 3 days ago
[–] __alexs 2 days ago
Exactly. Unions can amplify the bargaining power of labour but they don't magically delete the other variables.
[–] bdavisx 3 days ago
If you're not getting a part of that "achieve more" profit, why should you care? Because I don't see the profit being shared with the workers, at all.
[–] debazel 2 days ago
Because joining group A means you will soon be out of a job once group B out competes group A.
[–] __alexs 2 days ago
You seem to be the only person that got my point so thanks I guess.
I am actually pro Union but yikes the left needs to go back and actually read some Marx.
[–] nkrisc 3 days ago
So it’s there for them when they’re no longer a temporarily embarrassed millionaire.
For example waste management generally has very strong unions in the developed world because 1) capital intensity 2) operations immediately seize on labour withdrawal 3) consequences of strikes are in a golden zone of painful but not existential so are tolerated 4) extract a relatively small proportion of local gov funds, so don’t create that much powerful opposition 5) labour force is locally concentrated and highly socialised.
Those pillars of power don’t rely much on any particular legal or political system.