[Discuss] [OT]Discuss - Software Engineering union

[darose at darose.net (David Rosenstrauch)]

On 04/19/2012 07:28 AM, Mark Woodward wrote:
> The IT industry is fairly well paid slave labor. I mean, working on
> week-ends, no-notice late nights, vacations that have to be canceled
> because of sudden problems. All without any compensation. When was the
> last time you REALLY worked 40 hours. Right? Probably never. It is so
> ingrained in the industry no one even thinks these things are out of the
> ordinary. Just about EVERY other profession, professional or labor,
> would not stand for this. Ask a lawyer, doctor, plumber, or electrician
> to work an extra day and late nights for free, see what happens.

It depends which part of the "IT industry" you're referring to.  In the 
side of it that I'm in (tech startups) just about everybody has equity 
participation in their company, which *is* additional compensation.  I 
think you'd be hard-pressed to find plumbers, electricians - or most any 
other field - with such a high percentage of workers with equity/ownership.

Granted, equity/options doesn't often result in mega-$$$ to the worker. 
  But more often that you'd think it does result in *some* extra $$$ to 
the worker.  (I didn't make millions from the last startup I worked at, 
but I did make thousands.)  And the worker at least goes into it with 
eyes wide open - very aware of the risk/reward of the opportunity, and 
consciously choosing to put in the extra work for the possibility of the 
extra reward.

I'm biased, I suppose, but IMO more equity participation is a better 
path forward for workers in our industry - and for our economy as a 
whole - than more unionization.  I don't have a problem with capitalism 
itself, just with the fact that not many people really benefit from it. 
  Give everybody a stake in the company they're helping to build and 
that issue starts to go away.

DR