My notes from “You Deserve A Tech Union” by Ethan Marcotte.
I picked it up when it came out, but didn’t read it. The current tech landscape, in particular the rise of AI, nudged me to pick it up and read it now.
Power
- Power is a hierarchy of the people who make the decisions and the people who have to conform to them
- Our power comes from taking collective action, fighting for dignity, protections, and safety
- Solidarity is powerful because it’s open, explicit, acknowledgement of our connections, dependencies, and common humanity
Technology
Ursula Franklin on what happens with every new technology
- It appears with grand promises, often on liberation from toil
- This drives adoption, and the tech becomes expected and assumed and institutionalised
- The promise of liberation is never fulfilled, the tech is used to exploit workers
Unions
- A union is a group of workers who, through organisation and collective action, fight for a better life
- Unions are a good way to address
- How to keep the things you like about your job
- How to change the things you wish were different about your job
- Understanding labour law and how it protects you (and how it doesn’t) will make you a better, more effective, organiser
- Step 1: Building Support, Step 2: Outreach and Organising, Step 3: Winning Your Union, Step 4: Negotiating Your Contract
The tech industry
- A disconnect between motto and reality is fairly common, especially in mission-driven organisations
- The scale of our industry’s problems have changed, but the shape’s the same
- Our industry leans toward eliminating people from the process
- We work in a system that is actively trying to devalue our labour
- Deskilling: technology is introduced, overseen by fewer workers, wages lowered and jobs cut. Demand for skilled labour reduced or eliminated. Workers moved into roles they’re overqualified for.