this post was submitted on 29 Oct 2023
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Laid-off masses have a message for Zuckerberg, Benioff: We'll never come back (fortune.com)
submitted 1 year ago by haxor@derp.foo to c/hackernews@derp.foo
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[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

We need a fucking tech worker union. Maybe several to cover our bases? "Tech worker" is pretty damned broad.

I work for a great software dev. I won't describe the place because lemmings will tell me such a company is not possible. :)

But I see what goes on at these giants like FANG, and it's appalling. Americans would not have put up with this shit several decades back.

We're treated like a disposable commodity. Profits down a bit? Go home. Profits up a bit? Hire 'em back!

And for those not in the sector, there's a reason they get away with this shit, and it's honestly not too bad for us:

Every time we jump ship and move, we get paid loads more. LOADS. Not sure I've heard of someone taking a cut.

[–] tryptaminev@feddit.de 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You want one Union. The scope isnt broader than in other industries, where from the line worker to the engineer people are also under the same Union contract. The more people you have the more power for negotiations you have.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Engineers are rarely included in unions and in my experience there’s a separation of line and clerical workers into allied chapters

[–] tryptaminev@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's interesting. In which country is that? Here in Germany most union contracts cover an entire industry and all workers in unionized companies there. So an IT employee at a car manufacturer is subject to the same contract as themechanical engineer, the trade master supervisor on the shop floor and the line worker.

It is not in the interest of the employees to be divided as they have the same employer to negotiate with.

[–] Tenderloins@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

In Canada at a telco, but engineers are out of scope like management while everyone else in the company is part of the same union.

[–] tryptaminev@feddit.de 21 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Salesforce laid off about 10% of its workforce earlier this year, but now CEO Marc Benioff is encouraging those people to apply to fill its 3,000-plus open roles.

American corporatism is truly mindboggling.

How can someone be a CEO when he cannot think a 9 month ahead? Also nobody can tell me that this is economic in the slightest.

[–] Theharpyeagle@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

It's either a scummy way to reset the pay ladder or true stupidity. Maybe both.

I'm reminded of an article that explains this bout of layoffs as more of a trend than anything else:

https://news.stanford.edu/2022/12/05/explains-recent-tech-layoffs-worried/

[–] hydrospanner@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

"Hey Beni! Looks like you're on the wrong side of the labor market!"

[–] BeefPiano@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Write a year of guaranteed severance (w/benefits) into my contract

[–] em2@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

Non paywall link: https://archive.ph/7nfAX

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 2 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Tech companies have laid off nearly 245,000 workers this year alone, per tracker Layoffs.fyi, and Silicon Valley heavyweights like Meta and Salesforce have led the pack, each culling thousands of jobs apiece.

“As the labor market has softened over the past year…some regrets are inevitable,” Aaron Terrazas, chief economist at Glassdoor, tells Fortune.

Salesforce laid off about 10% of its workforce earlier this year, but now CEO Marc Benioff is encouraging those people to apply to fill its 3,000-plus open roles.

As for Meta, after laying off about a quarter of its workforce, jobs are open again, and the company has even constructed a specialty “alumni portal” for boomerangs looking to cut the line.

“I know if you get PIPed out or fired you are basically added to a ‘do not hire’ list but what happens with a layoff?” the poster wrote, referring to performance improvement plans.

“Rehiring employees means saving on recruitment costs, onboarding, and training, and they bring the benefit of newfound knowledge from their most recent employment experience,” Ryan Wong, CEO of software firm Visier, wrote on LinkedIn last year.

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