Nobody. Trust nobody. It's sad, but it's true. They're your employer---not your friend, not your family.
The upside: you don't have to feel bad about being a mercenary about it. You can feel shameless in trying to negotiate higher pay (regardless of your performance or ability).
A permanent position is only good because it's effectively higher comp (i.e., benefits, severance, etc). Most programmers are at-will employed anyway so it's not that much different from contractors.
A union is also, in theory, a good thing. However, over time it's evolved into a different beast with its own set of problems.
The upside: you don't have to feel bad about being a mercenary about it. You can feel shameless in trying to negotiate higher pay (regardless of your performance or ability).
A permanent position is only good because it's effectively higher comp (i.e., benefits, severance, etc). Most programmers are at-will employed anyway so it's not that much different from contractors.
A union is also, in theory, a good thing. However, over time it's evolved into a different beast with its own set of problems.