From the other perspective, I’ve also wondered about what it would mean to have a union for international remote employees.
Unions for tech workers are rare but if you’re working for a company with people scattered all over the planet, it’s a massive increase in complexity. I’ve never done any serious organizing, and the companies I’ve worked for have been relatively benign. But after almost ten years in satellite offices or remote work from home, it feels like I’m taking on risks here if I ever get into a dispute.
According to one organizer I talked to, you need to form unions in each country with “recognized units” of a handful of people. At my current company there are knots of employees here and there but we are starting to look like the General Assembly of the UN with one person per country. Then there’s all the varying rules on when the employer has the recognize a union.
Unions for tech workers are rare but if you’re working for a company with people scattered all over the planet, it’s a massive increase in complexity. I’ve never done any serious organizing, and the companies I’ve worked for have been relatively benign. But after almost ten years in satellite offices or remote work from home, it feels like I’m taking on risks here if I ever get into a dispute.
According to one organizer I talked to, you need to form unions in each country with “recognized units” of a handful of people. At my current company there are knots of employees here and there but we are starting to look like the General Assembly of the UN with one person per country. Then there’s all the varying rules on when the employer has the recognize a union.
Are there any precedents for doing this?