Software engineers have for decades taken for granted that demand for our services will only go up, as will our salaries. We may not have had great job security in any one job, but there was always another one (and a pay raise) around the corner. In our current generative AI world, it is no longer safe to take that for granted.
In this talk, we'll learn about unionization efforts across the tech industry. We'll talk about the realities of unions, both the good and the bad. You'll leave with an understanding of the various steps in forming a union, all the way from recognition to ratification and beyond. And, who knows, maybe you'll get to negotiate a contract with an AI when it replaces the C-suite at your employer.
- CODE-CWA Organizer Training: https://code-cwa.org/upcoming-trainings
- EWOC: https://workerorganizing.org/training/
- Unite & Win Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unite-and-win-a-guide-to-workplace-organizing/id1866713309
- Kickstarter United Oral History Podcast: https://kickstarterunited.org/oral-history/
- Blanc, Eric. We Are the Union: How Worker-to-Worker Organizing Is Revitalizing Labor and Winning Big. Univ of California Press, 2025.
- Committee, Emergency Workplace Organizing. Unite and Win: The Workplace Organizer’s Handbook. Haymarket Books, 2024.
- Franklin, Ursula. The Real World of Technology. House of Anansi, 1999.
- Marcotte, Ethan. You Deserve a Tech Union. 2023.
- Mcalevey, Jane. A Collective Bargain: Rebuilding Unions, Rebuilding Democracy. Ecco, 2020.
- McAlevey, Jane. No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age. Oxford UP, 2016.
- McAlevey, Jane, and Abby Lawlor. Rules to Win By: Power and Participation in Union Negotiations. Oxford UP, 2023.
- Redwine, Clarissa, host. Kickstarter United Oral History, 3 Nov. 2020 https://kickstarterunited.org/oral-history/