Should there be a Union of startup and tech employees?

It's getting dirtier by the day and sure some orgs are still up to their dirty tricks. The models: - Appraise and then Lay Off: Why bother putting bandaid on a stab wound? Anyways the folks are going to fight how to answer the ..why were you laid off war, and now you are adding another twist.. why were you appraised and then laid off? - Low appraisals to force quit: Undervalue them so they leave on their own. It’s a leeches way to cut costs. Kill morale 100%. Severance penny spent $0. - Trap them in PIP: Dress it up however you want - very very few escape this death sentence. - Silent treatment: No assignments, No meetings. Watch them spiral into anxiety and leave to save their sanity. - Workload overload: Drown them in work until they break. No need for layoffs list until they make it to your collapse list first. - Strategic reorg: Re-organize them out of existence. Offer a demotion or a proxy role in a random team that you know they dont want as an alternative. - Sudden policy changes: oh! I have seen so many I can't keep up with this one. New policies that make their life hell. People leave to escape your pettiness. - Mandatory relocation: Demand they move to an undesirable location. Then you treat remote employees like outsiders. Exclude them from key projects, conversations until they feel like foster care kids, second-class citizens. You know the outcome from there on. - Use the "Culture Fit" excuse: Call out how they’re not a culture fit. Vague, unchallengeable, and forces them out without severance. And don't sell me "the org has got to do what it has got to do to survive" line. I don't buy that If you have seen this being done, I understand your silence, but I don't value it. If this has been done to you or someone close to you, I am sorry. Orgs and the people failed you. We could be 1000x better than what we are operating as.

It's infuriating how everyone's advice to deal with layoffs is side hustles, wasting your life away to constantly upskill and reducing spending. Basically everyone here is saying "live life like shit to appease your corporate overlords" as if layoffs are OUR fault? Instead, why aren't we seeing any advice on the lines of: Build expertise in something while you're an employee and later start your own company/business/consultation on the basis of it. This will increase competition within businesses and will force them to treat their employees like humans. This was kind of the reason why things were generally good for employees from 2021-22 because all the startups popping up increased competition for labour. Or if your employer lays a bunch of people off and starts giving the rest of you their workload, simply refuse! Don't work extra long or extra hard. Get the employees together collectively and make everyone, or at least the majority refuse to entertain these outlandish demands from your employers. What are they gonna do? Fire you all and lose their business? And if that's not going to work, just do everything very poorly and if you're asked about it, just cite that there is a lack of manpower needed to get quality results. Basically, why have we collectively decided to take the short end of the stick and make our lives miserable when we should instead force employers to face consequences of THEIR OWN poor strategic planning? Why aren't we even discussing ideas for, let alone working on protecting our own best interests rather than interests of those who are screwing us over?

Came to know of a case where HR tried to quash a serious POSH complaint. Tried to blame the victim instead of handling the case properly. Victim was forced to file police complaint, even then HR was just looking for reasons to fire so they just quit. Perpetrator wasn't even someone very senior or important to the company, yet company tried to protect them for no good reason and downplay the complaint even though there was a witness. Sad state of affairs, really might want to look into creating unions or something.

As we're all seeing the levels of injustice in the workplaces all accross the country, with useless laws and BS working hours limits. I think we need more and more labour unions fighting these injustices. How do you think this can come to fruition?

So i was actually wondering why there are no association for engineers similar to the auto people. Like employee unions also. If there any layoffs, the association come in and do protests against the companies like auto people doing against the government . Any thoughts on this?

I work in a slowing industry (Ed-Tech!) in a generalist role (Project Management!) for half a decade now! You'd think I would be better positioned to deal with life! Heck, NO! This crippling feeling of insecurity or job loss always puts an extra stress on day to day life. I couldn't take any risks in terms of a house or a car or a big EMI purchase in life! What if I get laid off? Will this generalist role help in landing anything next? Do I need an MBA for that? Switching to any specialized roles will take extensive preparation with time being in short supply with family and kids! Seem to have been strangled in the startup world. Any cure for this? P.S : Sometimes thinking : Mommy sahi bolti thi. Govt job le leni chahiye thi. :D