Back in 1983, an Associated Press article titled 'Labor Unions Are Absent in Silicon Valley' painted a bleak picture of labor in the tech goldmines that is equally true today. [...] The writers quote a labor lawyer who comments that 'the Valley is union free because its companies are very sophisticated in preventative labor relations.' The 'competitive pay and benefits package' of [...] are mentioned as another preventative: as a result of this paternalism, employers feel that their needs are already respected and hence that they have no need for a union, even though their salaries, working conditions, and benefits could be enhanced by unionization.
he goes on to cite the wage-fixing scandal, and the for-employee profits generated by companies like apple ... i dont like this line of reasoning. the profits are rent, and the use of "employees" as the denomninator elides the contribution of people who are not full-time employees (subcontractors, or employees of an intermediary company somewhere down the value chain) who are definitely paid much less than the average