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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ReshiIRE" data-source="post: 8469352" data-attributes="member: 7031231">Not sure why you need to clarify it being perfectly legal. I'm familiar with US concepts of 'right to work'. Not sure what you're implying there.How does your work in union busting make you feel? Why did you do it? Did you go from forming unions to breaking unions, or vice versa?Then why do unions still exist, particularly in Europe? Why do new unions keep being formed - in particular, in software? Unions don't seem to really be broken I've noticed over here. It sounds more like an issue of politics and law, not economics; that unions are being broken for ideological reasons.Well, we'll see if they do that and how that works out for Paizo. Something tells me it won't be good.Okay, so unions are a small element of the workforce. I'm not sure why it has anything to do with this conversation.There may be countless people in the US hoping to break into RPG writing. Who says they will accept any conditions they can? Who says they won't want union protection? Who says they can even be employed in the first place? Who says they'll make it their main job? If what you're saying is true, why hasn't Paizo just removed all their unionised workers and gotten rid of all their contractors? Why does it appear that the union is working, considering they got voluntary working?Sure, the need to pay rent does make people's decisions. That's... not a good thing. The fact Amazon has succeeded is pretty awful; and so much of that comes from political choices that have given workers no choice. From decisions made by people who don't give a damn about workers or the people in those awful conditions. Executed by those involved in union busting.Considering your union busting work... have you been involved in similar cases?Perhaps if the US had proper social benefits systems and stronger labour laws - including ones that don't facilitate the crippling of unions - then companies like Amazon would clear up their mess.Okay. Interesting that this old thinking has arose in someone not from the States and well, in their twenties, no? Seems still mighty relevant to me, no matter how old it is. Especially when your thinking is also old... don't see what new relevations you're revealing.It's clearly not that old if it's a common way of thinking. And yeah, of course I'm evaluating from a workers PoV - I am a worker! I don't care why companies exist - I don't want myself or others abused and used! Do you not see the shite companies put people through? And how that doesn't have to happen, based on examples we can see from around the world, like Nordic countries? Or hell, even my country of Ireland, which, while flawed, doesn't have nearly the same amount of problems?Companies and similiar structures haven't always and don't need to exist just to generate a profit, all be damned. Alternative structures exist that don't result in the systemic abuse of employees.Sure, automation may do that. It may not always succeed - it's not a pancea. And there are potential problems that come as a result of that. We'll see how that all goes.You know it isn't just "that" simple. It's a lot more complicated than that in every industry.Hell - I'm a software engineer. I work in an industry supposedly where apparently there are more jobs overall than workers in certain sectors. But we don't seem to be ruling or controlling these companies - and many of those jobs go unfilled because they are awful for a wide variety of reasons. We also, typically, don't have unions - mainly for ideological reasons. How do you explain that upon the simple axis you've laid out?It's not a simple 'lump of labour'; especially in a creative industry, and a small one at that. Then the simple fact that you can dream about an RPG worker, but if jobs don't actually provide the conditions to work well, they will go unfulfilled, and people will leave the industry or move elsewhere, shows that this situation won't be resolved by the company just fobbing everyone off.To be honest... how much do you know of the paritculars of this situation? Why the union has arised? How well supported it is by many in the Pathfinder community? How the economics of Paizo work out? Why are you so certain that anything your saying actually makes sense in this conversation, in such a niche industry?One last thing: I think at this stage with all the issues Paizo is facing with transphobia that have result out of this whole thing, that any trans RPG writers in the community would probably want to, well, union up (along with any cis and fellow LGBTQIA allies) to gurantee they have someone with their back, as it has become clear from reading between the lines on the Paizo forms that it has been the regular rank and file workers that have been dealing with transphobia on the forums and other issues, potentially in the workplace, not management. What alternative structure do workers have to deal with those issues? And do you not think that if Paizo bust their union, and continue their same path, that a lot of LGBTQIA workers (who, bluntly, tend to be a significant part of many creative companies) are going to avoid them  (and maybe go work for Wizards, who certainly have major problems with this as well, but are big enough that those problems might be avoidable, or dealt in a way that doesn't distrupt the comapny in the same ways as having problematic owners in a small company does)?I mean, I'm not gonna lie; we all have our biases, obviously, but I'm not sure we can bridge anything between us if you are involved in union busting; it seems like you're approaching from a direction I just can't understand. Like, hell of a thing to just throw out there.</blockquote>

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