Make no mistake, the tsunami of #tech #layoffs is not about the recession. It’s about striking back at “uppity” labor, after they enjoyed a shift in the balance of power from #remotework and DEI #activism .
These companies are reporting record profits. Inflation is just cover. It’s because they can, because there’s social cover for it, because there’s money left on the table and having “some” money isn’t enough.
It’s nothing short of class warfare.
@Haste Sounds plausible, at least for big tech. There are a lot of smaller firms, though, where profits are down (or gone), any runway in the bank is drying up, and access to capital is vanishing. Those companies aren't being left with a lot of choice but layoffs.
That story is kind of buried by the big exciting numbers from the FAANGs.
@mjm It doesn't by default, but that income is associated with holding substantial assets (such as real estate) and an investment portfolio.
I'm just a little tired of watching the same people that do a happy dance every time a mine or power station or factory closes down complain that their industry is taking a turn at it. Reminds me of when the journalists who happily wrote articles telling factory workers to "learn to code" found themselves on the receiving end of the same suggestion.
We all know that large enterprise uses RIF waves to manage workforce size. Over-hire, don't fire and then do a big spill&fill every few years. With redundancy payments.
@PCOWandre I’m not entirely disagreeing with you - frankly we need more solidarity across industries, the interests of devs and assembly-line workers are much closer aligned than either is to capital.
Worth noting though that in the big US coastal cities $250k isn’t as awesomely huge as it sounds. You may be able to put some aside in savings but rent is gonna eat up a huge whack of it.
(And of course that’s why those tech workers pushed out the previous residents who make a lot less.)
@mjm And in the last two years a lot of those tech workers moved out of their expensive locations to work remotely in somewhere more reasonable.
$250 is on the low side for a lot of the Californian 'big tech'.
There will never be "solidarity" between big tech workers and other industries while said tech workers are making fat bank while hooting their trap off on Twitter all day.
There's just no alignment between those who can earn so much money with individual negotiated salary and those working a job paid far less. Who the fuck wants a collective bargaining agreement that leads to lower pay, loss of stock plans and progression limited by pay bands?
EVHaste
Matt McLeod
Andre