Communication Workers of America is probably the closest to what you're looking for. You're definitely better off working with an established union instead of trying to build one from scratch, they have a lot of valuable experience and resources that you'll need to pull off a unionization attempt. If you reach out directly to CWA, or any other union, they'll work with you to help organize your workplace.
If you are serious about unionizing: first, see if you can get a few of your coworkers on-board by talking to them outside of work. Do this in-person or on voice calls that aren't recorded, it's crucial to keep the company unaware as long as possible so they have less time and ability to oppose you.
Ah, I see how what I wrote before didn't clearly express what I was thinking, and didn't address the issue of private contractors intentionally pushing for bloated contracts.
If public money for public code is mandated at the federal level, then private contractors would be bidding for work that ends up in the public domain. I am assuming that wasteful & bloated contracts will be underbid by contracts that fork or add features to existing projects. Either way, if the end result is in the public domain, then the project is still reusable.
I definitely don't believe that such a mandate would be easy to implement, or separate from a wider policy platform. I see private capital influencing government decisions as the crux of the problem with passing such a mandate. However, private capital influencing government decisions is an issue that unites many activists, organizations, and social movements. If FLOSS can be integrated into organizations and social movements pushing for institutional reform, then that might be a viable pathway toward meaningful policy change.
I disagree, those consultants and lobbyists are working for proprietary vendors. If, instead, public grant money & public purchasing contracts were mandated to go towards free and open source technology, then the nation's technology infrastructure would eventually become free and open. Such a mandate would reduce the opportunity for corrupt contracts in the first place, because it would be substantially more expensive to start a project from scratch if there are already viable solutions in the public domain.
If anything, public money for public code can also dramatically reduce the waste caused by corrupt grants & contracts. If a project falls through, then at least the technology would be in the public domain for another organization to pick-up development. Currently, when a project falls through, it is usually a total loss because the technology remains intellectual property that can not be reused.
Just like with the Linux kernel, if a free and open source solution exists, it can be adapted to meet countless needs with far less effort and cost than starting from scratch with a proprietary solution.
Only FLOSS Provides Sovereignty, Compatibility, and Security.
I came across an [NPR Article](https://www.npr.org/2024/01/31/1228153857/wray-chinese-hackers-national-security) this morning discussing malware believed to have been installed by China on many small office / home routers across the United States.... #floss
Unfortunately, generics can vary wildly in efficacy & quality. As @Aradina pointed out sometimes the encapsulation is different (e.g. extended release coating vs. standard release), but also the form of the drug can differ (e.g. capsule, tablet, softgel, chewable, etc), chemical by-products from different manufacturing techniques may be present in completely different amounts, and different manufacturing processes can yield different [chiral enantiomer] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chirality_(chemistry)#Manifestations_of_chirality) ratios in the end product.
The "same" drug from different manufacturers may vary in effectiveness and can cause different side-effects.
Thank you! Lemmy is a tremendous contribution to the wider Fediverse, and no amount of "thank yous" is ever enough for people like you writing free software and giving freely to the public domain.
I have been on Lemmy, and around the Fediverse on various accounts since ~2021, and a suggestion I have seen promoted countless times is for communities which federate across instances. e.g. posts to [email protected] will show on [email protected] as long as lemmy.ml and lemmy.world federate with one another. If I remember correctly, each of you have previously opposed this idea for multiple reasons. If you do still oppose such a feature, will you please reiterate why you think this is the wrong direction for Lemmy? Also, have you considered adding a multi-community feature similar to Reddit's multi-reddit feature which allows end-users to combine multiple federated communities into a single page just for them?
It is misleading to attribute too much credit to a single individual, even a president. There was a significant clash of social/political forces when Obama was in office. Off the top of my head I can think of the following major forces: War in Iraq & Afghanistan, Great Recession & Occupy, DREAMers, ACA, Gay marriage, Environmentalism / Inconvenient Truth, Global outsourcing & job loss, Tea Party & the rise of militant christian nationalism. That's the landscape in which progressive policy ambitions were compromised to death to avoid total gridlock.
It's also worth giving credit where it is due: those auto safety and emissions regulations achieved their goal... for regular cars. Unfortunately, Republicans insisted on exceptions for body-on-frame vehicles (trucks, vans, SUVs), and in the years since those types of vehicles have steadily become the most common in the US because they are the most profitable for the auto industry.
