I am a software engineer who used to work in a "unionized" workplace. It was quite nice, and the union would negotiate increases in time off and fight against policy changes that were worse for us. The union leaders were elected every few years (very important IMO) and the union was only within the (rather large) company; there was no affiliation with a larger union.
Which country were you in at the time? Union laws vary substantially by country so I think this is relevant to understanding different unions and people's experiences with them.
Yeah, I have the choice of about 3 unions where I work, all of which are big unions because there can only be one per industry in Australia. All three have wasted way too much time and members' money on vanity projects that I don't want to join.
Don't know about "designed to" but corruption and abuse of power is absolutely a consequence of this, indeed. Almost feel that this was designed to decredibilise unions (which are essential to democracy in my view) because they ended up strongly reassembling mafias: pretending to protect the people while actually only looking out for your own interests...
It was Germany. I put the union in quotes because the direct translation is Works Council.
I think that some software engineers in Germany are covered by the larger unions like IG Metall and Verdi, but my understanding is mostly for those that work in companies that make physical goods like Mercedes, Siemens, etc.
Typically because the company is more benevolent to non-union workers in this case so to try to incentivize workers to not join or leave the union. If there was no union involved, then the company wouldn't be so benevolent to non-union workers.
Great, now let's see the NHTSA (in the US) implement some pedestrian safety rules in car requirements. We have known this for years and just watched the pedestrian fatalities surge upward.
As a European I was recently disappointed to see Biden doing a photo op in an F-150.
I get that it was an electric variant and aligns with the green message. But to see the political gravitas of the POTUS backing up a design that arguably should not be road legal is very disappointing.
F150 is the best selling vehicle in the USA, you have to learn to walk before you run. It's a foot in the door. I think a lot of people of very high green bent don't realize you can't force people in a democracy to do things they don't want. If you go too fast then they will rebel and you get someone like Trump elected who will set it back 20 years.
I appreciate your point and I agree the outrage of "do not take away my truck" would cause whiplash, even if it is unnecessarily large and and wasteful and unsafe.
But arguably the arms race of large trucks in the US, Canada, Australia, is largely a viral meme that advertisers have managed to instill with insane profit.
It is not a product of exercising freedom but a product of Marketing psyops capturing reptilian brain urges from consumers. Quite succesfully I might add.
It's true, removing the battery is mildly annoying. But I can probably count on one hand the number of times I have added or removed a microSD card from my phone. It's just not something I do regularly--Get a new phone, plug it in, and forget. Maybe remove it every few months to back it up to my computer.
I pop mine in and out all the time, it's been the quickest way to move large files on/off the phone ever since Android lost USB mass storage support. MTP & PTP are horrible.
You're missing the use-case for folks that use it for large data transfers for video files. Having to shut down the phone to do that is burdensome. It's why the new iPhones with USB-C that can record directly to flash drives are being praised.
When I watched Goldfinger as a kid I really did not understand the plot at all. It was only when I was a bit older and heard about some of these things did it actually make sense.
It's a big world. Haven't you seen videos of phones getting stolen out of peoples hands from thieves on scooters in places like Brazil? Or the millions of tourists in Spain and Italy whose cell phones would become major targets.
I think the point is that an unsuspecting buyer of, e.g. a screen replacement, could end up going to a shady repair shop that uses stolen parts, sees the message once, clicks "OK", and moves on. The reasoning being that this scenario would cause some demand for black market parts.
The suggestion from OP whereby the seller of a used phone logs in and "unpairs" the parts could avoid this, unless a robber forces you to do it under duress.
Apple could just unpair parts when the phone itself is reset/deactivated. And new genuine Apple parts could at least have a one-time automatic pairing when signing in with your Apple ID.
Stolen phone? The phone is still activated, part can't pair with new phone. Not perfect, but at least somewhat less anti-consumer.
But if that were the case, there would be plenty of people willing to sell you a refurbished screen for your 2 year old iphone for $100.
By restricting the reuse of parts, when you crack the screen of your old phone, you are faced with a $500 repair bill, and decide to just pay your phone company $50/month for a new contract that comes with a new phone.
Yes, it's actually made phone theft even worse as a victim. instead of running with the device muggers are demanding pin's and passcodes at gun/knife point
Got a source on this? Quick google search for "Chicago death iPhone mugging" did not turn up anything about robbers specifically asking for PIN codes, or killing someone for not providing it.
Dakota Earley age 23 was viciously attacked and shot 3 times and barely survived. all caught on video and you can hear the thieves demanding the passcode.
and before you dismiss it given the time of day or one off, armed robberies for cell phones are way up in chicago and they are occurring in broad daylight . the crime that keeps getting covered and that I know someone who this happened to is, 1 -2 people walking on the street, a car pulls up with 4 people . they all get out and have guns and force you to give up your phone and passcode. Armed Robberies are way up 44% 7978 cases and they are all for iPhones and passcodes . people are getting pistol whipped when they don't cooperate and increasingly even when they do.
You're probably right. I rebalance my account 4 times/year. I'm thinking it may be best to have one "secure PC" that I do my balancing on, and even remove the passwords from my password manager.
for paypal, i only ever use a login through the website on the rare occasions i have to use it. for other apps like cashapp/venmo, do they even have a non-app method of using them?
Semi-related, but it's hard to imagine applying for new jobs at companies that have, in the recent past, laid workers off. An Amazon recruiter reached out to me recently, and it's hard to imagine that I would leave my stable job for a company that months ago was laying off employees. Who would want to work at Twitter if half of your colleagues (or more) are suddenly gone!
I did that my senior year. I was focused on my extra-curricular studies of music and philosophy, so I only took 2 AP courses instead of the 4 or 5 the school wanted me to take so that I'd have more free time.
