I'm a developer, and I have way more power than the companies I work for.
I can switch companies and basically get same or higher pay. For the company that I leave, they have to invest in hiring and retrain some other developer, that won't be as productive as me in the first few months.
So basically, me switching jobs costs me nothing. For the company that loses me, and the company that gains me, they both have an associated cost.
Why do I have this power? Well, at least in Europe there is a huge shortage on software developers, so that puts us in a very strong position.
Don't wrongly assume that an employer is always in the stronger position.
This is not my koolaid flavor. It appears you’re pretty sold on those paths as most ideal from your post history, but it is disingenuous to ask people to do what you’re asking simply to have better working arrangements or conditions and better pay.
I live in Belgium, and employees are very well protected here, and unions very strong. So I definitely get the difference between us and US :).
If you're in US and want to move closer to a system as we have in EU, I get that.
It just seems to me that a lot of times, people get stuck in this boss vs servant mentality. That companies are these groups of people that control everything. I find it a very wrong view of the world. In the western world it's so easy to become your own boss, and even employ people if you wish. All of a sudden you are part of this group that "controls everything".
Plenty of people are not 'school smart' like software developers, but still start some contracting business and make nice money.
I can switch companies and basically get same or higher pay. For the company that I leave, they have to invest in hiring and retrain some other developer, that won't be as productive as me in the first few months.
So basically, me switching jobs costs me nothing. For the company that loses me, and the company that gains me, they both have an associated cost.
Why do I have this power? Well, at least in Europe there is a huge shortage on software developers, so that puts us in a very strong position.
Don't wrongly assume that an employer is always in the stronger position.