Judge Rejects $324.5 Million Settlement For Tech Workers, Argues For More

[DEAD7]

A U.S. district judge on Friday ruled that the $324.5 million settlement negotiated by Apple, Google, Intel, and Adobe with the tech workers who brought an antitrust lawsuit against them was too low. The judge cited the settlement amount of a similar lawsuit brought against Disney and Intuit last year which resulted in plaintiffs obtaining proportionally more for lost wages. And yet, according to the judge, the current plaintiffs have "much more leverage". She cited evidence clearly showing Apple's Steve Jobs strong-arming the other companies in the suit into agreeing to a no-employee-poaching agreement, and in one instance, of Google failing to rope in Facebook into a similar agreement which resulted in a 10% increase of all Google employee salaries. In other words, clear evidence that the no-poaching agreement effectively suppressed the salaries of these companies' tech workers. Another hearing is scheduled for September 10.

 

[tmonster]

great news

 

[wheywhey]

In other words, clear evidence that the no-poaching agreement effectively suppressed the salaries of these companies' tech workers. Another hearing is scheduled for September 10.

I've known for years that the tech shortage was bogus this is just official validation. In the 90s too many workers were calling their own shots and the industry had to put a close to that by bringing in foreign workers who would work for less and couldn't job hop. This trend of getting minorities and women into tech is also to suppress wages and job mobility. Something else to think about is tech jobs are frequently located in areas with high costs of living.

 

[LieutenantDan]

I've known for years that the tech shortage was bogus this is just official validation. In the 90s too many workers were calling their own shots and the industry had to put a close to that by bringing in foreign workers who would work for less and couldn't job hop. This trend of getting minorities and women into tech is also to suppress wages and job mobility. Something else to think about is tech jobs are frequently located in areas with high costs of living.

It's strange how they're pushing coding on people all crazy in the past 3 years

 

[kevm3]

It's pretty obvious there never was a shortage of skilled laborers who would work in tech. It's more like they want to pay an Indian guy $12 instead of an american $28+... and yeah, that's another reason why they want 'everyone coding', so they can lower those wages even more. But then again, coding is something you have to spend a ton of time doing and you have to like it, so it's not something you can push and everyone will just rush into.

 

[LieutenantDan]

It's pretty obvious there never was a shortage of skilled laborers who would work in tech. It's more like they want to pay an Indian guy $12 instead of an american $28+... and yeah, that's another reason why they want 'everyone coding', so they can lower those wages even more. But then again, coding is something you have to spend a ton of time doing and you have to like it, so it's not something you can push and everyone will just rush into.

I started to hate the word "coding", it's so trendy now.

 

[kevm3]

I started to hate the word "coding", it's so trendy now.

I much prefer the word 'programming'. Coding sounds like some trendy hipster slang.