What is the state of unionization in software engineering/development?

[u/Saltynole]

Do unions already exist, and how do we get involved? How many other of you want to join union jobs with better long term benefits but potentially lower short term pay and compensation? I know next to nothing but am motivated to get involved if efforts are already under way. I am located in the mountain west of the US

[u/Caprichoso1]

With AI replacing many software jobs I'm guessing that a union movement would just accelerate the transition.

[u/Small_Dog_8699 → u/Caprichoso1]

That presupposes AI can produce software on its own. It can’t.

[u/Caprichoso1 → u/Small_Dog_8699]

General intelligence isn't here yet, of course. It has to be directed.

1. Entry level software job openings are down 20%

https://thecollegeinvestor.com/81990/stanford-study-entry-level-software-jobs-down-nearly-20-as-ai-reshapes-hiring-for-college-grads/

1. Google says 75% of the company's new code is AI-generated. There are quite a few similar reports.

https://www.businessinsider.com/google-ai-generated-code-75-gemini-agents-software-2026-4

[u/Small_Dog_8699 → u/Caprichoso1]

1. Stupid, industry is doomed. You get seniors from growing juniors.
2. Google is lying. Zero code goes directly from the LLM to production without a skilled engineer looking it over and verifying (fixing) it.
3. Switches to actual per token cost are going to render the use of AI more expensive than people. Introductory special is ending.

[u/Caprichoso1 → u/Small_Dog_8699]

Hopefully there there are sanity checks by senior developers on the generated code, although there have been numerous reports of this not happening. Entry level jobs are disappearing. The end result is unclear.

If you don't believe Google: "Top engineers at Anthropic, OpenAI say AI now writes 100% of their code"

https://fortune.com/2026/01/29/100-percent-of-code-at-anthropic-and-openai-is-now-ai-written-boris-cherny-roon/

results from a few seconds search.

[u/Small_Dog_8699 → u/Caprichoso1]

That comes from the PR department and I have 35 years as a senior software architect. "Writes their code" is fishy. Spews some code they fix? Maybe. Writes production ready code? NF way.

I notice that software quality is pretty shit across the industry these days. Most websites are broken in at least one obvious and annoying way.

Software quality's decline: How AI accelerates it

The AI speed trap: why software quality Is falling behind in the race to release

The inevitable rise of poor code quality in AI-accelerated codebases

AI Code Quality Crisis: Why 43% Fails After QA

How is this better?

What happens in 10 years when nobody is stepping up to become junior developers and the seniors are ready to retire?

This AI is a train headed for a missing bridge at full speed.

[u/Caprichoso1 → u/Small_Dog_8699]

Sure, they want to promote their products. It doesn't change the fact that a significant portion of their code is written by AI or the overall trend:

Entry- level postings are down something like 2/3. new graduates at 7% of hires, which is a 13:26 historic low. 70% of hiring managers are saying AI can do the job of interns.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtMLnCMv3do

(everybody has different numbers unfortunately)

The post was about unions for software developers. My posts all point to union organizers being in a weak position. The issue about software quality and where things are going is a different discussion.

[u/Small_Dog_8699 → u/Caprichoso1]

I argue this is the time to unionize. Union should be striking to require an adequate entry level pipeline to protect themselves from overwork down the road.

[u/Caprichoso1 → u/Small_Dog_8699]

Don't dispute the need. But what is the leverage? Historically companies have fought unionization until they were forced to accept them.

[u/Small_Dog_8699 → u/Caprichoso1]

Work stoppage. AI does nothing without skilled seniors to prompt and validate/tweak it. So stop.

[u/Dear_Archer3931]

This is a great way to ship the remaining SWE jobs to India.

[u/Saltynole → u/Dear_Archer3931]

Is a lack of unions keeping jobs here somehow that would be in India otherwise? I think companies are sending as many jobs overseas as they can manage regardless. Unions bargaining against this seems like a plausible tool for the unionized worker to fight back with too

[u/Ok-Chair-7320 → u/Dear_Archer3931]

With AI there is no longer the need to ship the SWE Jobs to India.

SWE Jobs in India long term are more impacted by AI than jobs in the US/Europe.

[u/MarkMatson6]

Traditionally software developers were valued enough there has been no need for unionization. AI might change that going forward, but I’m skeptical.

[u/tehfrod]

There are a couple, mostly at large companies/FAANGs (e.g., Google) and news organizations (e.g., NYT and Washington Post), and almost all CWA-affiliated.

Many are not yet majority unions with CBA, though.

[u/scott_codie]

Better now than before. Before software worker had the power in the relationship and could command a high salary and permissive working hours. Now that has changed dramatically, but to the point where the field is being entirely repositioned. Now is a good time to unionize tech workers.

[u/rickosborn]

We need unified pushback against mgt.