If you want protections for employees, sure you can (erroneously, in my opinion) look to unions. If you want protections for yourself, look to negotiate.
I suspect you have lived a very privileged life if you really believe these options are actually open to most employees in the U.S. Switch industries? Start your own company? Those are both extreme life-altering multi-year responses to losing PTO payout, and only work for people who have major safety nets and support in their lives. Companies pull this bullshit because they know they can get away with it. Guess what: they're right. I'm glad you are in such a state of privilege that you can spend 4 years going back to college and switching industries without going into massive debt and without suffering from the loss of income during that time, but you are extremely lucky to be in that position. Do not assume others are lazy and/or stupid and/or bad negotiators because they can't. Negotiating is not about shaking hands harder, it's about having leverage, and 98% of U.S. workers have none.
> negotiate better working conditions next time you get hired
These were not the working conditions at the time I was hired. None of this was in any contract I signed. Companies change this stuff after-the-fact all the time. What are you going to do, hire an employment lawyer? You'd poison your own drinking well, potentially forever, with the possible upside of being the only employee in your company that actually get PTO paid out? Come on. Nobody is doing this. Companies pull this bullshit because they can.
It’s strange that the people who tell you how difficult something is are almost always people who haven’t done it and the people who tell you how privileged you are almost always are even more so themselves. Tell me, when’s the last time you swung a hammer or pulled unemployment benefits?
And you're actually suggesting this as a solution to others? That they lose years of income and take on $300k in non-dischargeable debt because their employer acted like a dick, in the vain hope that with this new degree, their new employers won't? Sorry, but "just spend years and take on $300k in student loan debt like I did" is just not compelling advice.
> the actual strength of some people’s personal convictions matches the strength of the convictions you pretend to have online
You're significantly upping the "personal attack" game here. You could just as easily say that I am the one with strong convictions, continuing to work at a company that treats its employees like shit because I actually do believe in the work that I'm doing there.
> It’s strange that the people who tell you how difficult something is are almost always people who haven’t done it
It's strange to you that the people who claim something is difficult are the ones who haven't been able to do it?
> Tell me, when’s the last time you swung a hammer or pulled unemployment benefits?
Not interested in a hard-knocks pissing contest. I assumed you wouldn't spend $300k in a game of Musical Diplomas in the hope of avoiding being treated the way most people in the U.S. are treated by most companies unless you had a significant safety net. I'm not sure what you're trying to prove by saying: no, you added it onto an already difficult life. My point is that this is not good advice.
If my employer wants to change the terms of my employment, I absolutely would make sure I actually agreed to the changes before doing anything else. If I didn't I'd refuse to sign anything, and leave the employer with the choice to either A) fire me (under the terms of the old contract) B) leave me with the old agreement C) fire me under the new terms and get sued or D) come back with a better offer.
This is tech. There's no shortage of jobs for people with any experience whatsoever. That's leverage in not getting railed in your employment terms.
