I think organised labour sounds too 19th century to most people in the business. None of my colleagues that I surveyed in my previous (big) company was supportive of those. Trade unions of old used to fight for better working conditions and what are they to fight for in the likes of Google? Better phones for Christmas? That may be an argument until for one reason or another you run foul of your boss or some awkward company policy and then you're completely alone. I guess though today's culture of individualism and the myth of meritocracy in tech companies work very well against any idea of organised labour.
> Trade unions of old used to fight for better working conditions and what are they to fight for in the likes of Google? Better phones for Christmas?
Something for software engineers at that level would, rather than being a trade union, probably resemble the professional associations doctors, lawyers or "real" engineers have. Like the ACM or IEEE except... you know.
Now is it? I actually live in Ireland and most folks around me think exactly the same. The local trade union [0] is on its deathbed and I haven't heard of a single IT multinational with any form of employee representation.
