Of course programmers should join a union. Any employee who doesn't is a fool. Why? Because employers *will* fuck their employees over, often using illegal methods (usually out of ignorance, rarely deliberately). When you're a member of a union, you can call on their free land-sharks, who are wise in the ways of employment law. In my experience, the mere threat of that - just calling my union rep in to have a chat with my manager when he starts on some bogus disciplinary bullshit - is enough to make the employer see sense.

Lots of people have the crazy notion that being a member of a union makes you surrender your rights to, for example, negotiate your own pay deal. And that being a member of a union means you have to obey union officials. That's all nonsense. I've been a union member for fifteen years, and in that time they've never interfered in my salary negotiations because I've never asked them to, nor have they ever told me what to do. They've advised me, sure, and sometimes I've taken their advice, but they've never told me. And if they did tell me, I'd tell 'em where to shove it.

And being a member of a union doesn't have to be expensive either. I think that in total, in all my fifteen years of membership, I've maybe paid one month of my current salary in membership fees.

Yeah yeah, I know, it differs from place to place and some places apparently have crappy unions. Fine. So start your own. You and a hundred mates, each paying 20 quid a month (or whatever the equivalent is in shiny local beads) should be enough to get at least legal advice for any of your members who need it.

For those in the UK, I recommend joining Unite, which has a section specifically for computery people.