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Comment by floatrock | Hacker News Reader

> People who get stuff done can easily find jobs in industry

> It also gets rid of the young probationary employees who are still idealistic

So you're saying there's suddenly a bunch of space engineers on the market looking to accept whatever terms some space contractor offers them? I wonder which space contractors already have a list with their names and personnel information...

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I doubt this was a ploy to poach those people. SpaceX surely could have hired them anyway. And who's to say they won't go work for some other company. However if this hurts NASA, it gives SpaceX an advantage.

first thought as well. Scary time. Unionize.

If you think unions would have protected skilled, new employees on probationary periods from being laid off at the expense of unproductive, highly-senior employees, boy do I have news for you.

They're actively gutting the NLRB too, I doubt there will be any meaningful action out of that agency against antiunion activities no matter how blatant until at least Jan 20, 2029.

It is even worse than that. Musk is currently suing to argue that the NLRB is more-or-less entirely unconstitutional. There's a meaningful chance that labor organizing protections simply permanently end within the next couple years.

And I imagine it's going to get a less than resounding defense given one of the P2025 goals is abolishing it.

It's no accident that the NLRB was one of the first agencies to get gutted.

Lots of agencies that were looking into one of Musk's many companies were the first targets of DOGE.

And the CFPB would be one of the ones looking into X as a payment platform which X has just partnered with Visa on [0]

Timing is coincidental, of course.

NLRB going away will be a short term pain, but long term its better for the health of unions to not have to follow restrictive legal guidelines.

The unshackling will be one sided. I'm sure unions will still be forced by courts to follow all the old rules it's the companies that will get to flout union votes and retaliate freely without the NLRB.

Not the panacea you think it might be.

A strike by NASA employees would hurt NASA employees far more than it would anyone else. I'm sure Elon and the prez would love a walkout by said employees.

Congress, not unions, should be the guardian of civil servant rights. But of course, public service unions are the largest donors to Congress, which then drives the narrative of a corrupt and bloated civil service.

Public service unions are the largest donors to Congress? ... how?!

I mean, I don't have stats in front of me but how could possibly public service unions compete with the largest companies in the world?

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