
Kickstarter Has Fired Two Union Organizers in 8 Days - atlasunshrugged
https://slate.com/technology/2019/09/kickstarter-union-organizing.html?via=gdpr-consent
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jkestner
This is important. Kickstarter has presented itself to the public and
employees as an ethical company, a public benefit corporation. It would
probably be the best-known tech company to have a union, and we can't set that
kind of example, now.

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soganess
That tech sheen is really starting wear off and we are grappling with just how
beholden/vulnerable we are. As a society and as individual tech worker we are
living with these massive cooperations that pretend they have everyone's
interest in mind. If the article is accurate (which I have no reason to doubt)
then I truly appreciate these individuals doing the important work of pushing
this topic further into our collective understanding. I just wish things had
gone differently for them.

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fouc
That awkward phase when you try to build a culture of positive values and then
your employees start trying to hold you to that (or "take advantage" by
unionizing) and then now you have to walk that back, and tamp down on that
culture.

However plenty of other companies successfully did that, so Kickstarter surely
can too.

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koonsolo
In Belgium it's almost impossible to fire elected members of the union. On one
hand it makes sense, but on the other it brings all kinds of new problems.

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pimmen
Same thing in Sweden. The unions are super strong here, which is one of the
reasons there is no legal minimum wage in Sweden. It's not perceived as
necessary by the public, political parties or the unions. The unions have more
than enough power to negotiate and enforce good, liveable wages anyway.

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syspec
Are the working conditions at Kickstarter so bad that employees felt that they
needed to unionize to have their voices heard?

Can any employees chime in

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eridius
That shouldn't even be a question. You shouldn't need to have working
conditions be "so bad" before you consider a union.

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kirsebaer
Yeah, it's like a married woman in the 19th century would like to speak with a
lawyer about her rights, and her husband forbids it, and people comment "oh,
but is he really so bad? Why does she need a lawyer anyway?"

Employees are in a vulnerable position. It makes sense for them to join
together and jointly hire lawyers and professional negotiators.

A company that forbids you from joining a union is abusive.

I've been in a union and it was super helpful.

Your start-up team wouldn't sign an agreement with a VC without consulting an
attorney. Why should your employees sign an employment contract without
getting outside advice and help?

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croh
> Your start-up team wouldn't sign an agreement with a VC without consulting
> an attorney. Why should your employees sign an employment contract without
> getting outside advice and help?

This is really good point.

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jeegsy
So from a lawyer then?

