Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Kickstarter’s staff is unionizing

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 724 posts

Re: Kickstarter’s staff is unionizing

#131

Post by kadendogthing »

msghacq wrote: post #48

"America’s political climate is changing; among other things, the 2016 presidential election brought up the issue of wealth inequality in this country and made people consider more closely the structural forces that define class here." What on earth does the 2016 election have to do with wealth inequality (or unions for that matter)? Inequality has been on the rise for decades and Clinton was also a member of the 1%.…

>What on earth does the 2016 election have to do with wealth inequality

A guy who is objectively unqualified for every conceivable post had the opportunity to become elected as president of the U.S. merely because he was born wealthy.

You might have heard the following term before: plutocracy

Re: Kickstarter’s staff is unionizing

#132

Post by eqdw »

asark wrote: post #104
czbond wrote: post #47

Why are tech company staff wanting to unionize? For the most part, aren't tech staff reasonably to well paid - with good working conditions and moderate hour expectations (say 40-50)?

50's too much and 40 should include an hour of breaks. Noncompetes and very broad claims of inventions and copyright by employers need serious push-back until they're rare or illegal, and organized labor can do that. Also it'd be nice if some of the more powerful workers here could organize and help lobby for things like parental leave and minimum vacation for all workers, including those without so much clout.

Non-competes are illegal in California. If your contract contains one, the non-compete clause is null and void

Re: Kickstarter’s staff is unionizing

#133

Post by mikeryan »

baby_wipe wrote: post #14

So if they succeed, does that mean nobody can work for Kickstarter unless they are part of the union?

You can't be forced to join the union though you may be forced to pay union fees if that provision is in the collective bargaining agreement.

If you're in a right to work state neither fees or membership is required.

Re: Kickstarter’s staff is unionizing

#134

Post by mlillie »

duxup wrote: post #78
cableshaft wrote: post #4

If Kickstarter can do it, the game industry can do it! Come on, game industry, it's your time to unionize!

I'm highly skeptical of US style unions, but if any tech industry seems to need unions... it's the game industry.

How would you qualify US style vs non-US style unions? The prevalence of business unionism here?

Re: Kickstarter’s staff is unionizing

#135

Post by gtirloni »

Maybe the US has a different experience with unions but in Brazil, they are simply hated. They were made mandatory by law and very rarely (never?) step in to help employees.

It's only at big factories that they show up when more than X number of people are fired and do a big show out of that. Meanwhile, all the employees not working for big factories paid their union fees and saw nothing back. It's often a platform to launch their political careers.

Luckily, they are not mandatory anymore and now employees have to opt-in which was a great change. They have to work to earn respect and those fees back... but I'm not seeing much movement in that direction. So far they have been going the legal route, trying to cancel the changes to the law (and have lost).

In theory, the concept of unions is great but in practice, at least here, it was a terrible thing, from my IT bubble perspective.

Re: Kickstarter’s staff is unionizing

#136

Post by dbancajas »

segmondy wrote: post #111
czbond wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Two questions: Why are tech company staff wanting to unionize? For the most part, aren't tech staff reasonably to well paid - with good working conditions and moderate hour expectations (say 40-50)? Management has the right at a workplace to make any decisions, whether someone in non-management sees fit. Can't people who are frustrated with the company just go pursue a position elsewhere?

Not a popular opinion, but these are usually non CS types that have flooded the fields later due to money. Not very skilled, but very entitled. The sense of entitlement is very ridiculous these days. I see folks outside the Bay asking why shouldn't they get paid the same as Bay area folks, when they want to remote from somewhere that has 1/3rd the cost of living. Or people outside the country with 1/10th the cost of…

You have any first hand experience with the "basic CRUD wanting FANG level salary" types?

Re: Kickstarter’s staff is unionizing

#137

Post by asark »

chrisseaton wrote: post #100
asark wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems no worse than an employer doing the same, directly or via interest groups. Though they do tend to be more equal-opportunity in their support. In both cases the answer to "how do I stop supporting this political action I don't like?" is "Quit. Hope your skills are marketable."

> Quit. Hope your skills are marketable. What do I do when there is an industry-wide closed-shop union, as some people seem to want?

What do you do when all the best-paying companies in your industry lobby for things you don't like, leaving you few, poor, options for employment? If we must solve this problem for unions, it's surely at least as important to solve it for companies.

As for closed shop:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_shop#United_States

It's illegal, so's the similar "union shop", and you can opt out such that you still pay dues but they may only go toward collective bargaining activities and services to members, which appears to solve this "I'm being forced to support the only viable political party that wants to make anything whatsoever better" problem. Maybe leaving others, sure, but this issue's... not an issue. Unlike employers. I can't sign a piece of paper banning them from using profit derived from my labor for political activity.

Re: Kickstarter’s staff is unionizing

#139

Post by tomohawk »

asark wrote: post #93
mises wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Completely correct. Three of the top 10 election cycle 2018 contributors were unions. * Carpenters & Joiners Union gave $38,366,262 with $37,822,215 to democrats and $529,000 to republicans. * Service Employees International Union gave $28,224,658 with $28,219,509 to democrats and $132 to republicans. * Laborers Union gave $27,538,080 with $26,810,870 to democrats and $708,100 to republicans. Source: https://www.open…

Seems no worse than an employer doing the same, directly or via interest groups. Though they do tend to be more equal-opportunity in their support. In both cases the answer to "how do I stop supporting this political action I don't like?" is "Quit. Hope your skills are marketable."

Much worse. They collect dues, which ostensibly are to support what's going on where you work, and then just funnel it to politicians. So, it's your money going to political campaigns. If a company owner or corp funds a campaign, at least they're doing it with their own money.

Re: Kickstarter’s staff is unionizing

#140

Post by magissima »

chrisseaton wrote: post #100
asark wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems no worse than an employer doing the same, directly or via interest groups. Though they do tend to be more equal-opportunity in their support. In both cases the answer to "how do I stop supporting this political action I don't like?" is "Quit. Hope your skills are marketable."

> Quit. Hope your skills are marketable. What do I do when there is an industry-wide closed-shop union, as some people seem to want?

In European countries where this is the model there are often several competing unions with different political affiliations.
Post reply on HN