Kickstarter employees vote to unionize • Hacker News Board

Re: Kickstarter employees vote to unionize

#91

Post by danso » Tue, Feb 18, 2020, 5:16 PM UTC

crankylinuxuser wrote: post #81

nimbius wrote: post #21

Speaking as an IAM union member, congratulations! now comes the hard part. You're probably (still) going to hear a lot of FUD from your employer but dont worry, things really do only get better from here. Once you get a union youll get more quarterly insight into your companies profits, losses, and a MUCH better picture of what the company intends to do in the next six to twelve months. Youll also get a direct say in…

I just formed a company back in December. Super easy to set up an LLC, C or S Corp. But I wanted it to be a worker co-op like Mondragon. And there's no real guidance or help. Democracy is cool, until we look at companies. Then it's dictatorships as the norm. And trying to do it right from the ground up is high impossible. As a obligatory comment: are there any other in the HN-sphere that focuses on worker cooperative…

Sure, it's hard/unfeasible for a startup to unionize in its formative years. But Kickstarter was founded in 2009 and is a relatively mature company in the tech sector.

Re: Kickstarter employees vote to unionize

#92

Post by nradov » Tue, Feb 18, 2020, 5:17 PM UTC

_sbrk wrote: post #68

I worked in a union shop once, as a summer intern. Every day, we were told to be in the break room at 7:59am to begin promptly at the 8am bell. By 4:30 or 4:45pm, everyone was back in there, waiting for the clock to hit 5pm. One day, I needed to connect two PCs together, which was approved by boss as they would be isolated from the network. So, being the diligent type, I went off and found some network cards and a ca…

A friend of mine worked as a developer at defense contractor with mostly union employees. One time they moved him to a different cubicle. Due to union work rules he literally had to wait two days for a union electrician to come by and plug his desktop computer into the wall socket. Just ridiculous.

Re: Kickstarter employees vote to unionize

#93

Post by Someone1234 » Tue, Feb 18, 2020, 5:17 PM UTC

jamiequint wrote: post #60

Someone1234 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same things as any other union? Improved working conditions (e.g. hours), protecting employees from abuses, and maintaining fair pay & benefits. Unions as only a working class institution is mostly a US historic artifact. Other countries have unions in highly specialized and in-demand industries too.

How are extremely in-demand tech workers not "maintaining fair pay & benefits"? Surely if they were not being paid "fairly" (not sure what that means anyways, if not market price) they could just leave, as there are plenty of tech jobs in NYC where Kickstarter is based.

You're misquoting. I was explaining a union's purpose, I didn't claim tech workers were underpaid. Plus "fairness" could also refer to inter-employee compensation at the same company (e.g. men and women).

Additionally if the union expands beyond highly compensated tech' workers (e.g. Customer Service, QA, janitorial, etc) it could help them negotiate better pay and benefits.

Re: Kickstarter employees vote to unionize

#94

Post by nosefrog » Tue, Feb 18, 2020, 5:18 PM UTC

notkaiho wrote: post #87

_sbrk wrote: post #68

I worked in a union shop once, as a summer intern. Every day, we were told to be in the break room at 7:59am to begin promptly at the 8am bell. By 4:30 or 4:45pm, everyone was back in there, waiting for the clock to hit 5pm. One day, I needed to connect two PCs together, which was approved by boss as they would be isolated from the network. So, being the diligent type, I went off and found some network cards and a ca…

You worked in a union shop once. Not necessarily a representative unionised workplace, just the one you were in. Yet 'in your experience' they are not optimal.

Why don’t you contribute to the conversation by talking about your own experience with unions?

Re: Kickstarter employees vote to unionize

#95

Post by SpicyLemonZest » Tue, Feb 18, 2020, 5:18 PM UTC

claudeganon wrote: post #90

_sbrk wrote: post #68

I worked in a union shop once, as a summer intern. Every day, we were told to be in the break room at 7:59am to begin promptly at the 8am bell. By 4:30 or 4:45pm, everyone was back in there, waiting for the clock to hit 5pm. One day, I needed to connect two PCs together, which was approved by boss as they would be isolated from the network. So, being the diligent type, I went off and found some network cards and a ca…

That's a cool anecdote. Meanwhile, unions across Europe won massive increases in standards of living for all workers, from better leave, healthcare, safety protections, to even blocking the wealthy from having control over their democracies through militant, labor-backed political parties.

I'm not sure that last part is really a recommendation. What if I don't agree with the political positions of my union's leadership?

Re: Kickstarter employees vote to unionize

#96

Post by blackearl » Tue, Feb 18, 2020, 5:18 PM UTC

jamiequint wrote: post #60

Someone1234 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same things as any other union? Improved working conditions (e.g. hours), protecting employees from abuses, and maintaining fair pay & benefits. Unions as only a working class institution is mostly a US historic artifact. Other countries have unions in highly specialized and in-demand industries too.

How are extremely in-demand tech workers not "maintaining fair pay & benefits"? Surely if they were not being paid "fairly" (not sure what that means anyways, if not market price) they could just leave, as there are plenty of tech jobs in NYC where Kickstarter is based.

I bet a union would have been able to more quickly sniff out the Apple/Google wage fixing that was happening a few years back.

Re: Kickstarter employees vote to unionize

#97

Post by andrew_ » Tue, Feb 18, 2020, 5:18 PM UTC

whalesalad wrote: post #39

danharaj wrote: post #6

As a contractor, I'm happy for them. One day we will have one big union.

As a contractor, I am happy to have absolutely nothing to do with unions.

Agreed. I'm also happy to live in a right to work state, and that I'll never be beholden, without choice, to a union regardless of where I work.

Re: Kickstarter employees vote to unionize

#98

Post by dv_dt » Tue, Feb 18, 2020, 5:18 PM UTC

awb wrote: post #66

dv_dt wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Workers assume risk taking on an opportunity cost with their employers, and the very wealthy often mitigate their risk by pushing it onto the government.

But the point is this part: "for one man who does absolutely nothing that is useful to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars" is irrelevant. Who has done this besides criminals? It all depends on your definition of "useful", but anyone who's made that much money legally has probably put in a bunch of work (or put in work to educate themselves to be able to make good decisions), or assumed a lot of risk i…

We also should not lionize wealth. There are many people who inherit a lot of money, have a family that has a business network, that have really contributed nothing but are massively wealthy.

There are massively wealthy individuals who have collected value in one area, and use that wealth to negatively influence many other areas. We really should not give money that much of an advantage.

Re: Kickstarter employees vote to unionize

#99

Post by mason55 » Tue, Feb 18, 2020, 5:18 PM UTC

_sbrk wrote: post #68

I worked in a union shop once, as a summer intern. Every day, we were told to be in the break room at 7:59am to begin promptly at the 8am bell. By 4:30 or 4:45pm, everyone was back in there, waiting for the clock to hit 5pm. One day, I needed to connect two PCs together, which was approved by boss as they would be isolated from the network. So, being the diligent type, I went off and found some network cards and a ca…

> Unions, in my experience, exist to help keep mediocre, unmotivated employees employed. One has no incentive to excel, as promotions are based on years "served", much like prison.

There is nothing inherent in unions that make them operate like that.

Re: Kickstarter employees vote to unionize

#100

Post by jdkee » Tue, Feb 18, 2020, 5:19 PM UTC

_sbrk wrote: post #68

I worked in a union shop once, as a summer intern. Every day, we were told to be in the break room at 7:59am to begin promptly at the 8am bell. By 4:30 or 4:45pm, everyone was back in there, waiting for the clock to hit 5pm. One day, I needed to connect two PCs together, which was approved by boss as they would be isolated from the network. So, being the diligent type, I went off and found some network cards and a ca…

Millions of people across the U.S. benefit from collective bargaining, such as increased wages, health benefits and retirement security, yet one anecdotal off-topic post gets upvoted.