Comments on: What Kickstarter Employees’ Union Win Means for Tech

By: BethRA

BethRA — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 17:15:49 +0000

In reply to jdgalt. So in other words, "the market" (in the form of potential customers, and the labor needed to create the product) spoke and demanded changes in business practices at Kickstarter? I would think your namesake would approve!

By: grannybunny

grannybunny — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 12:28:10 +0000

In reply to Camellia.

But, in the meantime — it takes a while to unionize — I’m guessing that no one returned to work after taking just a single day of sick leave, but always took at least two! 🙂

By: grannybunny

grannybunny — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 12:25:52 +0000

In reply to Semi-Evil Tech Mgr.

Perhaps I do have an axe to grind; I detest attempts at revisionist history. Facts are facts, and opinions are opinions, and the two are — all too frequently — conflated.

By: jdgalt

jdgalt — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 04:28:49 +0000

However you may regard unions in general, it’s clear that this particular case is not about working conditions at all. It’s about excluding all political sides except SJWs from Kickstarter’s work force just as they’ve already excluded them from its customer base (prompting the creation of Freestartr among other competitors).

The inmates have taken over the asylum. It will not end well for them.

By: Nota Telling

Nota Telling — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 23:47:51 +0000

In reply to grannybunny. Beautifully stated, grannybunny!

By: Semi-Evil Tech Mgr

Semi-Evil Tech Mgr — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 22:14:59 +0000

In reply to grannybunny.

Umm… I totally didn’t read it that way. For pete’s sake the student is from BERKELEY! Hardly a haven for mean ole’ capitalism and worker oppression.

But then again, you appear to have an axe to grind so I guess it’s to be expected.

By: Camellia

Camellia — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 21:15:15 +0000

Several decades ago, the large insurance company for which I worked decided to change their ‘sick day’ policy for non-exempt workers. The first day you called out sick would be no-pay. If you had to call out one or more days after the first day, THEN you could use your sick days and get paid for them.

This would happen each time you called out sick.

They were shocked, shocked I tell you, when the staff tried to unionize.

By: BethRA

BethRA — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 20:17:21 +0000

In reply to grannybunny. Can I co-sign?

By: jccbeach

jccbeach — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 17:43:44 +0000

In reply to grannybunny. AGREED!

By: grannybunny

grannybunny — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 17:06:08 +0000

Well, Nataliya Nedzhvetskaya — or the EHRL, it’s not exactly clear whom — may regard unions as, historically, “just looking out for their own paycheck,” as opposed to “more moral issues,” but that view distorts the entire history of the trade union movement. Trade unions, originally, dealt with a lot of life-of-death situations — including, but not limited to, workplace safety, child labor, etc. — and lives were actually lost in the struggle. So to mischaracterize unions’ history as — somehow — not dealing with moral issues appears to, unnecessarily, denigrate and trivialize their role. Now that we have a lot of workplace protections — many of which resulted from union initiatives — it’s easy to take unions for granted and to downplay they contributions. However, we in America are also in the process of backsliding with regard to various areas of social progress, so the need for unions may, again, become more apparent.