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It's nice to see a civil protest. Both sides seemed interested in compromise and moving the company forward.

theaustinseven 7y ago
Really? It looks more like Riot is doing the absolute minimum to make it look like they are actually interested. They won't get rid of forced arbitration for current or past employees, and new employees only get to opt out(I wonder how many hoops they'll have to jump through for that). Current employees can't even opt out at this point.
- Avshalom 7y ago
  They don't even get to actually opt out, just "for individual sexual harassment and sexual assault claims"; the qualifier "individual" is probably doing a lot of heavy lifting too.
- danbrooks 7y ago
  My sense is that Riot executive are supportive of making a change. Legal, on the other hand, might not want to restart arbitrations and rewrite contracts.
CydeWeys 7y ago
I don't think we've ever seen an uncivil protest in tech. It hasn't gotten bad enough to warrant it. Nothing like the literal battles of the original labor movement during the gilded age that had double digit death tolls: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_worker_deaths_in_United_States_labor_disputes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_worker_deaths_in_Unite...
razakel 7y ago
>It's nice to see a civil protest. Both sides seemed interested in compromise and moving the company forward. It's almost as if collective bargaining actually works. Why is tech one of the few sectors with no real unions?
- setr 7y ago
  I’m struggling to think of other white collar jobs that have unionized; at least in the US. Examples?
  - razakel 7y ago
    Teachers, medical professionals and pilots are a few that immediately springs to mind. IIRC teachers comprise the largest union in the US.
- Kalium 7y ago
  I know more than one person in tech who is deeply skeptical of the idea of unionization. I'll go with my concerns. Among other things, unions are sometimes known to do things like prize seniority and standardize entry requirements across an entire sector. Which is to say entrench credentialism and ageism. I don't want to see all my self-taught colleagues thrown out, or the ladder pulled up behind them. And in a sector that already has ageism problems, I don't see how writing it down will make it better. Sometimes I hear "It doesn't have to be that way!" from unionization supporters. I have no doubt that they are correct - no union has to turn out that way. This possibility gives me little assurance. Further, most of the time pitches come in the form of "Don't you care about privacy? Join the union and together we can!". Which often comes across as someone looking for tech money to fund their advocacy rather than genuinely trying to improve the working condititons of people in tech.

Really? It looks more like Riot is doing the absolute minimum to make it look like they are actually interested. They won't get rid of forced arbitration for current or past employees, and new employees only get to opt out(I wonder how many hoops they'll have to jump through for that). Current employees can't even opt out at this point.

Avshalom 7y ago
They don't even get to actually opt out, just "for individual sexual harassment and sexual assault claims"; the qualifier "individual" is probably doing a lot of heavy lifting too.
danbrooks 7y ago
My sense is that Riot executive are supportive of making a change. Legal, on the other hand, might not want to restart arbitrations and rewrite contracts.

CydeWeys 7y ago

I don't think we've ever seen an uncivil protest in tech. It hasn't gotten bad enough to warrant it. Nothing like the literal battles of the original labor movement during the gilded age that had double digit death tolls: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_worker_deaths_in_United_States_labor_disputes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_worker_deaths_in_Unite...

razakel 7y ago

>It's nice to see a civil protest. Both sides seemed interested in compromise and moving the company forward. It's almost as if collective bargaining actually works. Why is tech one of the few sectors with no real unions?

setr 7y ago
I’m struggling to think of other white collar jobs that have unionized; at least in the US. Examples?
- razakel 7y ago
  Teachers, medical professionals and pilots are a few that immediately springs to mind. IIRC teachers comprise the largest union in the US.
Kalium 7y ago
I know more than one person in tech who is deeply skeptical of the idea of unionization. I'll go with my concerns. Among other things, unions are sometimes known to do things like prize seniority and standardize entry requirements across an entire sector. Which is to say entrench credentialism and ageism. I don't want to see all my self-taught colleagues thrown out, or the ladder pulled up behind them. And in a sector that already has ageism problems, I don't see how writing it down will make it better. Sometimes I hear "It doesn't have to be that way!" from unionization supporters. I have no doubt that they are correct - no union has to turn out that way. This possibility gives me little assurance. Further, most of the time pitches come in the form of "Don't you care about privacy? Join the union and together we can!". Which often comes across as someone looking for tech money to fund their advocacy rather than genuinely trying to improve the working condititons of people in tech.