4 ms·

Regardless of whether anyone is pro or anti union, it's been obvious for a while now that Kickstarter isn't arguing in good faith about this. They are going to

Regardless of whether anyone is pro or anti union, it's been obvious for a while now that Kickstarter isn't arguing in good faith about this. They are going to war with their own employees. There's just no justification for that, even if you think unions are bad. Kickstarter keeps digging themselves deeper and deeper into this hole, claiming that they're doing it because unions will alter the relationship they have with employees. Even if that's true -- you know what really alters the relationship you have with employees? Firing them whenever they try to exercise their rights. It's pretty hard to believe an employer has your back when they are actively threatening you and telling you they won't acknowledge any of the decisions you make. Kickstarter's owners and managers have proven that they're able to build a hostile work environment just fine on their own, without anybody else's help. I don't see any way for them to save face at this point beyond just sitting down and saying, "we were wrong, we treated you like children, and you have the right to decide how you want to negotiate with us."

unreal37 7y ago
Doesn't seem that you have the facts, but you're convinced that one side is right.
- danShumway 7y ago
  I'm open to hearing additional facts, but it's difficult for me to imagine what new information could come out that would change this situation. Regardless of whether or not the employees were actually fired for purely performance reasons, multiple workers have come forward and said that they believe the firings were related to union organization. It doesn't really matter what the intentions were, that's going to end up creating a hostile environment between workers and managers. Let's assume for a sec that Kickstarter is completely acting in good faith -- well, there's being right and there's being smart, and the smart choice would have been to recognize that they're in a very volatile situation, and to temporarily hold off on making moves that could be misinterpreted as adversarial by their workforce. Maybe that doesn't sound fair, but it's Kickstarter's job to maintain a functional work environment, not to be fair, and all evidence I've seen suggests that the current work environment is suffering. In regards to other facts -- that Kickstarter won't voluntarily recognize employees decisions until required to through a legal vote, or that Kickstarter is openly campaigning against the union efforts -- again, I'm open to hearing another side to this, but this is first-hand information coming from press releases from Kickstarter itself. Again, you don't have to be pro or anti union to think it's crappy for a company to insert itself into its employees' conversations about bargaining decisions, and then to claim that it won't recognize those decisions because doing so would somehow corrupt the neutrality of the process. I'm not sure what facts could come up in the future that would make that turn into a good faith argument?

unreal37 7y ago

Doesn't seem that you have the facts, but you're convinced that one side is right.

danShumway 7y ago
I'm open to hearing additional facts, but it's difficult for me to imagine what new information could come out that would change this situation. Regardless of whether or not the employees were actually fired for purely performance reasons, multiple workers have come forward and said that they believe the firings were related to union organization. It doesn't really matter what the intentions were, that's going to end up creating a hostile environment between workers and managers. Let's assume for a sec that Kickstarter is completely acting in good faith -- well, there's being right and there's being smart, and the smart choice would have been to recognize that they're in a very volatile situation, and to temporarily hold off on making moves that could be misinterpreted as adversarial by their workforce. Maybe that doesn't sound fair, but it's Kickstarter's job to maintain a functional work environment, not to be fair, and all evidence I've seen suggests that the current work environment is suffering. In regards to other facts -- that Kickstarter won't voluntarily recognize employees decisions until required to through a legal vote, or that Kickstarter is openly campaigning against the union efforts -- again, I'm open to hearing another side to this, but this is first-hand information coming from press releases from Kickstarter itself. Again, you don't have to be pro or anti union to think it's crappy for a company to insert itself into its employees' conversations about bargaining decisions, and then to claim that it won't recognize those decisions because doing so would somehow corrupt the neutrality of the process. I'm not sure what facts could come up in the future that would make that turn into a good faith argument?