How Kickstarter's New Union Negotiated Terms For Pandemic-Related Layoffs (kickstarterunited.org) 55
"The COVID crisis has led to a 35% drop in live projects" says Kickstarter communications officer David Gallagher -- who points out that fees on those projects are the company's sole source of income. This led Kickstarter's CEO to announce "sweeping layoffs of up to 45 percent of employees," the union of Kickstarter employees tells Gizmodo. (Though Gallagher says the final numbers will first include some voluntary buyouts, followed by a re-assessment to "better understand the scale of any layoffs that may be required.")
But Kickstarter is also the first major tech company to unionize. So what happened next? An anonymous reader shares this report from the two-months-old Kickstarter United (KSRU) union: The bargaining unit was faced with the prospect of involuntary layoffs with two to three weeks of severance per year of employment in the midst of a global pandemic... After two weeks of bargaining, we negotiated a severance package that we are incredibly proud of, which has been unanimously ratified by KSRU.
The package prioritizes extended severance payments and health insurance coverage, and we were inspired to see dozens of our highest-paid colleagues volunteer to take layoffs in order to save jobs and increase payouts for lower-paid bargaining unit members. We also negotiated additional terms that are previously unheard-of in tech severance agreements, fulfilling another of our longstanding goals: moving our industry forward and demonstrating the necessity of organizing in tech.
The terms we won for our 86-member bargaining unit include:
- Four months of severance pay for all laid-off employees, both voluntary and involuntary.
- Continuing healthcare coverage increased by salary: four months for our higher-paid colleagues, and six months for those who make less than the bargaining unit's median salary.
- Recall rights for a full year, so that if an eliminated position becomes open again in the future, qualified laid-off workers will have priority consideration in filling it.
- A release from the non-compete and a modification of the non-solicitation clauses included in our original hiring agreements — an allowance unprecedented in tech that will enable our members to pursue new avenues of employment unfettered...
This experience has shown us how crucial it is for tech workers to unite, to leverage our collective strength, and to focus on lifting each other up and protecting one another. Kickstarter United is committed to standing alongside workers everywhere, helping to bring our collective visions for a fairer, more just world to life.
But Kickstarter is also the first major tech company to unionize. So what happened next? An anonymous reader shares this report from the two-months-old Kickstarter United (KSRU) union: The bargaining unit was faced with the prospect of involuntary layoffs with two to three weeks of severance per year of employment in the midst of a global pandemic... After two weeks of bargaining, we negotiated a severance package that we are incredibly proud of, which has been unanimously ratified by KSRU.
The package prioritizes extended severance payments and health insurance coverage, and we were inspired to see dozens of our highest-paid colleagues volunteer to take layoffs in order to save jobs and increase payouts for lower-paid bargaining unit members. We also negotiated additional terms that are previously unheard-of in tech severance agreements, fulfilling another of our longstanding goals: moving our industry forward and demonstrating the necessity of organizing in tech.
The terms we won for our 86-member bargaining unit include:
- Four months of severance pay for all laid-off employees, both voluntary and involuntary.
- Continuing healthcare coverage increased by salary: four months for our higher-paid colleagues, and six months for those who make less than the bargaining unit's median salary.
- Recall rights for a full year, so that if an eliminated position becomes open again in the future, qualified laid-off workers will have priority consideration in filling it.
- A release from the non-compete and a modification of the non-solicitation clauses included in our original hiring agreements — an allowance unprecedented in tech that will enable our members to pursue new avenues of employment unfettered...
This experience has shown us how crucial it is for tech workers to unite, to leverage our collective strength, and to focus on lifting each other up and protecting one another. Kickstarter United is committed to standing alongside workers everywhere, helping to bring our collective visions for a fairer, more just world to life.
All good outcomes... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Don't worry... They'll be along in... 3... 2... 1...
Re:All good outcomes... (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
How many companies in in trouble having to layoff half their workforce have millions of dollars available to pay these sums?
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
That's where negotiations come in. Generally the union should be aware of the companies finances and what they have to settle for. A broke company can still negate non-compete agreements for example and often do a bit better.
Back in 2008, my nephew, a carpet layer, was proud that his union negotiated a 50% pay cut compared to the non-union people who got a 66% pay cut (memory might be wrong about the numbers). The idea is that the union will get a better package then not having a union. Of course in America
Re:All good outcomes... (Score:4, Interesting)
Why should he be proud? The fair deal was the same cut for everyone - 58%.
My dad worked at company that was driven into bankruptcy three times because of generous union contracts won by striking during good times that were not sustainable in a recession. Third time the company did not come back out of it. Each time the union gave nothing until the court ordered it.
Re: (Score:2)
Why should he be proud? The fair deal was the same cut for everyone - 58%
Different companies treat their workers differently? It's not like one company is going to give money to another to make things more fair.
And it sounds like where your Dad worked had a shitty union. Unions are supposed to be democratic and have the interests of the workers fore front but as I stated, there seems to be lots of corruption in some places.
Re: (Score:1)
Don't worry, they'll come. Perversely, it's evidence that unions work - if they didn't work, we wouldn't see such a coordinated effort to stop them.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
Most countries have people dedicated to murdering other people and often sent out to do it. They're called the armed forces and being able to murder back does work to cut down on the number of murders.
Re: (Score:3)
Don't celebrate until the company demonstrates it can survive while meeting these terms.
Not saying it won't survive, but you can promise everyone a pony and a gold bar but if that tanks the company then it's moot.
Re: (Score:2)
I'll admit I'm anti union but it's just my personal belief / opinion and I wholeheartedly agree that folks that want to join a union are free to do so. I'll say for myself that I am glad I live in the south where unions are pretty rare.
Re: (Score:1)
...And wages are VERY low and poverty is VERY high.
Re: All good outcomes... (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Of course what was written above is untrue (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_poverty_rate):
State Poverty rate ...
51 Mississippi 19.8%
49 Louisiana 19.7%
50 New Mexico 19.7%
48 West Virginia 19.1%
47 Kentucky 17.2%
46 Alabama 16.9%
44 Arkansas 16.4%
43 Oklahoma 15.8%
42 South Carolina 15.4%
41 Tennessee 15.0%
29 California 13.3% - Not very good, but not dead last
Re: All good outcomes... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
How long until the paid and/or management anti-union trolls tell us why these workers are all worse off?
If the workers were in Canada, they would be covered by public healthcare. No out-of-pocket costs. Of course, the USA runs on for excessive healthcare profits for standard healthcare services and excessive pharmasudical charges to line profits of drug companies. Public healthcare would lower the cost of starting and running a business. Even the lowly paid waitress and her children would be covered. So, the union did look after it's members, as much as it could.
How is the number of kickstarters dropping? (Score:3)
With people having so much free time on their hands, I would expect the number of projects to go up considerably.
Re: (Score:1)
Nobody wants to spend money they don't have to, especially on Kickstarter scams that probably won't deliver.
There is going to be a recession, maybe even a depression unless drastic action is taken to avert it. Now is not the time to be throwing money away.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, for Kickstarter's *patrons*: of course they'll divert their diminishing income to other ends. But I was talking about Kickstarter project starters: I would think enterprising people who are bored out of work would tend to create more projects than people who are fully occupied 8 hours a day - even if there's less patronage money to go around.
Re: How is the number of kickstarters dropping? (Score:2)
Re:How is the number of kickstarters dropping? (Score:5, Insightful)
The last thing most people do, when they get "free time" from being laid off, is start working on their own because they get depressed. Because men find most of their self-worth from their work (including having a boss / paycheck / etc as proof of your talents/hardwork). Which is also, fun fact, why retired men either get part-time jobs or just die. Their testosterone goes to zero and they just rot away because, in their minds, they're not needed anymore.
Re: How is the number of kickstarters dropping? (Score:3)
You go figure it out.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
The reason you see men drop like flies after retirement is that very, very few can afford to retire. Most guys are retiring because their bodies are breaking down and we're close to death...
The average male in the US lives 10-15 years after they retire. That's hardly "dropping like flies".
What a feat (Score:2)
The union was only a couple months old and hadn't even gotten to a CBA yet. I hope they take a deeper dive and publish some info on how those negotiations went. How did they convince Kickstarter it was the right thing to do? I mean, they were being laid off, which would insinuate they needed to cut operational costs.
I'm probably jaded by working my entire career in California, an 'at will' state where you can be terminated at any time for pretty much any non-discriminatory reason, which they don't even have
All good, but... (Score:3)
This sounds good, and I believe it is mostly good, but there is an interesting phrase: "highest-paid colleagues volunteer to take layoffs". This is probably not the best action, and frankly not big of a "sacrifice".
First, they still get 4 months of severance pay, and health insurance. I could not see any mention of discounts, so they get full pay and benefits (probably plus any unused vacation days). And even though times are tough, four months is more than enough to find a job for most people (both senior and junior).
On the other hand losing senior developers, and having to coordinate junior ones would probably affect the overall productivity of the company. It would add more stress, and probably more losses. This kind of action usually causes loss of expertise, and those people who are gone, would probably not come back.
Let us hope they indeed recover from this, and my analysis turns out to be incorrect.
(Though I agree with the rest of the actions. Good for getting people some comfort in these times).
Re: (Score:3)
This sounds good, and I believe it is mostly good, but there is an interesting phrase: "highest-paid colleagues volunteer to take layoffs". This is probably not the best action, and frankly not big of a "sacrifice".
First, they still get 4 months of severance pay, and health insurance. I could not see any mention of discounts, so they get full pay and benefits (probably plus any unused vacation days). And even though times are tough, four months is more than enough to find a job for most people (both senior and junior).
On the other hand losing senior developers, and having to coordinate junior ones would probably affect the overall productivity of the company. It would add more stress, and probably more losses. This kind of action usually causes loss of expertise, and those people who are gone, would probably not come back.
Let us hope they indeed recover from this, and my analysis turns out to be incorrect.
(Though I agree with the rest of the actions. Good for getting people some comfort in these times).
Right now kickstarter has a reasonable platform which does what their core business needs; to continue that they don't need to develop so much. The biggest threat normally comes from someone copying them but better. With the epidemic, anyone who does that is likely to have real difficulty getting funding, so it's very likely KickStarter will be able to copy anything they do and overtake them without much difficulty. Their existing competitors also end up paralysed. OTOH with general economic difficulties
Re: (Score:1)
I've seen what loss of expertise does first hand when HR basically cuts everyone above a certain compensation level regardless of how it leaves everyone scrambling. It took over 4 years to feel fairly confident we have our crap together again. It's not pretty and I don't wish it on anyone.
Re: (Score:2)
Disclosure: I don't like union's for personal reasons
Kickstarter union negotiated a package that works, since this specific package deals with everything outside of the work "of the business" and deals with the long term mental, physical, employment care of the employee. I am happy that they have the money to do that payout.
Here is where it get's interesting, the top performers of coding and management are now out and about looking for new work and challenges. I don't know about anyone else, but a great cod
American Union requred (Score:3)
To gain rights that are a basic legal requirement in many western countries. I hate the idea of Unions but labour laws in the USA seem to be stuck in the 60s so they are absolutely needed in the USA.
Re: American Union requred (Score:2)
Re: American Union requred (Score:4, Insightful)
Far better to allow states to be different and learn from each other’s approaches. Too often the one size fits all approaches tend to be awful.
Re: (Score:1)
Yeah... That's what happened in trucking/logistics/transportation until Hoffa came along... Every state, county and municipality had different contracts (if any) and everybody got paid differently for the same work.
Yes, he done a bad thing to get it else wise, BUT post Hoffa. Truck drivers all got the same deal and that more or less held until the tech wise workers decided that everyone would do better on their own.
Now we're back to forming collective bargaining agencies (unions children. I know it's a di
Re: (Score:2)
I never understood why many Americans hate Unions so much. If employers create companies why should workers not create unions?
The other thing I wondering about: Every time unions come up, there are always horror stories about how Unions make things worse, are too greedy, cause the companies to go bankrupt, etc.. And this is presented as inevitable. But one could also take a look at other countries having a lot of Unions which are highly successful. For example, Germany's industry is almost completely union
Re: American Union requred (Score:3, Interesting)
What an accomplishment (Score:2)
Considering there's only what 150 or so employees, it doesn't effect the tens of thousands that are working for the FANG's without benefits, earning a fraction of what those directly employed by these companies make. FANGs produce the work, hire another company to hire the talent. The other companies wouldn't exist without the work produced by the real employers. It was even worse 3 year ago when they allowed the use of "subs contractors". So effectively now, a majority of their employees aren't directly em
Re: (Score:2)
"fat" severance package? How is four months salary per year of service fat?
A quick google, "how old is kickstarter", tells me it's eleven years old. Someone who has worked there for the full eleven (Yeah, like that person is getting laid off) get's almost four years salary.
Four years service means sixteen months. Who wants bet that not too many make even THAT bar?
Let's see if we can do some arithmetic, ok?
How does this make a news story (Score:3)
I wouldn't consider kickstarter a company let alone a major one, with all of its half dozen people having to unionize to keep getting paid at an inflated rate to run a almost non functional website whom's entire point is to facilitate scammers taking other people money
The way you know Unions work (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Cancer sure is awesome. You can tell because health care is so expensive.
Time to decouple health insurance from employment? (Score:2)
In a pandemic, lots of people get laid off, but the way to get through the pandemic is with better health standards (better testing, good quality care to decrease recovery time to free up beds, etc).
So it's pretty obvious that practice is tying health insurance to employment is far from ideal.
Isn't it time to decouple health insurance from employment? Why should people have to bargain for their health care in the world's richest country?
Welcome USA - to the mid 20th century! (Score:2)
Perhaps some of those items may seem shocking to some people in the USA. They are not shocking for most of us as they are pretty much conditions that started happening across the developed world after WWII.
The US, in its struggle to correct itself from the USSR, mixed up a few things including
communism, Socialism and what they had in the USSR
democracy, capitalism and what the USA was turning into
the economy and the financial state of the very rich
I am sure there are people around you who prefer the lack