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Following an 18 month battle, employees at the crowd-funding giant ‘Kickstarter’ voted to form a union. This will enable workers to have more sway over the management of the company that they commit their time to. Some of the issues of concern included changes in how sexual harassment or gender discrimination were handled. The new union, Kickstarter United, also hoped to negotiate equitable pay, diversity in hiring and moderation of the website.
Management at Kickstarter were resistant to this development, citing how costly a union might be, along with claims it could make the company less innovative. This created tension between staff and management, culminating in the firing of two main union organisers last year. Following this, a neutrality agreement was made to discourage union members speaking to the press. In exchange for this, senior leadership agreed to stop dissuading the union from organising. Thankfully, this has all ended in a respectable way.
Kickstarter plays a huge role in our hobby. More and more we’re seeing games from our favourite publishers funded via the platform, giving us a vast amount of titles to choose from. Together with video games, the gaming category accounts for over one third of all backer revenue on the site. Hopefully this keeps the organisation healthy for employees, whilst remaining a cornerstone of our hobby. For more Kickstarter news, check out the recent article on production delays caused by the coronavirus outbreak.