Kickstarter Aggressively Tried To Stop Workers From Unionizing. Today The Workers Won The Election.

Last year, Kickstarter management faced a wave of criticism for allegedly engaging in union-busting. Today its employees are celebrating their first union at the company.

The New York Times reports:

“Employees at the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter voted on Tuesday to unionize, the first well-known technology company to take the step toward being represented by organized labor.

The decision, which was formalized by a vote count at the National Labor Relations Board, came down to a narrow margin, with 46 employees voting in favor of the move and 37 opposing it. The debate over a union — and whether such representation was appropriate for highly paid tech workers — had been a source of tension at the company for many months.

‘I’m overjoyed by this result,’ said Dannel Jurado, a Kickstarter senior software engineer who voted for a union. ‘There’s a long road ahead of us, but it’s a first step to the sustainable future in tech that I and so many others want to see’

The pro-union vote is significant for the technology industry, where workers have become increasingly activist in recent years over issues as varied as sexual harassment and climate change. Behemoth companies such as Google and Amazon have struggled to get a handle on their employees, who have staged walkouts and demanded that their companies not work with government entities and others.”

For the rest of the story, visit The New York Times here.