How Kickstarter’s New Union Negotiated Terms For Pandemic-Related Layoffs

“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.