Kickstarter Says No To Unions – Say No To Kickstarter For Crowdfunding Production

Photo by Charlie Hall at Polygon.com

Hey there, hero!

As you may know, I’m very active in SAG-AFTRA, serving on several committees including voice over, the audiobook narrators steering, the website development committee and so on.

It’s clear that I’m very much in favor of labor unions for us creative types.

This past week, Kickstarter’s CEO doubled down on his previous statement that they don’t want unionization of their workers (even if the workers do), and have gone the extra mile of firing a couple of employees for their union organizing activities.

OK. That’s a wrap for Kickstarter and my wallet. If you’re planning on crowdfunding a film or other creative project, I’ve got some other suggestions for you.

Hope this helps!

David

Responses

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  1. What did Kickstarter say those workers were fired for? It’s totally illegal to fire someone for trying to organize, for talking to a union, etc.

  2. In the 1970s, underwear company Fruit of the Loom bought another underwear company named B.V.D. The new entity was called “Union Underwear”, and the ‘we’re a united company’ name had a double meaning–the second one being “We will never unionize.” Over the decades, they’ve laid off workers and moved plants overseas.

    I have a relative who’s a truck driver. He hates delivering to unionized places because he might get there and have to sit idle for 2 or 3 hours because the union person who approves the unloading of the truck has to be there to say, “okay, you can unload the truck” and the guys in charge of unloading it sit there with the driver, doing nothing, until they get the say-so.

    If I had to choose, I’d rather have a united advocate for employees because I see what happens when corporate America gets to run rough-shod over its workers. That said, if your business comes to a screeching halt because you let processes and bureaucracy park people for hours at a time, that says more about bad leadership and poor negotiating skills.

  3. Wow, what year is this?! I’ve used Kickstartr in the past and have contributed to others’ campaigns. I haven’t seen them in a while, and now I know why. Seed and Spark, Go Fund Me, Indie Go Go will do just fine!