Kickstarter Boycott

Overview

The 2019 Kickstarter Boycott was a protest started by those outside the Kickstarter United Union who also opposed Kickstarter's anti-union stance. Though the members of the un-recognized union did not recommend fully boycotting Kickstarter, many people outside the union called for the boycott due to the several union leaders being fired.

Background

On March 19th, 2019, The Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 153 released a statement announcing Kickstarter's move to unionize saying,^[1]

Kickstarter United is proud to start the process of unionizing to safeguard and enrich Kickstarter’s charter commitments to creativity, equity, and a positive impact on society. We trust in the democratic process and are confident that the leadership of Kickstarter stands with us in that effort. Kickstarter has always been a trailblazer, and this is a pivotal moment for tech. We want to set the standard for the entire industry. Now is the time. Come together. Unionize.

Notable Developments

On September 12th, 2019, Kickstarter employee and union organizer Taylor Moore^[2] announced that they had been fired for organizing a union. Moore went on to say, "They offered me no real reasons, but one month's severance for signing an NDA. I will not be signing it." Moore also revealed that "Last week another member of the organizing committee, Clarissa Redwine was also fired, and today a third prominent member of the union was told there is no place for him at the company. I stand firm in solidarity with my friends and colleagues" (shown below). The thread received over 33,100 likes in 18 days.

On September 27th, After starting a petition signed by project creators, editor Nathan J Robinson^[3] of Current Affairs ^[5] tweeted, "Today I received a message from Kickstarter's chief communications officer encouraging me to share a statement from the CEO with the project creators who have signed our union solidarity petition. Here is his email, the CEO's statement, and my response" (shown below, left). The documents shared confirmed that the CEO is anti-union. The tweet garnered over 2,200 likes and 1,000 retweets in three days. The next day, Robinson^[4] shared his published article on the matter to Twitter (shown below, right). The tweet gained over 6,700 likes in two days. Many Twitter users called agreed to boycott Kickstarter despite it not being in the union's best interest.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References