Online code collaboration tool Glitch votes to unionize

Employees of online software collaboration tool Glitch today announced their intentions to unionize. The news was made official by the Communications Workers of America Union, the largest media and communications labor union in the U.S. The move comes after “90% of the workers indicated their support for joining CWA and authorized CWA to be their bargaining representative,” according to a release.

The company is the latest in a recent string of startups whose employees have sought to unionize. Most notable among them is Kickstarter, which announced the decision last month. The list also includes Spin, Instacart and Pittsburgh-based Google employees.

Huge congrats to workers at @Glitch who won their union!

This is a historic step forward for workers organizing in tech. We're so excited to welcome them into the CODE-@CWAUnion family and to keep building worker power in the industry. #1u

READ MORE: https://t.co/X6aUoq9WeR pic.twitter.com/JbxaMUsBUM

— CODE-CWA (@CODE_CWA) March 13, 2020

Glitch will join the CWA Local 1101, as part of the Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA) initiative, which was launched back in January.

“CODE-CWA is committed to helping workers fight for improvements throughout the tech and game development industries, which too often take advantage of workers’ skills without listening to their input on issues that affect them on the job,” CODE’s Emma Kinema, said in a release. “Glitch workers’ overwhelming support for forming a union highlights the importance of organizing efforts in the industry, as well as CWA’s success in driving progressive changes for workers across corporations both large and small in the telecom, media, tech and game development industries.”

Today also marks Glitch’s third anniversary, as noted by founder Anil Dash. The service was launched as Fog Creek Software, designed to provide an online community where users can upload and remix software projects. We have reached out to Glitch and Dash about the news. We will update accordingly. From the release, however, the bargaining sounds like it has thus far been more painless than other companies’ efforts. 

“We look forward to bargaining with Glitch management,” CWA Local 1101 president, Keith Purce, said in the release. “We appreciate that unlike so many employers, the Glitch management team decided to respect the rights of its workforce to choose union representation without fear or coercion.”