San Francisco (AFP)

The employees of Kickstarter, a crowdfunding platform, have founded a union considered to be the first of its kind in the American technology sector, and which gives hope to many employees whose speech often seems stifled by their management.

"The road has been long, but now the real work is starting!" Said Kickstarter United on Twitter on Tuesday. "To all tech workers and creators fighting for their rights: this is just the start!"

Several employees of this New York company had been fighting for months for this right, despite being recognized by American law.

They did not lack support: in September, a petition had circulated asking Kickstarter to support unionization and to "rehire the three dismissed unionists". It had been signed by more than 800 users of the platform.

And this "victory" promises to have a much wider impact.

"I congratulate the staff of Kickstarter, the first major tech company to vote in favor of a union," Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders, candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, reacted on Twitter.

"These workers are an example for the entire industry. Tech workers deserve job security, substantial wages and benefits, and a voice in their business," he added.

- "Slaves" -

The Kickstarter United union will be affiliated with the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), which last year adopted a resolution to organize the sector. "Engineers, graphic designers, developers and everyone else wants to get the right to negotiate their working conditions," he said.

Does the staff of American technology groups need to unionize, when this workforce is generally well paid, compared to other industries? This question comes up regularly in online debates on the absence of unions in tech.

"The wage gap has dramatically increased over the past 20 years," says analyst Rob Enderle. "Those below are treated like slaves (...) And even when people are well paid, companies kill them by the task."

"Human resources stopped taking care of the employees and focused on legal issues, such as ensuring that such dismissals were authorized," he added.

"Sometimes it's too long a day's pay and days, but often it's other issues that concern these workers, such as sexual harassment and discrimination," said Steve Smith, director of communications for the California Labor Federation. , which includes more than 1,200 unions.

The accusations of sexism and harassment at work have indeed shaken major groups in recent years. Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick was pushed out in 2017 after litigation of this type broke out.

In November 2018, thousands of Google employees observed a work stoppage in different cities around the world to denounce the management of sexual harassment within the company.

- Intimidation -

After the controversial dismissal of four workers this fall, a group of employees of the Californian giant denounced intimidation and the use of an outside company to prevent unionization.

A widespread technique, according to Steve Smith. "Companies regularly break the law, most often without consequence. They pay companies that dismantle unions, they threaten employees and even fire them," he explains.

Contracts often include a "forced arbitration clause", which forces staff to turn to human resources rather than to a court in the event of abuse.

"There is also the fear of reprisals, which still exists. But the spotlight is increasingly on the problems that exist in tech, and this encourages employees to speak out," says Smith.

Kickstarter's breakthrough "shows others that it is possible to form a union," said Rob Enderle. "Google and Amazon, in particular, are likely to imitate them".

At Amazon, a group of 300 employees (Amazon Employees for Climate Justice) does not hesitate to publicly criticize the environmental policy of the leader in online commerce, despite the promising announcements by their boss Jeff Bezos.

A professional association created at WeWork, the dominant company in shared offices, also claims to have a say in important decisions, after the fall of the extravagant founder Adam Neumann, known for his luxurious expenses and various escapades.

© 2020 AFP