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.
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. “Our mission is to make the tech world a better place by enabling all coders to create web apps they love in a fast, friendly, and safe way,” the company said in a comment offered to TechCrunch. “Today, that means voluntarily supporting our employees’ decision to unionize.”
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.”