The employees at TCGPlayer have been on a years-long quest to seek fair rights as union employees. First, in 2020, the warehouse workers attempted to form a union, but TCGPlayer, who was still independent at the time, managed to thwart those efforts despite popular support. Two years later the company made waves as it was acquired by mega-online-auctioneer eBay. Earlier this year, three years after their first attempt to unionize, the employees of TCGPlayer succeeded, with 272 employees becoming represented by Communications Workers of America (CWA).
Now the latest chapter in the ongoing saga has unfurled as numerous reports have shared that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has determined that eBay/TCGPlayer engaged in violations of labor law against the union-represented employees at TCGPlayer. As Vice reports, “the charges included allegations that eBay had refused to bargain with the union after its certification, refused to provide information it was legally obligated to provide, and unilaterally changed working conditions by removing work chairs from workstations, changing employee benefits like healthcare, and making workers sign confidentiality agreements.”
The unionization movement has been very popular in America in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic exposing how few protections many employees had. Many were forced to work when they didn’t want to, or fired from jobs because of corporate mismanagement of the pandemic. Unions also can help with healthcare benefits, another important component of compensation during a global pandemic. Last year, employees at TCGPlayer rival Card Kingdom also formed a union.
