Kickstarter employees successfully vote to form union

By

Daniel Uria

#KickstarterUnited has now been certified by the NLRB: We Are A Union!!! pic.twitter.com/l6W91lILKU— Kickstarter United (@ksr_united) February 18, 2020

 

Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Kickstarter employees successfully formed a union Tuesday, becoming one of the first groups of tech employees to unionize.

The Kickstarter employee union effort, Kickstarter United, announced it voted to form a union with the Office and Professional Employees International Union certified by the National Labor Relations Board."It's been a long journey, but now the real work is ahead of us!" Kickstarter United wrote. "And to all tech and creative workers looking to fight for your rights, this is only just the beginning."

After forming an initial organizing committee, the 85 engineers, directors, analysts, designers, coordinators, customer support specialists and other Kickstarter employees chose to partner with the New York-based OPEIU Local 153.

"We believe unionizing provides a path toward furthering all of our goals," KSRU representative Oriana Leckert said. "It was truly an honor to get to have deep conversations with so many of my colleagues around these issues. Utilizing our collective power to improve our workplace and our professional lives will increase Kickstarter's ability to have a radical, positive impact on society by allowing us all to advocate for workers' rights, which is a core pillar of the fight against inequality."

Last year, Kickstarter wrote that unionization was not "the right tool" to fix the company's issues and two employees who spearheaded organizational efforts were fired, although the company said it was unrelated to the union.

Kickstarter CEO Aziz Hasan issued a statement to Mashable saying he and company leadership "support and respect" the decision to unionize.

"We've worked hard over the last decade to build a different kind of company, one that measures its success by how well it achieves its mission: helping to bring creative projects to life," said Hasan. "Our mission has been common ground for everyone here during this process and it will continue to guide us as we enter this new phase together."

Kickstarter United

@ksr_united

Follow

The workers of Kickstarter. Organizing with OPEIU Local 153. contact@kickstarterunited.org

Trending now

Kickstarter United

@ksr_united

·

15h

Replying to

@ksr_united

So, what does this mean? 1) Our media blackout is now over (did you miss us?

) 2) We’ll begin discussing our priorities and forming an inclusive and representative bargaining committee for everyone at Kickstarter so that we can... 3) Bargain our first contract! #1u

5

74

695

Kickstarter United

@ksr_united

·

15h

Replying to

@ksr_united

We are so truly grateful to everyone who has supported us along the way, especially

@OPEIU

&

@153Local

. It's been a long journey, but now the real work is ahead of us! And to all tech and creative workers looking to fight for your rights, this is only just the beginning!

https://twitter.com/DocPop/status/1229803243158429696

Audit: U.S. failed to account for nearly $715M in arms to fight ISIS

(THATS ALMOST A BILLION BUCKS)By Christen McCurdy UPI


Syrian army units advance to the Aleppo Ghazi Aintab International Highway and the northern countryside of Aleppo, Syria, Monday. A DoD audit released Tuesday said the U.S has failed to account for nearly $715 million in weapons sold to Syria to fight ISIS. Photo by Hajj Ahmad/EPA-EFE

Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. military did not properly account for nearly $715 million in weapons and equipment intended for Syrian partners fighting ISIS, according to a Department of Defense report released Tuesday.

According to the DoD Inspector General's report, Special Operations Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve did not maintain a list of all equipment purchased and received, and instead allowed "multiple entities" involved with Syrian forces to store records in numerous locations


In addition, military equipment was not always properly secured or stored.

For example, according to the report, equipment stored at a Kuwait warehouse was stored outside in metal shipping containers, exposing the equipment to heat and humidity -- in part because outdated equipment had not been disposed of, which led to overcrowding at the facility.

RELATED Over 830,000 forced to flee northwest Syria since December

The IG's office closed the report with recommendations that SOJT-OIR develop a central repository for all documentation required to support equipment for the Syria effort, and that SOJTF-OIR's commander develop guidance for the proper disposal of unserviceable equipment stored in Kuwait.

The IG also recommended that the commander of 1st Theater Sustainment Command regularly perform physical security inspections of the facility and "ensure corrective action is taken to fix new and existing security issues identified."

The report does not address the possibility that arms intended to fight terrorists in Syria have fallen into the wrong hands.

But that has happened in the recent past: A 2017 report showed that 90 percent of 40,000 ISIS firearms and ammo caches, documented by the arms control group Conflict Armament Research, were originally supplied to Syrian Democratic Forces by the U.S. and allies.

And a 2016 investigation into arms sales to Afghanistan and Iraq found that officials only had records for 700,000 firearms -- just under half -- of guns sold in 14 years to fight the War on Terror.

DHS waives federal statutes to build 177 miles of border wall

UPI Staff


The Trump administration said it agreed to waive 10 federal regulations to facilitate construction of the wall. 

File Photo by Ariana Drehsler/UPI

Feb. 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has issued waivers to bypass multiple federal statutes in order to build a long section of border wall between the United States and Mexico.

The department said Tuesday it granted the waivers as a measure to fast-track construction of 177 miles of wall along the Southwest border that will be built in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

"Working closely with the Army Corps of Engineers and Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security is exercising its congressionally-granted authority to waive procurement regulations in six high-traffic border sectors, which will allow us to use already vetted and experienced contractors to build an additional 177 miles of new border wall system," DHS spokeswoman Heather Swift told UPI Tuesday.

Swift said more than 36,000 undocumented migrants and 54,000 pounds of illicit drugs were captured at the U.S.-Mexico border in January alone.

"President Trump is fulfilling his promise to the American people to secure the border and build a high-tech border wall system," Swift added. "Under the president's leadership, we are building more wall, faster than ever before."

The Defense Department last week asked to divert nearly $4 billion from its weapons programs to help build the wall, which Trump has promised since he was a candidate for president.

The Pentagon's request would shift $2 billion in defense appropriations and $1.6 billion in overseas contingency operations the fund the wall.