Glitch workers sign tech’s first collective bargaining agreement

In a historic milestone for the tech industry, Glitch workers have signed a collective bargaining agreement with the company. The contract, which was ratified overwhelmingly by union members, will last for 11 months. It’s the first agreement signed by white collar tech workers in the United States, according to a press release from the Communications Workers of America (CWA). The contract went into effect on February 28. The agreement — a legal contract between the union and the company — does not include higher wages, which weren’t a focus for union members. Union representatives say they might try to include these in a future contract, but for now they recognize that Glitch is a small startup operating during a pandemic with pay and benefits that are already generous. “There’s a lot of fear that you can’t be nimble with a union in the tech industry, but this shows there are ways to do it,” says Sheridan Kates, a senior software engineer and bargaining committee representative. “We have an 11-month contract, we didn’t focus on wages and benefits. We didn’t want to hamstring Glitch. We wanted to see ourselves as partners with management and codify the things that are important to us as a union.” Glitch laid off a third of its workforce in 2020. Read more on the Verge.