Paizo Recognizes United Paizo Workers

I feel like the toothless bag's statements went over Yoshua's head. I bet I could find the toothless bag's tags if I looked hard enough at something toothier

It happens. Still over my head. Also, posting before Nethys is awake often leads to me missing key info.

I'm so pleased to see this, long live the UPW!

re read it 30 times... I now believe I get it.... Nethys I am still tired....

Well hopefully their union works out.

In my experience in unions however the results are very mixed and very biased to show favoritism to senior members with more years with a company.

Wages go up and people deemed not as necessary get laid off to pay for wage increases.

More positions are created and I imagine with Paizo hiring a fulltime HR person one or more people might get laid off to make room in budget.

I truly hope I'm wrong but after 25+ years in a heavily unionized industry I know full well the pitfalls and benefits of unionizing.

I've been kept on in jobs because of years served when they didn't need me as an additional supervisor because of a union. I would've rather them kept some of the young guys who needed the job more than me because I have very in-demand job skills and getting a new job isn't hard and usually ends up with pay increase or at the very least ends up being the same.

what benefits? You're only discussing pitfalls.

Really happy Paizo managed to not trip over the incredibly low bar they just stepped over. I imagine they would have no longer had a business if they had decided against recognizing the union.

Here's hoping things work out for all the team members and free lancers.

ograx wrote:

Well hopefully their union works out.

In my experience in unions however the results are very mixed and very biased to show favoritism to senior members with more years with a company.

Wages go up and people deemed not as necessary get laid off to pay for wage increases.

More positions are created and I imagine with Paizo hiring a fulltime HR person one or more people might get laid off to make room in budget.

I truly hope I'm wrong but after 25+ years in a heavily unionized industry I know full well the pitfalls and benefits of unionizing.

I've been kept on in jobs because of years served when they didn't need me as an additional supervisor because of a union. I would've rather them kept some of the young guys who needed the job more than me because I have very in-demand job skills and getting a new job isn't hard and usually ends up with pay increase or at the very least ends up being the same.

what benefits? You're only discussing pitfalls.

That's fair of you to mention, the benefits I had being in a union were wage increases that were usually yearly and pretty good job security. I'm in Canada so health benefits work differently here but I actually have better health benefits now being in a non-union job. My wages are higher as well but I'm an outlier in that I have a supervisory position in a large construction company.

My experience with unions is in a totally different country and industry.

From what I've read on USA unions though the picture isn't great.

Please don't take any of this as me being negative on Paizo employees fighting for themselves I just think people might be counting on a union being some miraculous cure when it's very possible it ends up being far from it.

I've heard some of the numbers over the years what Paizo employees make and its horrendous when compared to what the living costs of the state are but only the Paizo owners and executives know if Paizo can actually afford to pay them more.

I think there’s a world of difference between a union of fifty people in a tiny, niche industry and some of the modern conceptions of unions.

I support the right of UPW and the workers to unionize, and am glad that Paizo voluntarily recognized them. It's a good start.

That said, personally I have had multiple extremely poor interactions with unions, and want nothing to do with them. Unions have done lots of good in the USA. But all of the ones I've personally interacted with have been terrible.

I hope this one turns out well. I really, really do.

Well - the reaction from the community to this thread confirms that this was the right move for Paizo.

Part of the whole past issues of work conditions and pay is the need to have a competitive product and not price yourself out the the market. Higher pay will result in higher prices. I can afford higher prices and will continue to support Paizo and their products. It looks like the fan base understands this and supports it too. One should also expect less backlash from future price increases from the existing community, although it may become less competitive to new players.

I’m not a fan of unions, but if the union comes to the table in good faith with the understanding that the health of the company is good for the health of the employees, then I think this could have a good outcome with high-quality products and fairly compensated contributors.

So I’ll choose to be optimistic and wish both Paizo and UPF nothing but success.

Everyone knows that the union is the employees right? And there’s like…fifty of them or thereabouts eligible to join.

They’re smart people and they’ve got way more invested in Paizo being strong and healthy than any of us.

Steve Geddes wrote:

Totally Not Gorbacz wrote:

I'm restarting my subs today.

I thought you were new..

Of course I am. In honour of the original Gorbacz, I set up my subscriptions only to read the news about Sara and Diego...

Yes, now that the Union has been recognized, I say we get back to bringing Sara back, with WotC comparable pay (at the least)...and funding for her Moderation goals. This applies to Diego as well.

Unless thru the Union we find out that Paizo is soo far in the red they are in debt with the Triads...

I saw the YouTube interview with Jason Tondro and KC Owens and it does seem like good will is there on their part (although Owens being a former employee wouldn’t be directly involved). I do hope this works out for everyone involved. Being represented by a union and having grown up in a union town, all the stereotypes pro and con are true. I do hope both Paizo and it’s employees can navigate those minefields as the process moves forward.

I still think moving out of Its current city to a less expensive area would solve much of the cash flow problem and cost of living problem. What people pay for rent in those areas far exceed what we pay in mortgages elsewhere.

Really happy Paizo managed to not trip over the incredibly low bar they just stepped over. I imagine they would have no longer had a business if they had decided against recognizing the union.

Here's hoping things work out for all the team members and free lancers.

I think that Paizo would survive. I doubt that most of their customers care about any of this. More likely there's an overrepresented vocal minority in these threads that cares very much about Paizo's employment practices, trans rights etc. This is true of consumers generally. We want the product. Our interest doesn't extend much beyond that.

ABCoLD wrote:

Really happy Paizo managed to not trip over the incredibly low bar they just stepped over. I imagine they would have no longer had a business if they had decided against recognizing the union.

Here's hoping things work out for all the team members and free lancers.

I think that Paizo would survive. I doubt that most of their customers care about any of this. More likely there's an overrepresented vocal minority in these threads that cares very much about Paizo's employment practices, trans rights etc. This is true of consumers generally. We want the product. Our interest doesn't extend much beyond that.

Given how many trans people are both working on and consuming Pathfinder stuff, I highly doubt those who care about our rights are a “vocal minority.”

I appreciate you indicating you think they don’t matter, though. It’s charming to see someone so openly say they don’t care about us.

Jarek Khasad wrote:

Totally Not Gorbacz wrote:

Jarek Khasad wrote:

TwilightKnight wrote:

Jarek Khasad wrote:

With regard to to your union logo, was the communist symbolism really necessary?

Reeeeally gotta want to find something to complain about to come up with that one.

No, it’s just blatantly obvious.

I come from a country that endured 50 years of communism while your parents and grandparents were swimming in riches of capitalism, Westerner.

I see no obvious symbolism.

My parents and grandparents fought communism in the trenches and on the home front (in their union halls and on college campuses). I myself served at the tail end of the Soviet Union. It concerns me that with the fall of the Iron Curtain we didn’t so much destroy Marxism (including Socialism) as we let it infect the West. I would hope that as someone who had the misfortune to live through it, you would be more cognizant of its inroads to our culture.

Yeah sure but will you have to run a GoFundMe to cover your medical bills, because I won't.

I sympathize with your plight for what it’s worth.

Unless thru the Union we find out that Paizo is soo far in the red they are in debt with the Triads...

The recognition of the UPW does not mean they will automatically gain access to the company financials. There are a number of ways Paizo can keep them private and I expect they will do so during negotiations.