Unionized TCGPlayer workers filed a legal complaint with federal labor regulators last week, accusing the company of moving TCGPlayer to Kentucky to avoid bargaining for a new contract with hundreds of workers covered under the union.
The legal complaint was filed last Thursday with the National Labor Relations Board. In it, union officials also allege that the company did not properly notify workers and Communications Workers of America officials, who help workers bargain with the company, of TCGPlayer’s decision to move to Kentucky.
Two hundred and twenty workers will lose their job as a result of the move — also announced Thursday.
Eric Tillotson, who has worked at TCGPlayer for almost four years, said the company notified the union of their decision to move mere minutes before the all-hands meeting last Thursday morning where workers were notified they would be losing their jobs.
“They did not communicate this to us in a timely fashion,” Tillotson said. “The way they went about this entire closure is deeply insidious.”
On Thursday, the TCGPlayer, which includes Tillotson, called for a boycott of the company’s products.
A spokesperson for eBay, TCGPlayer’s parent company, disputed the union’s claims in a statement issued to Central Current, adding that the company has a “long track record of bargaining in good faith with CWA.”
“As soon as we decided to consolidate our authentication operations, we immediately informed CWA leadership and shared our intent to enter into negotiations over its effects,” company officials wrote.
Workers and union officials have said the unfair labor practices alleged in the complaint are yet another notch in a campaign of union busting, worker intimidation and surveillance, that TCGPlayer has embarked on since announcing its headquarters on South Warren Street are shutting down.
The company’s actions as perceived by the union prompted a rally Tuesday outside the company’s office where workers and elected officials accused the company of union busting and called for fair severance benefits for workers.
In addition to the unfair labor practices alleged by workers, TCGPlayer brought an influx of new security guards last Thursday, workers have said. The security guards’ presence has led to a feeling of increased worker surveillance. In several instances, Tillotson and other workers allege, the new security staff has verbally and physically harassed staff.
“Deploying security guards to stalk us immediately after letting us know that we would all be losing our jobs is psychological warfare,” Zach Freeman, a TCGPlayer worker, said in a statement. “By unleashing this brutal surveillance and intimidation campaign, TCGplayer and eBay are doing everything in their power to punish us for exercising our federally-protected rights to organize.”
Workers complained in the statement that the new security team — which they noted is about three to four times larger than the previous staff of five guards — also made misogynistic comments about women working at TCGPlayer. In a particular instance, workers say, a security guard grabbed and verbally harassed a worker who was attempting to clean out their locker.
The guard threatened to call the police for trespassing if the worker didn’t leave the building. That worker, union officials say, was placed on administrative leave.
“We take the wellbeing and safety of our team members around the world extremely seriously,” an eBay spokesperson told Central Current in response to a list of questions about the complaints made by workers . “We are committed to ensuring that all eBay safety procedures are consistently followed, and that our workplace remains respectful and secure for everyone.”
The company is conducting an internal investigation regarding claims of security guards over-surveilling and harassing workers. A spokesperson for eBay said security staff are not allowed to physically engage with anyone in the building under any circumstances.
“It feels very strange, just always feeling like I’m under the eyes of these folks,” Tillotson said. “We never had stationary guards on the work floor before the Kentucky announcement was made, now they’re pretty much everywhere.”
eBay representatives did not respond to a list of questions about the need for new security, whether the staff is carrying firearms and about the company providing security services.
Danny Grant, who has worked at TCGPlayer for almost four years, said the company tripling or quadrupling the security staff under contract at the same time executives claim the company is unprofitable is infuriating. Grant told Central Current last week that TCGPlayer CEO Rob Bigler talked about the company’s unprofitability frequently at meetings with workers. Bigler, according to Grant, said the company would move to Kentucky because of that reason.
“The unprofitability angle was ‘bs’ the whole time,” Grant said. “[The move] is a blatant union busting tactic.”
Workers reflect on the closure of TCGPlayer
As TCGPlayer employees returned to work this week, what once felt like a joyous place to work
for some has slowly turned into an unavoidable reminder of the economic pressures that come with job loss. Above all, workers say, being back at the facility is a regretful portrait of what once was and what could have been.
“It bums me out, because despite the union’s fight with the company, I do love the idea of what we do here,” said Tillotson. “It’s fun, and it is cool. Working with trading cards is maybe the least essential thing one could possibly do. But it made people happy and there was something special about that.”
Workers, who became the first unionized workforce under eBay’s corporate umbrella in 2023, say they felt an agreement on a union contract with the company was close prior to the announcement that the company will move in August. Their priority, and the rallying cry that brought them together ahead of their union election, was always better pay.
All of that has been scrapped.
“I just feel upset and betrayed,” said Grant, whose last day is June 20. “I went back to work Saturday and that seems to be the feeling of everyone in the authentication center from generalists to managers and supervisors.”
Tillotson and Grant are now engaged in yet another battle with the company alongside their colleagues: trying to negotiate a severance agreement that is fair to workers.
Tillotson said the company offered him 10 weeks of full-time pay and four months of health insurance coverage once he is eventually laid off. Tillotson said that is insufficient. The median wage for workers at TCGPlayer is $18.25, according to a recent report released by CWA.
“We’re trying to get them to agree to a much more substantial package,” Tillotson said.
As workers continue to apply pressure on the company, calling for negotiations, the internal feelings among workers are mixed and bittersweet. In some ways, workers have been back to “business as usual,” Tillotson said.
Grant agreed, but added that some of his colleagues are optimistic.
“It feels mainly like we have to play nice to get any form of severance pay, luckily the morale from everyone has been strangely high in a ‘we’re all screwed so let’s go out smiling’ sort of way,” Grant said.
Read more of Central Current’s coverage
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