Every major sport in the US has a union so I do not think that unions are antithetical to high performance. Certain kinds of contracts obviously are not great but you don’t have to adopt ‘same job, same pay’ contracts, you can adopt ‘min pay, min benefits’ or ‘min pay, same benefits’ type arrangements. The possibilities are endless. Further, a union contract is just one kind of contract and, as long as they aren’t contradictory, employers and employees can have more than one contract.

This idea that unions MUST be antithetical to the company or performance is silly. We have counterexamples on TV almost every day. Further, the idea that job insecurity is the best way to motivate people to perform also seems silly.

Newsflash: A union can negotiate whatever contract they want. The Kickstarter union isn't associated with something like the UAW that pushes for things like making firing bad performers impossible.

If you read the highlights, they're just asking for documentation on termination and disciplining. Not at all unreasonable.

While I disagree with the idea that high performers are "allergic" to unions, Kickstarter seems like a project that is pretty much done and is in maintenance mode. Developers are going to be seen as a lot more fungible than at a tech-focused company with hard problems that need to be solved, or lofty ambitions that require a lot of innovation. It doesn't seem like they need high performing individual contributors, they just need competent developers who are able to keep things running, fix bugs and make minor enhancements.

> given that high performers in tech are allergic to unions

You can prove anything from a false premise.

Is kickstarter a tech company ?

>but otherwise how can they compete given that high performers in tech are allergic to unions

If you're talking about keeping 'high performers' in sales, that's what commission is for.

If you're talking about keeping 'high performers' in engineering, ... well, do you even need high performers? Due to the nature of their business, there are no challenging technical feats to accomplish. You really just need solid engineers to push the product and maintain the infrastructure.

> Kickstarter may survive since they enjoy near monopoly status, but otherwise how can they compete given that high performers in tech are allergic to unions?

"high performers" aren't going to be satisfied by Kickstarter's compensation at first place thus won't apply there.

Also good luck arguing to your boss you are a "high performer" in a company that has "progressive performance evaluation", by what measure?

This is a none issue.

> high performers in tech are allergic to unions?

High performers in tech do not have a problem with the heirs who own a majority of their corporation's stock telling them what to do, but are allergic to the people alongside them doing the work and creating the wealth from having input.