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Grindr employees start union campaign for better protection

By Nithya Bose in US business news, posted July 22, 2023

Employees at Grindr, the LGBTQ dating app, are embarking on a unionization campaign, joining the growing wave of tech workers organizing for better rights and protections.

The pro-union staff has gained substantial support, with the vast majority of the proposed bargaining unit, consisting of about 100 employees, backing the effort.

This group includes cloud engineering, IT, design, marketing, and quality assurance professionals.

They said: “As members and allies of communities that are systematically oppressed, we know that strength lies in working together, not alone.

“We’re already all in this together: We just want to DTR,” they added, taking a page from dating shorthand for “define the relationship.”

Citing recent political attacks on the LGBTQ community and tech industry layoffs, the workers stress the urgency of their campaign, which they plan to announce to the company's management.

Their aims include securing benefits like trans-inclusive healthcare and seeking new safeguards such as pay transparency and job security.

They aspire to shape a company that prioritizes LGBTQ interests rather than exploiting them for profit.

Like Starbucks's union, they call for adding a worker representative to the company's board, a practice more common in Europe than in the US.

Grindr, acquired by Beijing Kunlun Tech in 2020 but later sold due to national security concerns, went public in 2021 through a merger with Tiga Acquisition.

The app has 12.8 million monthly active users as of March 31.

The employees intend to ask Grindr's management to recognize their union.

If the company refuses, they plan to petition the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) for an election.

Under US labor law, a company can choose to negotiate with a union once it has gained the support of most employees.

However, some companies opt to hold an NLRB election, using the time leading up to it to discourage unionization efforts.

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The workers are organizing with the Communications Workers of America, a union that has won recognition among tech workers at major companies like The New York Times, Microsoft, Apple, and Google Fiber.

Quinn McGee, a Grindr product manager and member of the organizing committee, said: “Workers across industries are realizing that they should have a say in the conditions of their workplace.

“This idea is having a resurgence, that workers can come together to make sure we can protect each other from the vicissitudes of the current state of things.”

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