Grindr Workers United-CWA One Step Closer to Defeating Union-Busting Campaign

(Los Angeles, Calif.) – Workers at Grindr today made a significant step forward to winning their union election to be represented by Grindr United-CWA. After the NLRB counted more votes from the December election, the workers maintained what appears to be an insurmountable lead, despite a relentless union-busting campaign by Grindr management, which began immediately after workers announced their intention to form a union. Despite the illegal actions of management, Grindr workers continued to organize and are on the road to beating the union busters outright.

The NLRB will decide whether additional ballots need to be counted, and the process could take months. The remaining uncounted ballots were cast by former employees who were effectively terminated when union-busting firm Littler Mendelson helped management develop a return-to-office policy that forced them out. Those workers are overwhelmingly in favor of forming a union, and their ballots are predicted to only widen the workers’ lead.

This win would be historic, both for workers in the tech industry and for the LGBTQA+ community of Grindr users. Grindr workers organized in response to policy changes which they believed would jeopardize the privacy and safety of the app’s users and to strengthen working conditions for all workers. Workers are demanding a voice in changes that impact their work and the Grindr community.

“Today’s results bring us one step closer to what we have been fighting for—a union voice for workers at Grindr. Those of us who were illegally pushed out by Grindr’s retaliatory forced relocation policy are confident that once the remaining ballots are counted, this win will be cemented. We continue to be concerned about the impact of the illegal terminations on the experience and safety of the Grindr user community and call on management to reinstate all illegally terminated workers and bargain a fair contract,” said Colby Sato, former Senior Product Designer and member of Grindr United-CWA.

On July 20, 2023, a supermajority of approximately 100 eligible Grindr workers announced their intent to form the Grindr United-CWA union. In response, Grindr management enacted a retaliatory policy that forced employees who were hired remotely to choose between relocating to an assigned office hub or termination. CWA filed multiple Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges and argued that the policy violated workers’ rights to freely organize. Today’s result reflects the workers’ courage and determination to ensure that Grindr remains a safe, inclusive, and thriving place for users and workers alike.

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The Campaign to Organize Digital Employees (CODE-CWA) is a network of worker-organizers and their staff working every single day to build the voice and power necessary to ensure the future of the tech, game, and digital industries in the United States and Canada. CODE-CWA is a project of the Communications Workers of America which represents hundreds of thousands of workers throughout tech, media, telecom, and other industries who stand together to fight for justice on the job and in our communities.