This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
A few months ago I cancelled my donations due to them firing a group of workers who stated their intent to unionize.
I've never even considered donating since I learned they have reserve that can cover site upkeep for decades, and the way Jimbo Wales spends the money. And this is like, more than a decade ago.
It's the same for St Jude. They sit on millions in reserve and ask for donations that end up in the CEOs pocket.
I instantly regret every donation I've made to Wikipedia, and won't be making more in the future.
I had the same instinct, but then I read an argument from a contributor who recommended continuing to support the organization financially while writing privately and publicly in support of the union. Voting with your wallet in this case has a good chance of backfiring, or at least sending the wrong message. The bottom line is taking money away from the organization hurts regular employees more than the leaders. Then again, if you believe the leadership is going to do this no matter what you do, it's understandable not to want to give the organization any support. It would be a terrible thing for this organization to die, but the ones putting it on this path are the leadership.
I think I'll stop my donations. Nothing gets executives' attention like dropping revenue. I read a lot of exec responses to employee dissatisfaction at other big tech companies that basically said 'too bad if a bunch of you are unhappy, the company is doing great so we're right, you can leave.'
I don't care if this backfires. My money helps people and union busting is modern day evil against the people.
Besides, we have seen it work recently. A bunch of local stations took Kimmel off the air, pressuring Disney to cancel his show. So Disney was about to cancel Kimmel, and instead everybody canceled their Hulu/Disney+ memberships, and a couple of days later, Kimmel was back.
It would be a terrible thing for this organization to die
If an organization won't respect the fact that it exists ONLY because of its workers, it would be a great thing if it died and made way for one that will. There are enough backups, we can survive the transition period. I have two, currently; one that gets updated, another from the pre-LLM era.
This is the same as gamers ranting about cosmetic prices while spending $100 a month on them. It does nothing. The company sees the balance sheets and walks away laughing while your words are ignored. Money talks and words are only worth anything when it threatens their future money streams.
This is bad.
…But I’m very worried about the future of Wikipedia.
Questionable leadership or not, it is a lighthouse in the information dystopia of the 2020s, which literally helps hold society together.
The far right wants it gone, and are not shy about screaming it, because Wikipedia is not compatible with fascism.
If it becomes hated by the left too, and ignored by the masses because of Big Tech blacklists it, I worry it won’t have the political support to keep its prominence.
And to be clear, I’m not worried about it dying. Wikipedia will stay where it is for decades.
I’m worried about it ceasing to be popular.
It doesn’t function as a uncontrolled source of information if no one sees it. Modern fascist censorship works by simply shifting attention.
The Wikimedia foundation vastly outpaces expenses. Despite doing their best to convince you if you don't donate $10 right now Wikipedia will literally evaporate 🥺🙏
They can afford to not pay like shit
They're also wasting massive amounts of money on things outside their core mission and scope.
God dammit, this is like the moment the Titanic first hit the iceberg. No matter how this labor issue is resolved, it will permanently demonize Wikimedia. No matter how valuable Wikipedia is or has ever been, current culture provides no foregiveness or path of redemption after an ethical transgression. Again, dammit, I love Wikipedia and have been donating steadily for years.
Let's not say never. Because they can course correct but it has to be hard pivot:
The fact that Wikimedia foundation chose profits over people is absolutely disgusting.
Yeah I'm probably never donating again after this. Why even bother arguing with the current US administration when the foundation is just going to copy all the bullshit the administration is pushing anyway...like, congratulations now literally everybody is pissed at your service.
You really don’t need to donate to them. Wikipedia has enough money to run itself indefinitely. The foundation just keeps growing and wasting money on non-Wikipedia stuff.
I don't understand this, the employees are few and the pr fallout + fighting this is much more expensive than just agreeing to what they demand
Plus it's a foundation and shouldn't have profit
the employees are few
WMF has 650 employees.
What they're going to demand is preventing arbitrary layoffs, less bullying in the workspace, etc. Supposedly the Foundation is very toxic workplace. It's not (just) about the money.
Aaand bye bye any intent I ever had to donate again. Fuckers.
I was initially 80/20 against/for Wikipedia's stance. I tentatively agreed with Wales' criticism of identity tracking for the initial vote, but needed more information to form a solid opinion. Then I saw the mention of their hiring a union busting firm in addition to their current relationship with a known union busting law firm.
Fuck them, 100%. I immediately cancelled my ongoing monthly donation, which I've provided for years. Until the Wikimedia Foundation recognizes their unionized employees and works with them in good faith, they will get not a penny from me
Yeah I'm cancelling my donation immediately. Not that my $2.30/month will break their budget, but fuck them now.
Relevant to mention: I've just posted a thread about users reporting that apparently WMF has hired a union-busting firm.
https://lemmy.world/post/50205578
It is publicly confirmed that WMF contracted the notorious union-busting law firm Littler Mendelson to fight Wiki Workers United.
(I also posted it to this community but it got deleted by the autobot.)
Edit: I just realised the OP link/article talks about this as well, ah 🤦♂️
Also may be worth mentioning the later part of the article, talking about Abstract Wikipedia, a beta project regarding whose future a request for comments has been called. Many editors believe it is unviable and a waste of money and time: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/The_future_of_Abstract_Wikipedia
Wikimedia please fire whatever consulting firm told you it's a good idea to do extractive capitalism as a non-profit foundation, reliant on long-term community goodwill and sustainable work ethics with low turnover rate
They're the "good guys" until their power is slightly threatened.
I don't regret my donations, because though this was predictable, I suppose, it hadn't happened yet. It's like the people who bought Teslas before the big reveal that Musk is a Nazi. Maybe we all should have seen it coming, but it's hard to blame anyone for missing it.
I'm not familiar with how unions work in the USA. Why does a union need to he recognized by a company? Just to have a formal communication pathway or is there more to it?
I do know the answer to this. In the US, the process goes roughly so:
Workers want to form a union. Workers sign authorization cards allowing a specific union to represent them. The union approaches the company and says, we have enough of your workers who want to join, (50% +1) will you voluntarily recognize that your workers have formed a union.
At this point it can go a few ways. The company can demand proof that there are 50%+1 workers authorizing the union to rep them. A neutral 3rd party will inspect the cards and attest this to the National Labor Relations Board office in that state. Like a public notary or professional witness. This protects the anonymity of the workers.
The company can immediately, or following this process recognize the union. They can go to the bargaining table and strike a deal with the workers, or enroll with the union under the area agreement and get the workers signed up.
The company can refuse, like wikimedia did, and demand it go to an election. A date is set and the workers come in to vote by anonymous ballot wether to be represented by the union.
If the company is some real shitheels they'll start dumping $$ into discouraging the workers from voting yes. They hire a union buster and hold captive audience meetings. The union buster tells the workers any kind of lies and bullshit they want, they are a 3rd party and therefore not liable for the bullshit they spout. They say the company will go bankrupt. The company can't afford to have union workers. Unions are corrupt and suck you dry with dues and don't deliver a better life for you and your family. Etc.
Companies frequently violate labor law during this time period. They give raises and benefits to anti-union workers. They fire union supporters (they will owe these workers back wages later). They lie to their workers, threaten the workers, intimidate the workers. Often this corrupts the election process and if the election fails, it can be overturned and repeated because of the illegal practices of the company and union busters. Their goal is to wear out and drive away pro-union workers by dragging the process on indefinately. When you see pickets, this is often what the picket is about. Informing the public that the company is mistreating the workers violating their right to form a union.
Wikimedia are some real shitheels.
You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
Cancelled my monthly. I'll start it again when I receive info that the workers have a union.
Might as well mirror the whole site, run it elsewhere where the suits don't have control over people.
Wikimedia, what the actual fuck...
I only donate from time to time but people who cancel recurring donations should write to them the reason as to why.
If your so called free society has laws to protect child murderers and racists but nothing to support the right to join a labour union it's not a free society. Go back to the beginning and try again.
Yet more evidence for my “never trust a self described libertarian” stance. Hasn’t failed me yet.
We should probably all be downloading the website and printing off the important stuff, like how to make fire and why the sky-spirits get mad sometimes.
I hate this. I really hate this.
Was wondering when they were going to enshittify.
Fuck you, Dimmy.
EDIT: just realized something. I listen to Cory Doctorow's podcast and he starts each episode off with a lengthy list of scheduled appearances. He's been mentioning an upcoming appearance with Jimmy Wales. Looked it up. They'll be on the same stage on August 17th. Wonder if this will come up.
Can't wait for ol' Jimbo to come by with his hand out this year, "Please dear reader, won't you give us money to abuse our employees?'
God dammit. No more donations.
