Unionized workers at the eBay subsidiary TCGPlayer have been locked in bargaining negotiations with the online retail giant since September, fighting to secure better wages and benefits as part of their first contract. But workers now say delays in negotiations brought on by the company have cost them months of meaningful bargaining sessions, pushing back critical discussions about workers’ economic demands that were vital to the union campaign’s success.

Workers at the Syracuse, New York, authentication center, where hundreds of thousands of cards used in games like Magic: The Gathering and Pokemon are sorted and shipped, voted to unionize last March in a historic campaign that resulted in the first union at eBay. 

The driving forces behind the campaign were the promise of a more democratic workplace, better pay, more substantial benefits, transparency and fairness in measuring performance, and accommodations for disabled workers. 

eBay didn’t recognize the union until last August, after the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rejected an appeal to the company’s election decision, which workers claim stalled bargaining efforts for at least five months. 

“By the time we actually, finally got into real bargaining, it was December already,” said Briana Thomas, a member of the union’s bargaining committee and a shipping generalist at TCGPlayer. 

Thomas said that although bargaining technically started in September, both parties only met once a month until November. 

“That is almost a whole year [since the union was recognized] that was honestly wasted because they refused to recognize us and refused to uphold their legal obligation to meet us at the table,” she added.

Workers hope that a recent NLRB decision finding eBay to be in violation of federal labor law will usher in more frequent bargaining sessions and a willingness for the company to negotiate in good faith with the union.

The December ruling found the company breached labor law by not recognizing the union in March after the election, denying union representation during disciplinary investigations, refusing to provide information the union is entitled to, making changes to benefits and working conditions without engaging in bargaining, and strictly enforcing work rules in retaliation for workers’ decision to unionize. The union filed these complaints as unfair labor practice (ULP) claims last year.

eBay representatives did not respond to a list of questions regarding the NLRB’s ruling that found the company in violation of federal labor laws.

“We have experienced eBay’s refusal to respect our legally protected rights firsthand. We applaud this ruling and hope that the reality of legal consequences will motivate the company to come to the table and bargain with us in good faith,” said Ethan Salerius, a TCGPlayer unions bargaining committee member, in a press release.

The NLRB has not yet issued a settlement with eBay, according to officials with Communications Workers of America (CWA), the national union that helped organize workers at TCGPlayer. Thomas said workers expect to hear about terms of a settlement soon.

“It would have completely changed the relationship that we have, if they had chosen to … hear their employees’ voices when we say we want a union,” Thomas said. “That really would have set a completely different tone for bargaining than what they did, which was to fight us at every turn.”

Union representation in meetings

The NLRB’s investigation also determined that workers had been denied union representation in disciplinary hearings between last March and August, Thomas said. 

“Their claim was that we did not have a certified union,” she said.

Now, the company allows union representation when they investigate a disciplinary incident.

“But they are still denying a union rep for really everything else,” Thomas said.

Meetings where workers may request particular accessibility accommodations are instances in which they feel union representation is most needed, she added. 

Thomas said the accommodations request process takes longer, and demand for simple accommodations, like chairs, has increased after TCPlayer workers started their onboarding process as part of eBay’s workforce last summer. The integration process with eBay follows the company’s acquisition of TCGPlayer back in October 2022.

A particular difficulty for workers, Thomas said, is the removal of chairs from workstations in the cabinet area where cards are stored. She added TCGPlayer deemed the chairs a safety hazard after integrating with eBay.

“People can spend upward of 10 hours in these cabinets on their feet,” Thomas noted. “It seems like such a small ask to allow people to use a tool that would make this job easier. It is something that people really value in reducing the amount of pain that they have when they’re performing these tasks.”

Thomas said TCGPlayer does not allow the presence of union officials at accommodation request meetings, something they will seek to negotiate during upcoming bargaining sessions.

“We would like people to have the opportunity to have a union rep in any meeting that they choose,” she said. “If that’s what makes them comfortable, that is the end goal.”

Elected officials show concern over worker treatment at TCGPlayer

The alleged unlawful actions taken by eBay against the TCGPlayer union and the seeming changes made by eBay to its human rights policy have also raised concerns among elected officials in New York state. The state and New York City have a vested interest in the company’s public image, as both pension funds for both the state and city, which collectively have about half a trillion dollars in assets under management, rely on about 2.5 million eBay shares valued last June at about $111 million.

The comptrollers in New York state and New York City urged eBay Board of Directors Chairman Paul Pressler to comply with its human rights policy in a December letter, which explicitly indicates alignment with international labor standards set by entities like the United Nations and the International Labor Organization. The company’s policy, for instance, includes allusions to respecting workers’ rights to freedom of association. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and City Comptroller Brad Lander interpret the right to freely associate as allowing workers to form a union without management interference.

eBay also recently deleted a portion of their human rights policy that indicated eBay is committed to respecting workers’ rights to unionize and bargain in good faith, which DiNapoli and Lander say is unsettling and raises concerns among investors about eBay’s commitment to human rights. A report from Vice suggests the statement was deleted between March and late August.

“Companies thrive when their workers are supported and respected,” Lander said in a press release. “The stealthy removal of the language expressly referencing fundamental freedom of workers to unionize threatens eBay’s legacy and deepened our concern as shareholders.”

eBay media relations staff did not respond to questions about the removal of the statement or the concerns outlined by elected officials.

For Thomas, the company’s removal of the online statement was concerning. Thomas had just used that section of eBay’s human rights policy as part of a speech she gave at a rally last July, just days before the company recognized the TCGPlayer union.

“They’re finally recognizing us, and we felt like that was a step in the right direction so that we could finally work together, move forward, and be productive,” Thomas said. “But then deleting this from their site was very counterproductive.”

Since then, Thomas said workers have confronted TCGPlayer CEO Robert Bigler about the removal of the statement. Thomas said Bigler told workers he would talk to eBay officials about it. 

That portion of the human rights policy came up during bargaining conversations again, but without specifying, Thomas said the language would not be the same. In fact, she added, the newly proposed statement would be reflective of eBay’s attitude toward its employees’ rights.

“It shows that while they will follow [labor] law as they see it and they will do what they’re obligated to do, they’re not going to really respect our wishes or our rights beyond what they have to,” she said.

What is the bargaining strategy going forward?

As negotiations continue, Thomas said workers’ strategy will remain the same as it has since representatives from both sides first sat at the negotiating table: keep the ball in eBay’s court.

“For the most part, we pass proposals back and forth,” she said. “If they give us a proposal and we need to make some changes to it, we try to make those changes and pass it back right away because we really want to get this going as quickly as possible. We don’t necessarily see that same sense of urgency on eBay’s side.”

The short-term goal for the union is to get eBay to sit and negotiate more often. Thomas said workers would like to see several days of negotiating in a row every two weeks, as opposed to the current cadence of one meeting every two weeks.

“We have between 12 and 16 unanswered proposals right now,” she added. “I do believe that we’re close on a lot of them, but having to wait so long between sessions just makes it very slow.”

Even with the progress the union has made so far, Thomas said it remains to be seen whether eBay will be receptive to economic proposals like higher wages. Despite that, she said she remains hopeful.

“We have all of these great ideas, and we just think that, if they would take the time to listen to us and to really work with us toward this better future, that [TCGPlayer] would be a better place for all,” Thomas said.