Labor & Employment Shareholder Candice Zee was featured on Bloomberg News on Wednesday, March 27 to discuss Kickstarter’s plan to unionize and what that means for other Silicon Valley technology firms and the industry in general.

During the interview with Bloomberg Technology Anchor and Executive Producer Emily Chang, Ms. Zee shared that this situation is most likely due to the “growing pains of the tech industry; companies that were once start-ups are now Fortune 500 companies with hundreds if not thousands of employees .”

What it comes down to, according to Ms. Zee is that “employees are looking to have a voice,” but “the real question is what do they want? If they are unhappy about the business strategy of the company or where their funding is coming from, that’s something that the union cannot negotiate for them.”

Ms. Zee acknowledged that unionization in tech companies is rare because the National Labor Relations Act was enacted in the 1930s. The Act is a “20th century statute that is trying to be applied to a 21st century business model.” She noted tech companies will also have to keep a keen eye on the progress of the Kickstarter unionization efforts so they can better prepare and try to rectify situations before a union might come in and negotiate on behalf of employees.

Vedder Price Labor & Employment attorneys provide counsel and representation to employers across all industries in labor relations matters, including union organizing and decertification petitions, collective bargaining, corporate campaigns, strike support, labor-related grievance processing and arbitration handling. If you have any questions regarding the issues addressed in this interview, please contact Candice Zee, +1 (424) 204 -7771 or any Vedder Price attorney with whom you have worked.

To watch the interview in full, please click here.