Grindr Employees Plan to Unionize Citing Rise of Anti-LGBTQ+ Policies and CEO’s Support of Trump

The last three years have seen some of the most impactful societal reckonings we've dealt with in nearly a century. Everything from race to gender to climate science has been pushed toward justice, and now the vox populi is speaking more loudly than ever. As we speak, both the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA) are both on strike in a move that will completely transform Hollywood as we know it, and strippers in Los Angeles have unionized as part of the Actors Equity Association (AEA). Well, now we can add one more group to the list of organizations making sure the voice of the people is heard and protected: Grindr employees.

.@Grindr union drop, workers organizing with @CWAUnion pic.twitter.com/3FwMavJWUg

— The Worker Agency (@TheWorkerAgency) July 20, 2023

Last Thursday, around 100 Grindr employees of various positions filed a petition to form a union with the National Labor Relations Board and announced the move to Grindr management via Zoom. The reasons given for the move to unionize were the ongoing attacks on the rights of LGBTQ+ people, the recent surge of tech layoffs, and their own CEO's conservative leanings. "As members and allies of communities that are systematically oppressed, we know that strength lies in working together, not alone," they wrote in a mission statement. "We’re already all in this together: we just want to DTR," they added. For those unfamiliar, "DTR" is internet slang for "Define the Relationship."

via GIPHY

The group of employees, going by Grindr United as part of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), noted that social media posts by Grindr CEO George Arison where he claimed to support "some Trump policies" demonstrated the "urgent need" for LGBTQ+ workers to unionize. Specifically, Grindr United is fighting for basic employment security, a union representative to serve on the company’s board of directors, guaranteed remote work, unlimited PTO and parental leave, and better health benefits including "gender affirmation funds" for transgender workers. The group is also asking for more standard protections such as cost-of-living increases. But the Union-to-be also is showing their commitment to intersectional justice. One of the requests from Grindr United is for the company to "actively pursue anti-racism" as a part of the app's fundamental identity. "We want to make sure we have a voice in our workplace and publicly to support the intersectionality of all our rights," said Grindr software engineer Jack Alto. "When one of us [is] at risk, all of us are at risk."

via GIPHY

Though they stopped short of officially recognizing Grindr United, Grindr management said in an email to The Advocate, "We respect our employees' rights and point of view, and we will continue to work together to make Grindr a great place to work for all." But one of the great things about a union forming is that they don't need management to formally recognize them right now. The group has a supermajority of workers behind them which means they are likely to pursue an official vote with the National Labor Relations. You can read Grindr United's full mission statement here.

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