It seems the situation at TCGPlayer is going from bad to worse. After beingacquired by eBay in 2022andwinning the vote to unionize in 2023, TCGPlayer’sauthentication centre in Syracuse was shut down, with over 200 employees laid off. The TCGunion-CWA (Communication Workers of America) Local 1123 claims eBay shut this office down suddenly in an attempt to curb unionizing.
The CWA has said that this is “an attempt to evade its bargaining obligations and to keep the company non-union.” To make things worse, union workers have claimed that TCGPlayer immediately sent security guards to the centre as soon as the shut down was announced in an attempt to intimidate them. Now, the union is calling on TCGplayer customers to boycott the site in solidarity.
TCGunion Is Calling For A Boycott Of TCGPlayer
“We are calling for a boycott of TCGplayer to demand that eBay keeps the Authentication Center open and keeps 200 unionized jobs in Syracuse,” said a post on the TCGunion’s BlueSky account. “TCG enthusiasts: don’t buy your cardboard from TCGplayer.”
“eBay announced that they’re shutting down the Syracuse Authentication Center to crush the union, putting us all out of a job,” continued the thread. “We’re calling on our community to stop purchasing from TCGplayer until they agree to keep the Authentication Center open.” The union is asking fans to switch to local retail shops, the union-made Card Kingdom, or peer-to-peer methods via social media to purchase TCG cards to show support for the boycott.
The comments show quite a bit of support for this move, with customers pledging not to buy from TCGPlayer, cancelling orders, and even opting out of their subscriptions entirely.
The union had some pretty strong words for TCGPlayer’s intimidation tactics. “We refuse to accept Ebay’s corporate terrorism and contempt for its workforce,” said CWA District 1 vice president Dennis Trainor. “We will hold Ebay accountable in the courts, in the streets, and in the public eye until justice is served for the very workers who built TCGPlayer into what it is today.”
