NewsmakersDecember 5, 2023

New York Comptrollers Call Out eBay for Removing Unionization Language

The company removed from its human rights policy statement a passage pledging to respect workers’ rights to unionize after workers at a subsidiary voted to form a union.

Reported by Michael Katz

The comptrollers of New York state and New York City are calling on eBay Inc. to restore language the company removed from its human rights policy statement, which previously said the company respects its workers’ right to unionize. The comptrollers have accused the company of intentionally removing the passage after workers at one of its subsidiaries voted to form a union.

In a letter to eBay Chairman Paul Pressler, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander and New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli called out the company for removing a passage that said “eBay also respects workers’ rights to unionize and commits to bargain in good faith with any relevant associations or labor unions” from its current policy statement.

“Based on the excised language, we can only conclude that, as a matter of policy, the board and management no longer wish to publicly highlight the substance to which eBay has committed,” the comptrollers wrote in the letter. “If that is not the case, why delete the language?”

The comptrollers said they are urging eBay’s board “to promptly restore the publicly stated expression of its values and these commitments, once a hallmark of the company’s Human Rights Policy.” Even without the removed sentence, eBay’s policy specifically references the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the International Labor Organization’s Fundamental Conventions.

It is the second time this year the comptrollers have taken the e-commerce company to task over allegations of workers’ rights violations. In June, DiNapoli and Lander, along with other institutional investors, confronted Pressler in a letter about allegations that eBay subsidiary TCGplayer Inc., an online trading card marketplace, violated U.S. labor laws.

They cited allegations that TCGplayer management tried to thwart an attempt by its workers to unionize by surveilling employees at work, holding anti-union meetings and keeping track of employees who displayed support to form a union. Workers at TCGplayer, which eBay acquired in October 2022, voted in favor of unionizing in March.

“TCGPlayer has apparently not engaged in any bargaining with the union designated by its employees and has reportedly refused to respond to the union’s request for information,” the investors wrote in the June letter. “In our view, this conduct represents a clear breach with eBay’s stated policies.”

The comptrollers noted that their pension funds collectively own “approximately 2.5 million eBay shares valued at $111 million,” as of June 30. The comptrollers gave eBay until December 4 to respond to their most recent letter.

“The stealthy removal of the language expressly referencing fundamental freedom of workers to unionize threatens eBay’s legacy and deepened our concern as shareholders,” Lander said in a statement. “Either eBay ignored our previous concerns or responded by removing the language about respect for workers’ rights and good faith bargaining without telling anybody—I’m not sure which would be worse. We urge the board to genuinely engage with us now.” [Source]

Representatives from eBay did not immediately respond to a request for comment.