# Wikimedia Foundation has fired its proto-union organisers **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 14, 2026, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wikimedia-foundation-has-fired-its-proto-union-organisers/1030891 "2026-06-14T11:28:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wikimedia-foundation-has-fired-its-proto-union-organisers/1030891/1 "2026-06-14T11:28:51Z")
A few workers at Wikimedia Foundation had started to form Wiki Workers United. This was not yet a union in the legal sense. The foundation let 90 days elapse so that it wouldn’t be called retaliation, and in May 2026 it closed the section (Community Tech) where most of those workers worked, and fired the remaining organiser who wasn’t in that section. So now everybody’s unhappy, except maybe for MAGA people. [Big Tech’s Anti-Labor Playbook Has Come for Wikipedia](https://medium.com/regarding-wikipedia/wikipedia-is-doing-the-capitalist-thing-56a393232943) ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wikimedia-foundation-has-fired-its-proto-union-organisers/1030891/2 "2026-06-14T14:51:18Z")
I’m going to try to document some of the primary discussion sources here because the Wikimedia/Wikipedia history is very difficult to track on their discussion system (which isn’t a linear timeline like here, but a series of continuously-edited documents that have since been edited, moved, and merged several times). - [04:35, 21 May 2026 (UTC)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WMF_Community_Tech_team_has_been_disbanded,_engineers_laid_off#c-Tamzin-20260521043500-This_is_blatant_union-busting) - First allegation of union-busting, from user [`Tamzin`](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Tamzin)’s public comment - [06:29, 21 May 2026 (UTC)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WMF_Community_Tech_team_has_been_disbanded,_engineers_laid_off#c-Hashar-20260521062900-Ltbdl-20260521030400) - Unofficial/personal opinion denying union-busting, from WMF-employed developer [`Hashar`](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Hashar) - [16:04, 21 May 2026 (UTC)](https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Community_Wishlist&oldid=30574161#Response_from_WMF) - [`SCherukuwada` (Sai Suman Cherukuwada, WMF Deputy Chief Product and Technology Officer)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:SCherukuwada_(WMF)) providing context about the situation. Notes affected staff may go through internal process for other open WMF rules. Does not mention union in this comment. - [16:38, 21 May 2026 (UTC)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WMF_Community_Tech_team_has_been_disbanded,_engineers_laid_off#c-SCherukuwada_(WMF)-20260521163800-Qcne-20260521162500) - Official denial from Suman Cherukuwada: - [16:42, 21 May 2026 (UTC)](https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Community_Wishlist#c-SCherukuwada_(WMF)-20260521160400-Response_from_WMF "23 days ago") - User [2601AC47](https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:2601AC47) responds to Suman’s first comment and asks about the union - [23:41, 21 May 2026 (UTC)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WMF_Community_Tech_team_has_been_disbanded,_engineers_laid_off#c-Slaporte_(WMF)-20260521234100-Note_from_the_Wikimedia_Foundation_on_unionization) - Another official denial from [`Slaporte` (Stephen LaPorte, WMF General Counsel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Slaporte_(WMF)) - [14:41, 23 May 2026 (UTC)](https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meta:Requests_for_help_from_a_sysop_or_bureaucrat/Archives/2026-05#c-%EA%B8%B0%EB%82%98%E3%85%8F%E3%84%B4-20260523144100-Tamzin-20260523115300 "22 days ago") - User 2601AC47 banned from Wikipedia * * * And some current links: - Union-busting discussion (responses to Suman’s comments): [Talk:Community Wishlist - Meta-Wiki](https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Community_Wishlist#Response_from_WMF) (it’s a sub-discussion in the Wishlist talkpage) - WWU Petition #1, on the English Wikipedia, for active editors: [Wikipedia:Wiki Workers United solidarity - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wiki_Workers_United_solidarity) - WWU Petition #2, on the Metawiki, for anyone: [Wiki Workers United - Meta-Wiki](https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wiki_Workers_United#Solidarity) * * * (Edits: Fixed timeline order, clarified ban, inline quotes)