Fantastic article. Is there anyway non editors can support action?
this post was submitted on 26 May 2026
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
Our Philosophies:
- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
- Income inequality is the main cause of lower living standards.
- Workers must join together and fight back for what is rightfully theirs.
- We must not be divided and conquered. Workers gain the most when they focus on unifying issues.
Our Goals
- Higher wages for underpaid workers.
- Better worker representation, including but not limited to unions.
- Better and fewer working hours.
- Stimulating a massive wave of worker organizing in the United States and beyond.
- Organizing and supporting political causes and campaigns that put workers first.
founded 3 years ago
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I decided to cancel my recurring donation, citing these actions as why.
Here’s the email I wrote:
I would like to cancel my recurring donation in response to Wikimedia’s decision to fire Brooke Vibber and the Community Tech team. I love Wikipedia, but I have concerns around the anti-union and anti-community actions that are happening under the current leadership. I will not in good conscience continue to support a “nonprofit” organization that is following the big tech/Silicon Valley anti-labor playbook.
- The type of change you would like to make to your donation - cancel
- The email address that was used when the donation was made - [redacted]
- The full name used - [redacted]
- The amount and currency of the donation - $20 USD recurring monthly
I hope the Wikimedia Foundation rethinks its approach to the community and its workers, and establishes practices of transparency.
Thank you,
Not that I think my $240/year is going to make or break them, but maybe if they hear this from other donors they’ll rethink their choices.
Yoink. Here I go cancelling again.
I wish I was already a donor so I could send this email. First time I've felt regret like this, I should be more proactive about supporting things like this in the future. Thanks for sharing.
It took me a long time and some kicks in the butt to make some of my donations recurring. Like I decided to give recurring donations to Wikimedia and the Internet Archive a few years back when Elon was attacking both of them. I’d given as one-offs when Wikipedia would prompt for donations, but was proud to make it a recurring thing.
I've done the same. This sucks, but I didn't realize I was donating to an organization without a workers union agreement in place.
Wait for the editors to strike and then make shitty edits
I don't really know the details here as I can't find any other sources or articles, let alone statements by the affected parties.
But the statement that wikimedia is rich because it has 17 months of operating reserves and a profitable unit with $8.1M in revenue seems a bit naive when said about an organization with 650 employees (likely $50M annual payroll) and misses the point, if indeed the point is about union busting as the headline claims.
For me, I'm less interested in the financials and more about the story from the fired individuals. As a monthly donor, if the team comes out saying they were fired for unionizing, then I'm happy to cancel. But if it was more to do with business or operating disagreements, that's another story, even if I disagree with the specific operational decision.
But I tried following the links to the discussion pages and the solidarity pages. But most of the comments seem to be upset about the direction of the community wish list, the loss of the wishlist, and no direct statements about union busting. I then tried searching team member names and fired keywords, and couldn't find any sources or direct statements.
So I dunno. I'll wait for credible first hand statements from the team before I cancel my donation. Cancelling a community request team sucks, but union busting is a completely different ballgame.
Da fuck? If even Wikipedia is enshittifying now I have no hope left for the future of the web.
Holy fuck.
My personal take is: don't silently cancel your donations in hope of change. You have much more influence power if you publicly threaten to cancel your donation, especially if you already are a recurring donor. Make yourself heard, on wiki. These protest pages are being read.
I wonder what the ostensible excuse for the firings were? The article didn’t mention it, but I suppose that’s not public information.
…It should be, though. I feel like there’s not a lot of reason for the WMF to keep decisions secret.
I mean, it'd be pretty harsh for them to publicly publish that the teams commit velocity was down and they were all PIP'd, lol. Not that I think that's likely, but there are lots of possible for cause reasons that shouldn't be shared.
If anything, I suspect the reason is the more pedestrian "moving in a different direction" from the wish list process.
That’s true.
I asked because it makes me wonder if there’s a grain of justification. The circumstances sure look suspicious from the outside, but who knows what happened within.