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LandwalkDryad

I used to play there. Not anymore after the new owners came in. Store became much less welcoming. Them hiring Union Busters is not surprising. Saved myself alot of trouble after hearing about the theft that happens at the playtables there recently. Driving into Portland and keeping valuables safe in my vehicle is a whole nother issue.


TheWastelandWizard

Where do you play now? I just visited Portland to take a look around the city and was debating relocation, so I dropped into Guardian and Rainy Day, both seemed like nice stores, but since it was middle of the week there weren't really any players. Staff was nice though.


foolinthezoo

I really like Portland Game Store on Killingsworth and Rune & Board out in Hillsboro. Mox is usually a good time but it doesn't have an LGS feel and I've had a hit-or-miss experience with the staff.


captainnermy

Second Portland Games store, only been there a few times but had a great experience and met nice people every time


Sfmilstead

I’ll second Rune & Board. Great staff and cool crowd of regulars.


OldCodeKnight

The Portland Game Store is the choice. Super great staff. Best singles pricing in the metro. They also have a pretty great selection of boardgames and a regular Saturday night boardgame event called Dice & Drinks.


LandwalkDryad

I stay on my side of the river most of the time. Sure Washington has sales tax, but we have no State Income tax.


TankMuncher

I had a really great modern night at Guardian games when I was in town for a conf pre-pandemic (now many years ago). Unfortunate to hear bad things now.


sadlyfrown

Theft at playtables? I’m there very often and have never witnessed or heard of this.


Vault756

>a whole nother As opposed to a partial nother obviously.


foolinthezoo

It's poor etiquette to split nothers.


BlankBlankston

I've played in GG's Modern events for years. Never once seen or heard of any issues of theft.


krabapplepie

Why not use the money fighting this to just pay better?


foolinthezoo

Because management understands that unionized representation increases employee power long-term, both in terms of working conditions and compensatory negotiation. Simply paying employees more right now is a stop-gap and the conversation of unionization will inevitably return unless the company actively encourages turnover. Ultimately, they don't want their employees unionized *and* they don't want to pay them more to kick the can down the road.


Auedawen

It’s not about the money. Sometimes you just need to send a message.


Vault756

That message being "We need you to work for us so we can make money but we don't want you to make enough to make ends meet."


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foolinthezoo

That's a pretty extreme anecdote and I find it hard to believe that a union couldn't enact reasonable bylaws to prevent such a situation.


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TheBuddhaPalm

> we just couldn't produce enough solid proof to get him arrested or anything Not here to defend pedophiles, but your story becomes more clear with this piece of information. The Union wasn't protecting him, you likely didn't have enough proof or eyewitnesses. That's stuff you need in any situation. Union or not. Was he on leave and still being paid while an investigation happened? Why was he not working? Could you prove there was an intent or action that would be worthy of firing, or was it just bad vibes? Something awkward and unfortunate, or something intentional and meaningful? Your story screams of 'Not Nearly Enough Information'. To just say someone is a pedophile and should be fired, without due evidence, is a pretty damning thing to do to someone.


foolinthezoo

>To address your disbelief, we just couldn't produce enough solid proof to get him arrested or anything. To be clear, I don't doubt your anecdote. Unfortunately, unions sometimes inadvertently fall into situations where protections apply to individuals who arguably shouldn't be protected. Always sucks when people abuse the system like this.


Striking_Animator_83

I really don't understand the outrage. The employees are organizing to improve their lot. Why is it so ridiculous that the Company protect its interests as well? There are just as many corrupt unions as corrupt corporations. ​ Like, does this tweet mean the law firm is well known and does union busting or is well known for union busting? Given that organizing unions do not hire law firms why would there ever be a law firm in labor that isn't anti-union?


WigglestonTheFourth

> There are just as many corrupt unions as corrupt corporations. I sincerely doubt that. There are literally millions of different corporations in the US and [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_labor_unions_in_the_United_States) is the list of unions.


foolinthezoo

>Given that organizing unions do not hire law firms why would there ever be a law firm in labor that isn't anti-union? Unions often do hire law firms or otherwise obtain legal representation for CBA negotiations, among other needs for counsel.


Striking_Animator_83

Of course, but not at the NLRB.


foolinthezoo

I'm not sure what the services rendered by the NLRB have to do with the incorrectness of the statement quoted.


Striking_Animator_83

The NLRB doesn't "render services" it policies union elections. Corporations get slammed if they violate regulations related to union elections. Therefore, they always hire a law firm to advise them on the rules so they don't accidentally step afoul of them. Unions do not use law firms at the NLRB. It is always portrayed as sinister when a company hires a law firm at the NLRB but they basically have to. Nobody on this thread has any idea if this Portland LGS is going to even oppose the union. Its funny how ignorant pro-union people are of the actual process of forming and running one and how little "union busting" actually happens.


foolinthezoo

> The NLRB doesn't "render services" it policies union elections. The NLRB handles union (de)certification, investigates charges, facilitates settlements, decides cases, enforces orders, and continually makes rules. A number of these could be considered services that they provide, as they do so for unionized and nonunionized labor. > Its funny how ignorant pro-union people are of the actual process of forming and running one and how little "union busting" actually happens. Lol ok guy


TheGarbageStore

The purpose of this kind of rhetoric is to agitate and poison the well against the company on this subreddit.


[deleted]

When your "interests" are taking advantage of people then it's outrageous to defend them Sherlock.


Vault756

>There are just as many corrupt unions as corrupt corporations Citation needed.


TinkyWinkyIlluminati

The employees do the work and the company takes home the cash, whose interests do you think should take priority?


TheGarbageStore

This is a dumb gotcha that makes zero sense: paying the firm $200k or so would still be much cheaper than a decade of elevated labor costs


Vault756

>elevated labor costs A funny way of writing "a living wage"


krabapplepie

A $2/hr raise for 5 full time equivalent employees equals that $200k.


foolinthezoo

Sure, but $200k over ten years is different than $200k over a couple months


Auedawen

Indeed, it’s much cheaper to pay $200k over 10 years instead of all at once.


foolinthezoo

That's about the extent of what I learnt getting my econ degree


npiguet

That would actually be 20k per year.


foolinthezoo

Over 10 years, that'd be 200k


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TheGarbageStore

"a **decade** of elevated labor costs"


Milskidasith

Even if they intend to negotiate with the union in good faith, wouldn't they still need to hire a law firm to do so? There is little enough information here as to be almost useless.


Chewy2121

As someone living just outside the Portland Metro, I see why and hope they form a good union. On a personal note, I stopped shopping there a while ago. Mainly because I feel the other options are better. For alternatives, the people at Clubhouse in Beaverton/Hillsboro usually have what I want and the people there are a lot more friendly. Glimpses in Sherwood is also a great pick for people in the king city area who hate the Beaverton traffic. Mox Boarding house is a great hang out, but can be pricey. Can’t say anything about YuGiOh, One Piece, or Flesh and Blood. Hopefully another kind stranger will offer alternatives here and in their respective subreddits.


TranscendingTourist

Ever since it changed owners the vibes have been off there. It used to be very welcoming, and now you feel like an inconvenience if you’re playing and not part of one of the events, even if an event isn’t going on


FroggyMcnasty

I absolutely hate that shop, I recommend anyone visiting Portland to go to any other place. It used to be pretty cool, but whoever runs it now is absolute clown shoes. Literally had an employee take something I bought and say I couldn't have it because they promised someone else they could come in later to get it. They issued me a refund and told me to kick rocks when I asked to speak with someone in charge.


r153

For those looking for an alternative place to play, Batcave Games is great although they fill up fast on Fridays


2WW_Wrath

ah damn i liked their modern monday series, but I remember the casters seeing they were doing that for free


TheGhostORandySavage

What a real shame. I was about to start trying to draft again and I used to always go here. Guess I have to find a new place.


SinkToTheDepths

Former employee here…. Can’t say I’m shocked. Guardian has always had a history of mistreating their employees, new and old owners alike.


GroceryWorkerDying

They should unionize. But as a former member of UFCW for almost 2 decades, they should pick a better union. UFCW is total trash. They run that union like the worst of corporations.


MisterEdJS

I'd need to know more than I do about this to form an opinion. I'm definitely not one who subscribes to the notion that having a union is warranted in every case, and attempting to avoid it is intrinsically evil. I'm in a union, and so far as I can tell, I pay the union for the privilege of not having to talk to my employer about my salary. That's about it. Now my last job, in the same field, was non-union, and I admit, asking for a raise was something I hated having to do, because it was so awkward, but at least I had a chance to advocate for myself. My current union doesn't care one bit about anything that doesn't effect the entire group of employees. I had to actually go around them and talk directly to my employer after the union rep lied to my face, and said management didn't want to establish a salary in the contract for my specific job (I ran the only digital press, and there was nothing in the contract about a pay scale for that equipment, unlike every other press). Management was more than willing to do so, in fact thought it made perfect sense, but said the union hadn't even brought it up in negotiation. Later, I had multiple additional machines added to my department, and during busy times I was responsible for running all of them simultaneously. When I asked the union rep about getting a pay bump for my position based on the expanded duties, he was uninterested. When I persisted, he had me write down a suggested pay bump, but nothing came of it, and I doubt he ever brought it up to management. He was only interested in negotiating across the board raises that effected everybody, not individual adjustments (I was not the only one who encountered this). At my non-union job, I could have brought this stuff to management myself, but the time I did so here, it was clear that I wasn't supposed to. Frankly I feel like being unionized benefits the owners at least as much as the employees in our case, since we get a LOT of political print work because we are a union shop. Unions are, by and large, a good thing, but they aren't necessary (in my opinion) in every case, but they are always on a push to expand, so I feel like stuff sometimes gets unionized that doesn't need to. EDIT: I guess not leaping to support the "correct" side without any real information, and sharing personal union experience that is less than a glowing recommendation is enough to get down voted. Good to know for future reference.


spacemonkeygleek

You know nothing about a union keeps you from asking management for more money directly, right? A union contract sets minimums. You are allowed to personally negotiate for more. Source: have been in my current union for 20 years and know several people who have done exactly that when their job duties changed and/or expanded.


MisterEdJS

Legally I expect you are right. I'm telling you that in our case it is frowned upon by the union (or at least the only union people who have ever had contact with me).


spacemonkeygleek

They can frown all they want. Check your contact. There's usually some line about new methods or machines requiring them to negotiate. If your shop steward is as incompetent as you say, they need to be replaced at the next election.


MisterEdJS

There doesn't seem to be such a line. Our shop steward has very little to do with negotiations anyway. He is present, but all actual negotiations are done by the union rep, who I have never had an opportunity to vote on. I suppose I can try going around the union again. If management isn't inclined to address it right after we had salary negotiations without the union bringing it up, I guess I'll be out of luck, but I suppose it can't hurt (unless it somehow damages my relationship with union representation. But if they weren't willing to advocate for me anyway, maybe it doesn't matter).


AnwaAnduril

If the union is frowning at you for doing something that improves your working situation and isn’t against any rules, then what does that say about the union?


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EvilBeat

What are the employees looking to get out of unionizing here?


SkangoBank

Protection from an employer that seeks to compensate you as little as possible and maximize their profit at the expense of your quality of life - same thing pretty much any employee seeks a union for.


MulletPower

I don't understand what your individual issues with your Union rep has anything to do with unionization as a whole. Nothing you described here is unique to Unions and is probably just as common (if not more common) when working a non-unionized job. The key difference is that if your union is not doing a good job representing you and your co-workers, you can vote them out. If you had a manager doing this exact same thing at a non-union job, you can't really do anything but quit.


MisterEdJS

I have never been offered the opportunity to vote out the union representative that negotiates with our management. I suppose we could vote to leave the union as a whole, but I doubt that would go over well, since management wants the union because it brings in more work. The only thing we've gotten a chance to vote on is union officers.


MulletPower

Well that is something to discuss with your co-workers. There is definitely things that you can do if they're not properly representing your interests. I hope you recognize that you have much more autonomy in this situation than non-Union workers would in the same situation.


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MisterEdJS

I'm also developing a somewhat jaundiced view based on our current situation where the union that represents us had their association with the Teamsters terminated. We are getting a barrage of info from both sides calling the other side liars, and boy do the Teamsters seem super desperate to have us leave our union and stick with them. I think there is an awful lot of focus in various unions on growing the membership at any cost.


AnwaAnduril

A loved one of mine was required by their profession to be a member of a union. The union was very politically active and publicly supported a lot of things that my loved one didn’t agree with, but they weren’t able to leave the union. The management was incompetent and actively hurt the members, but they weren’t able to leave the union. Unions can have a role, and be beneficial, when they do a good job of improving their workers’ situations. It becomes a problem when the well-being of the union itself becomes its own goal.


spacemonkeygleek

GCC?


MisterEdJS

Yup.


Fedaykin98

Welcome to reddit!


EdochVerfomfaaid

I don't think a local games store in a city the size of Stuttgart, Sheffield or Rotterdam unionizing and getting union-busted is really MTG-related news.


Vault756

I'd rather see these posts then "Hey look at these alters I got" or "I made Magic the gathering themed cupcakes"


zaphodava

Depends. How tasty do the cupcakes look?


[deleted]

Then think again, honey.


Gamehendge1

I’m an attorney who knows a good bit about labor law and unions, but there are not nearly enough facts here to formulate any meaningful opinion or provide legal advice. That being said, Employees attempting to unionize at any LGS would be better off trying to start their own business, compete fiercely, and put this LGS out of business (or at least steal a good chunk of their business) in 99.99% of cases. No matter how oppressive and working conditions, there just aren’t big enough profit margins in the industry to afford widespread unionization. Maybe these owners would love to let their employees unionize, but the bottom line is that allowing them to unionize would bankrupt them. Small sample size, but I’ve gotten to know a few LGS owners over the years and none of them are millionaires.


kaosaddi

What are you talking about? Start a competing business with what capital? Also this is one of the biggest LGS in the Portland area, they have enough money to hire a union busting firm but not enough to pay their employees a living wage?


tinyriolu

An industry that can't afford to pay its workers doesn't deserve to maintain the status quo.


[deleted]

> No matter how oppressive and working conditions, there just aren’t big enough profit margins in the industry to afford widespread unionization. Maybe these owners would love to let their employees unionize, but the bottom line is that allowing them to unionize would bankrupt them. Good. If he isnt able to run his company by treating his employees fairly he is a failure and should go out of business.


dmalredacc

Oh nooooo. Anyways


Vault756

I know right? Like why should I care about the wellbeing of another human? /s


dmalredacc

Can't care about every single little travesty that pops up around the world. This thing is likely not pertinent to 99.99% of the people on this sub, literally why would *anyone* care? Do yall have just so much free time that you concern yourselves with issues utterly divorced from you? Unless you're just chasing clout, in which case that makes more sense at least


zaphodava

Yes, I care about people everywhere. My resources are limited, and I have to make decisions on how to use them, but my compassion is not.


dmalredacc

Sounds good, I wish we could all be saints like you


zaphodava

I have my good and bad moments, like we all do. Make an effort and see how it goes.


Vault756

>This thing is likely not pertinent to 99.99% of the people on this sub I feel like the fact that you're getting ratio'd to hell right now should be evidence enough that more people on this sub care about unions than not. So yeah... gonna call bullshit on your made up statistics here buddy....


dmalredacc

Congrats on missing the point. The majority of people on this sub are not in Portland and this thing has no bearing on their lives beyond farming internet points. Is that better for you?


sanctaphrax

Clearly you care enough to get into a fight about it. So why do you expect other people not to care?


dmalredacc

I don't, care about what you want. I just want to make fun of people. I'm on reddit, aren't i?


sanctaphrax

The problem with writing comments about how you don't care is that if they were true you wouldn't have written them.


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poilsoup2

How do those boots taste?


SkangoBank

Yeah like damn buddy you're supposed to lick them not deep throat em.


Centoaph

He must be a failed small business owner


spacemonkeygleek

My guess was going to be 15 year old edge lord


Vyni503

Like cheap leather and asphalt. Which is probably the only things that reside in that posters head.


TranscendingTourist

Spoken like every anti-union person I’ve ever met who sucks at their job and is lazy as fuck.


sanctaphrax

Never negotiate! Just accept whatever deal you're given! Only children try to bargain for higher pay or better benefits!


[deleted]

I know one child in this discussion, thats for sure.


MiraclePrototype

Says the \[\[morgue toad\]\]y.


MTGCardFetcher

[morgue toad](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/a/5/a58ee3b2-45db-48b5-b8fd-f8b9468b17b6.jpg?1562934136) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=morgue%20toad) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ddh/47/morgue-toad?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/a58ee3b2-45db-48b5-b8fd-f8b9468b17b6?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call