Employees at crowdfunding platform Kickstarter voted Tuesday to unionize, the first well-known technology company to take the step toward being represented by organized labor.
The decision, which was formalized by a vote count at the National Labor Relations Board, came down to a narrow margin, with 46 employees voting in favor of the move and 37 opposing it.
Tech workers have become increasingly activist in recent years over issues as varied as sexual harassment to climate change. Behemoth companies such as Google, Amazon and others have struggled to get a handle on their employees, who have staged walkouts and demanded that their companies not work with government entities and others.
But large-scale unionization efforts of software engineers and others have faltered. Only a group of contractors at a Google office in Pittsburgh unionized last year, and a small group of Instacart workers unionized this month.
FirstBank completes Kentucky bank purchase
BB Financial Corp., the parent company of FirstBank and the third biggest bank holding company headquartered in Tennessee, said Tuesday it has completed its previously announced $51.9 million purchase of The Farmers National Bank of Scottsville, Kentucky.
The acquisition provides FirstBank with an entry into the attractive Bowling Green metropolitan market in Kentucky where Farmers National is currently ranked 7th in deposit market share with approximately $204 million in deposits as of June 30, 2019.
“Farmers National has been a pillar of Scottsville for almost 100 years, and we look forward to continuing to deliver the outstanding service and community involvement that Farmers National’s customers and communities have come to expect,” FirstBank CEO Chris Holmes said.
PG&E 2019 losses total $7.7 billion
Pacific Gas and Electric says it expects to become more profitable than ever after it emerges from bankruptcy and pays off more than $25 billion in losses sustained in catastrophic wildfires ignited by its outdated equipment.
The nation’s largest utility shared its rosy outlook on Tuesday, along with its sobering results for 2019.
PG&E wound up losing nearly $7.7 billion last year, widening from its previous record loss of $6.8 billion in 2018. The dismal numbers marked a low point the San Francisco company’s 114-year history as it cleaned up a financial mess caused by its liability for a series of deadly fires in 2017 and 2018. The crippling burden prompted PG&E to file for bankruptcy protection 13 months ago, marking its second stint in bankruptcy in two decades.
The losses reported Tuesday primarily stemmed from the cost of covering various settlements reached with PG&E’s wildfire victims as part of the company’s effort to meet a June 30 deadline for getting out of bankruptcy.
UDig expands to Tennessee
UDig, a 20-year -old software engineering and data science company, has opened an office in Franklin, Tennessee and plans to hire 25 workers by 2022.
Andy Frank, UDig’s founder & CEO, has hired Meg Chamblee and Matt Dean to lead the Tennessee branch. Chamblee and Dean each boast over 15 years in IT. Chamblee will oversee the strategic direction of the Nashville office and its operations. She is the president of Women in Technology of Tennessee and is co-founder of the Emerging Leaders in Technology (ELITE) Program at the Greater Nashville Technology Council.