eBay TCGPlayer Scales Up New KY Warehouse Ops, Replacing Laid Off Union Workers In NY
eBay looks to staff up new Louisville, KY warehouse after moving subsidiary TCGPlayer authentication operations from Syracuse, NY resulting in mass layoff of first unionized workforce in company's 30 year history.
A current job ad for Warehouse Receiving & Inventory Associate, Authentication Operations promises an exciting opportunity to "help protect the integrity of the trading card community by making sure every shipment we touch is verified, tracked, and handled with care."
The position starts at a base rate of pay of $17.50 per hour with bonuses and differentials for late shifts, but more importantly, eBay makes it very clear that employment at its Kentucky warehouse is "at will":
"If hired, employees will be in an 'at-will position' and the Company reserves the right to modify base salary (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors."
The decision to move authentication operations to KY came amidst a years long labor battle after the first union in eBay history was established at TCGPlayer in 2023 and the company spent almost 2 years dragging their feet on bargaining a contract with members of TCGUnion-CWA.
Liz Morton
The move meant a mass layoff of over 200 unionized workers in Syracuse, NY and while the union eventually inked a closing deal with eBay to ensure better severance and benefits for exiting employees, at least one law firm is investigating whether the company violated the WARN Act but not providing legally required notice of the layoffs.
Liz Morton
eBay positioned the move to the Kentucky warehouse, which also handles sneaker authentication, as a "business decision" - blaming space constraints that supposedly limited growth potential, causing the authentication center to operate at a loss which the company believed could only be turned around by consolidating with existing operations.
TCGUnion-CWA members (who previously had a median wage of ~$18.25 per hour) said they believed the company was simply looking for an easy way to break the union by moving operations to a lower average wage, right to work state.
As part of the operational shakeup, eBay also promoted Anthony Ferreira from VP Seller Marketing, Sales, & Account Management to SVP, Fulfillment Solutions at TCGplayer.
Before joining eBay/TCGPlayer in 2023, Ferreira held supply chain and B2B commerce leadership positions at OpenSky, Alibaba, and Odeko.
