> Baldvin Oddson, CEO of the Musicians Club, an online musical-instrument storefront, fired 90% of his staff, 99 out of 110 employees and freelancers, via Slack message for missing a morning meeting. The employees, mostly unpaid remote part-timers, were given no warning and were told to return company property and consider their contracts terminated. Oddson stands by his decision, citing that the employees failed to take their responsibilities seriously
> Many workers fired from the Musicians Club were unpaid remote part-timers (jobs are marketed toward classical music students looking for work experience).
How seriously can you take a job like this? The exploitive nature of this business is getting what it paid for. I hope the impacted employees get a paying job soon.
He is just as much qualified to be "CEO" as his "employees" were qualified to work for nothing. The CEO title is meaningless in these kind of situations. He's just an entitled founder who tries to get as much as possible for nothing. In the end, no value is created.
There are specific requirements an unpaid internship has to meet to be legal. If the majority of the staff are interns it’s very unlikely the requirements are being met. This guy is ripe for a lawsuit.
"Many workers fired from the Musicians Club were unpaid remote part-timers"
You're a lousy cheap CEO and now your company is famous for laying people off
Unpaid internships are scummy, exploitive and ultimately just deepen the class divide as the ones who need the leg up and foot in the door the most, are the least likely to be able to afford doing unpaid labour.
There was a interesting thought raised. Unpaid internships used to exist to make sure only graduates who could afford to work for a year (aka in the socio/economic in group) could take them. You then make all your positions require experience and whala, you ensure only the 'right group' of people could enter your field.
> Oddson’s LinkedIn profile picture is framed by the ubiquitous purple #HIRING banner.
Wow. I keep learning how lucky I am to have been frozen out of the tech industry.
When I first learned that no one wants to hire me, because of my age, I was absolutely livid, but in the years since, I am learning that the modern workplace has turned into a real house of horrors, and I probably dodged a bullet.
I’m sure you’re right. I find it fascinating how people here, initiate their relationships with others, in a public professional forum, by insulting them.
Must be interesting team dynamics, and sort of proves my point. Thanks for that.
BTW: I’m sure that an “online musical storefront” has no tech involved.
I wonder, who are the people applying for unpaid internships at a random e-commerce company?
The only thing I can imagine is that people pretend to work at these positions to fulfill some degree requirement.
> Many workers fired from the Musicians Club were unpaid remote part-timers (jobs are marketed toward classical music students looking for work experience).
How seriously can you take a job like this? The exploitive nature of this business is getting what it paid for. I hope the impacted employees get a paying job soon.
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