Etsy sellers are striking

Is Sustainable Cottage Industry Possible?

Gig work, freelancing, and online retail are becoming increasing professionalized

Photo by Jo Szczepanska on Unsplash

Last week, The Verge wrote about Etsy sellers organizing a strike to oppose a fee increase. Since I’ve been thinking and writing quite a bit about entrepreneurial labor, the news captured my interest.

After all, a labor strike is probably the most effective tool that workers have to influence working conditions. And strikes have a long history. The first recorded labor strike was in ancient Egypt and the first strike in the US was in 1768. I’m fascinated by the upswell in labor organizing among gig workers — as well as in the service industry and in media.

But what this labor organizing really got me thinking about was why a significant, but still relatively small, fee increase could inspire thousands of Etsy sellers to announce their intent to strike. And I think it has to do with mixed messages and fuzzy expectations.

Platforms like Etsy seem to be proponents of “new work” — i.e., decentralized, creative ways of making a living.