Tabletop Solidarity w/ Gabor Fu and Sam LeDoux

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[00:00:00] Cayden Mak: Welcome to Block and Build a podcast from Convergence Magazine. I’m your host and the publisher of Convergence Cayden Mak. On this show, we’re building a roadmap for the movement that’s working to block the impacts of rising authoritarianism while building the strength and resilience of the broad front that we need to meet.

[00:00:24] This week on the show, I’m joined by two organizers with the Tabletop Solidarity Committee. Gabor Fu and Sam Ledou, TSC has spent the last few years providing volunteer support to union bargaining efforts to their favorite tabletop game stores in New York City. The workers successfully unionized in 2023, and a contract was signed mid-year last year.

[00:00:42] But as this work continues, Gabor and Sam join us to tell the story of how they got there with community and fan support, showing how our hobbies, passions, and side projects can be fertile ground for organizing new people into social movements. But first, these headlines. Kristi Noam is out as head of the Department of Homeland Security.

[00:00:59] Of course, she’s being replaced by yet another true believer. Senator Mark Wayne Mullen of Oklahoma. And as much as I enjoy a little shad and freuder from time to time, this just feels like a lineup shuffling to create the veneer of accountability. And don’t worry too much about Kristi. She’s got another administration job as special envoy to the Shield of the Americas initiative, which is I guess the next stage in supposedly fighting drug trafficking.

[00:01:23] The Trump administration wants to double the detention capacity of DHS and ice, but basically nobody wants these things in their backyards. In King County, Washington State, they placed a moratorium on new detention facilities last week following similar plans in Baltimore County, Kansas City, and.

[00:01:41] Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection issued a temporary order preventing two proposed ice detention centers from connecting to local sewer water systems. This has become a bipartisan effort. Governor Kelly Aott of New Hampshire also recently celebrated the cancellation of a new local ICE facility after public outcry.

[00:02:00] I think it needs to be said. We have an opportunity here to build with people from a variety of political leanings and backgrounds against what this government is doing. There are both public government targets to pressure like city and county governments and even some state governments to get them to pass moratoriums on new DHS facilities and also private targets to pressure like companies who might lease or sell properties to stop these concentration camps from being built.

[00:02:24] All of this is to say that in spite of ICE and DHS detention and violence falling from the headlines recently in favor of manufacturing consent for an illegal war in Iran, they are still pushing forward with their racist deportation programs around the nation. Communities across the country are still diligently organizing to train and prepare concern community members for if and when they’re chosen as the next target of Steven Miller’s ISR.

[00:02:48] On last week on the show, we covered some great organizing efforts by folks in Minneapolis during this winter’s operation Metro Surge, and I really recommend that episode if you’re looking for a starting. 

[00:03:01] Sound on Tape: Hey everybody. This is Maurice Mitchell, national Director of The Working Families Party. I read and give to Convergence because it has become a home for me to engage in critical analysis, find practical advice for organizing and strategy and inspiration in the belief that a better world is not only possible.

[00:03:21] We can build it to make either a one-time donation or become a sustaining member. Visit convergence mag.com/donate. You can find a direct link in the show notes. Thanks for listening.

[00:03:38] Cayden Mak: Tabletop games like Magic, the Gathering, Dungeons and Dragons and many more have long been a natural community building space. For those of us who felt. A little culturally marginalized, but as fandom has expanded, so has the ability of neoliberal capital, commodifying profit from just about any niche nerd interest you can think of.

[00:03:54] A massive tabletop industry has grown, which requires a growing customer facing workforce. In the past decade, both magic and d and D have come under ownership and begun generating massive profits for the multi-billion dollar toy and entertainment publisher, Hasbro, a cottage industry of tabletop game stores to support these games products and their fans has also risen.

[00:04:15] But these businesses are more than just stores. They’re community spaces where new and dedicated players can find play space, social support, and so much more. This necessitates a staff that’s skilled in customer service, deep game knowledge, and even sometimes childcare for school Stu, students who are attending their aftercare programs.

[00:04:33] As these businesses grow workers at a collection of game stores, New York City, unionized at the Tabletop Workers United in 2023 throughout their long journey to a contract last spring. They were supported by a partner organization of volunteers known as the Tabletop Solidarity Committee, a group of dedicated customers who love the stores and their workers as community resources and want to see the employees who run the spaces supported by their employers.

[00:04:56] I’m joined this week by two members of the Tabletop Solidarity Committee out of New York City, Gabor Fu and Sam Ladu. They’ll tell the story of how their organizing supported the workers’ journey to a contract and why these game stores are such valuable community and organizing spaces. Take a listen.

[00:05:15] Today I’m joined by two organizers who helped bring the Tabletop Solidarity Committee to Life Uhor. First of all, thank you so much for making the time to chat with me today. 

[00:05:25] Gabor Fu: Yeah. Thank you Caden, for having me. Great to be here. 

[00:05:27] Cayden Mak: Definitely. And Sam, thanks for joining us as well. 

[00:05:30] Sam LeDoux: Yeah, thank you. I’m glad to be included also.

[00:05:32] Cayden Mak: Awesome. Well, let’s start with a little background. Uh, well, I’ve spent countless hours at my local game stores playing with my friends. Many of our listeners might not be familiar with the role that these kinds of stores play in gaming communities. So you just talk a little bit about both. The role that these stores play in general and also the specific stores in New York City that were unionized and that you worked to support the, the bargaining process at Sam.

[00:05:56] Do you wanna start? 

[00:05:58] Sam LeDoux: Sure. Yeah. For a lot of like tabletop games, uh, you know, board games, card games, role playing games as well. I think it’s, it’s hard to, because for these games you need kind of a lot of space. You need table space, um, you need a common meeting area and. I think for a lot of people it’s hard to find that otherwise you have to like host at your house, things like that.

[00:06:18] You might not have like all these games and pieces available to you. So these like game stores kind of provide a space for you to meet up with people, meet new people, uh, play card games, board games, uh, whatever you’re interested in. Um, and then a lot of times they have like food and drink available for purchase too.

[00:06:38] Gabor Fu: Yeah. 100% agree. You know, if you’re interested in buying a board game, you know, where do you go? You probably go to the. Board game store, if not like, you know, a big box store like Target or something, you’re gonna get like a better selection. People who actually know what they’re talking about. If you go to a local game store in general, like great to support a local store instead of like a huge corporation of course.

[00:06:56] And then. In New York, there are a couple of like game stores that have been around for a really long time. The Brooklyn strategists and the Uncommons have both been open since like the mid s like mid two thousands, and they like run afterschool programming. They are board game cafes like Sam was describing.

[00:07:12] You can come and like sample from a huge library of games so you don’t have to like commit to buying like a $80 game before you know what it’s like. And then, yeah, like the game store that I went to growing up was also like a comic store. I think like these like nerd bands like often have like a lot of overlap too.

[00:07:27] And so these two game stores each have distinct owners, but then for the campaign that we were helping volunteer for, they also with a third person who was like not involved. By the time we started helping with the union effort, they like co-founded three more locations. So by the time we got involved, there were five total stores in New York City across Manhattan and Brooklyn.

[00:07:48] With two owners, about a hundred something employees, almost all of them working like front of house, A mix of like front of house, um, doing food, food service, helping with games, helping with after school. Some people had like slightly more focused roles like being a dungeon master or a game master for role playing games, stuff like that.

[00:08:06] Cayden Mak: Yeah. It seems like the, you know, the workers at these stores are people who actually do have a lot of really specialized knowledge, like you were implying aboard that like mm-hmm. Some of them are cafe workers in a, in a way that I think would be recognized as sort of service workers, but there’s a lot of Yeah, like specialized knowledge, specialized skills that also go into the job of working at these, these types of establishments.

[00:08:30] Gabor Fu: Yeah, definitely. I mean, anybody who’s tried to learn a really complicated board game and is flipping through like a 30 page manual and really wish that they had somebody there to help teach them how the rules work, knows like what this is like and why these people actually do spend like some amount of their time learning the rules to these games.

[00:08:47] Why they’re like going to conventions to like see what new games are hot and stuff like. I mean, this is a very. Popular, maybe not even a niche anymore, like a pretty big like cultural part of the pie. You know, people really love to play games, uh, especially at. In real life with their friends. Yeah. 

[00:09:04] Sam LeDoux: And like on top of that, uh, certain games like Magic, the Gathering, like you need a judge and you know, these are stores running official events.

[00:09:11] Like a judge who understands the rules fully is required, uh, for that. Famously, like the game magic gathering is incredibly complex. So, you know, you need someone that’s gonna like, help with any rules and often there’s like prizes on the line. So you know, you need someone who really knows their stuff.

[00:09:29] And not to mention like the, the afterschool program Gabo was talking about. Right. These are, uh, they have like, um, Dungeons and Dragons, uh, like, you know, afterschool program where they would. Play, uh, run games with, with kids, um, when they finish school and, you know, of course that’s gonna involve having to take care of kids.

[00:09:47] Um, so that’s another way they had a lot of specialized, uh, knowledge. 

[00:09:52] Cayden Mak: Yeah, I, I I think one of the things that is interesting is like, looking back at the tabletop Workers United like unionization drive. How much mainstream media coverage there was. That was like, sort of like trivializing this work though.

[00:10:04] ’cause it’s like, I don’t know, it’s like, it, it is like hobby related and so it feels like squishier or like, it’s just fun. But I think that, you know, I, when I was looking at that stuff, preparing for this interview, I was also thinking about the ways that like. For years. People talked about how like video game workers didn’t need unions.

[00:10:23] ’cause they’re like basically like, you’re making games, what’s the big deal? You’re living the dream. And it’s like actually the labor conditions are sort of miserable in the industry. 

[00:10:32] Gabor Fu: Yeah, 100%. Like correct on all counts. You know, it’s just like everybody who lists this podcast has probably been to a like cafe where the workers are not getting treated well and it’s like just because the clientele you serve happens to like come from a slightly different, you know.

[00:10:49] Like social, like background or like they want to do this with their free time instead of, you know, like grind, set, grind setting with like, you know, like a, a, a ca a cafe worker who serves like people in fi dye in New York, like deserves just as much protections as a person who serves coffee to people who play games.

[00:11:05] You know, like it’s not about like who’s consuming. The, the, I mean, it, it is about that, of course, but it’s also just like these workers deserve protections. Like, you know, they’re, they’re workers. Like, are you gonna leave workers out of the conversation if we’re trying to win? Like, that’s not how you win big.

[00:11:20] Right? So, uh, yeah. 

[00:11:23] Cayden Mak: Totally. Well, let’s talk a little bit about the origin of Tabletop Workers United, the Union that you are all organizing on the sort of consumer side to support. You know, you talked about there’s this sort of like set of stores that had the same owners or co-owners, but what was sort of the like inciting.

[00:11:41] Moment for these workers to want to get organized to form a union. 

[00:11:45] Gabor Fu: I think at Hex and Company, which is one of, there are three locations for that one, and that’s the one that’s co-owned by these two people. I think like the conditions were just getting like remaining bad for all of the classic reasons that like work with.

[00:11:58] Cons, like customers, like retail work can be really challenging and difficult with poor management, absent managers. These, these are things that happened all across the whole campaign, but like, not repairing the AC in like a tiny space in New York when it’s really hot in the, in the summer or, you know, like, not like giving people time to actually get trained.

[00:12:15] No pay transparency, no transparency to raises and to getting promoted to hiring people from inside the store rather than like a new manager who’s never worked there before. All these things are like, like. You know, classic things that anybody who’s like organized in labor has, has heard of before. So the, these were the inciting incidents at Hex and Company.

[00:12:34] They were organizing with the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, which is the part of DSA Ewok, and then they marched on the bus and they also like spoke to. You know, the workers at these other locations, like from the same owners then decided to organize together. ’cause if there’s a hundred workers instead of 20 workers, it’s just gonna be a lot stronger.

[00:12:52] Cayden Mak: And what has the union, uh, been able to win for its members in terms of like. Workplace condition improvements, protection, stuff like that? 

[00:13:02] Gabor Fu: Um, yeah, I mean, I’ll take a stab at things that, there’s so much. That was one that, uh, you know, Sam, I’m sure will be able to help fill in like the march on the boss and the like election was won in mid to late 2023.

[00:13:14] I got involved in December of 2023 and then by May of 2025, the workers won their first contract. It was great, you know. Raises across the board, um, over the, like, over the coming few years and so many like non-economic bargaining things about. Raises all, all the things that we just talked about. Awesome.

[00:13:33] Raises, you know, like transparency on, you know, performance, commitment to repairs, better management, all these things. I mean, yeah, like these managers are generally pretty absent from the business. The owners let the managers like sort of do everything, but if you’re not there, a bunch of questions just are not getting answered all the time.

[00:13:49] Like, these are the kinds of things that, um, the contract were, was fighting for. On top of all the economic stuff. One thing that I was really like, proud that we won was. Giving game masters for tabletop role-playing games, dedicated time to like go and learn new rules if the store wanted to have those games on offer.

[00:14:08] It’s like you have to pay people to be trained on like this skill that they need to have in order to offer the thing that you want to offer as a business owner. 

[00:14:17] Cayden Mak: Oh, that’s, yeah. That’s pretty cool. I feel like I have a couple friends who are magic judges and so I know about the, sort of like the challenges that come with like basically being like, you have to pay the company that makes the game.

[00:14:29] To get the training and there’s like. So much that goes into that. And so it’s, it’s great to actually be like, no, this is like for your job also. Like this is part of the, basically part of your investment as a store owner in, in your people, which is really important. 

[00:14:46] Sam LeDoux: Sorry, I I was gonna say, and they, they get compensated in in more than cart.

[00:14:50] Uh, 

[00:14:51] Cayden Mak: yes, exactly. They deserve much more than just cards. Um. Well, speaking of magic, the gathering, I think, you know, this is actually how I became aware of this story because I also play, I, some of our listeners are aware, some of them are not that I play a ton of magic, the gatherings, this is like my main thing that I do, aside from politics.

[00:15:13] So this story became really interesting to me, not just because, you know, I spend a lot of time in local game stores here in the Bay Area, but also because the work that you are all able to do with the Tabletop Solidarity Committee has a lot to do with the magic format. That I play a ton, which is Cube.

[00:15:28] You know, in the Magic, the Gathering community, we joke a lot about how the real magic is the gathering. Um, and I think that that’s like especially true for cube players and cube designers. And I’m really interested to know as somebody who cares about both progressive politics, left-wing politics and magic, the gathering.

[00:15:46] Like, how have your organizing and gaming worlds intersected in the past? And like, how did, how did this come together for each of you as both organizers and gamers? 

[00:15:57] Sam LeDoux: For me starting out, um, you know, I had. Moved to, uh, New York relatively recently, and I think magic is great when you’re moving to a place of, you know, you can always find the community there and immediately, you know, you’ve already found people with common interests.

[00:16:13] You could start talking. Um, I think classically when you’re playing magic, it’s just so common to. You just strike up conversation as you start and you know, like, oh, what are the, like, you know, oh, maybe you’re playing draft, or, you know, there’s many formats to magic, but you ask, oh, like, which ways do you play the game, essentially?

[00:16:31] Do you usually come to the store? Like, what are the other stores you know about? Things like that. Um, and it’s just like immediate. Way to just join a community in a place. And then, um, I had actually, uh, was getting involved with, um, New York City DSA, uh, at the time as well. And, uh, they had put on a couple of magic nights there.

[00:16:50] Uh, and I found out through one of the members there about, uh, oh, there’s this group that’s putting on this big magic event. Uh, so I went to that, that was, I think, the first event that TSCA put on. And then I was like, oh, I want to get more involved. 

[00:17:04] Gabor Fu: Yeah, I mean I had a, a similar like trajectory to getting involved with TSCI think to answer like, sort of the other half of the question.

[00:17:12] I think like organizing and games, it’s like. People who organize game nights are organizers, even if they’re not organizing things politically. You know, it’s like anybody who’s been an organizer and had to like, try to get 15 people to a meeting or like eight people to a meeting, four people to a meeting at the same time.

[00:17:29] When everyone’s an adult, you know how hard it is. You know? And I’ve been doing that since I was like a kid. I, I was always the one who hosted game nights. I was not like, you know, I was like 10 years old. I didn’t have progressive politics like that stood out to me in any way. But as soon as I like started organizing in undergrad, it really like became clear that, you know, being able to bring people into a room and to talk to people and.

[00:17:53] All these things. Inviting people in is really important to like progressive politics. That’s how we can like enact change is by having people come and listen and talk to us. So yeah, I got involved in TSC very similarly to Sam, a friend who. Is a DSA member invited me, said, Hey, there’s this magic night.

[00:18:11] It’s being put on to support like a new union for game stores in the city. I was like, I’m there. You know, sold. Immediately there was a like signup sheet, you know, ’cause they wanted to track attendance. Uh, and then one of the columns was just, do you want to get more involved with helping organize? And Sam and I both, uh, obviously filled out that column and then.

[00:18:29] Stayed involved, uh, after that. Yeah. 

[00:18:32] Cayden Mak: Cool. I mean, I also think that a piece of this is the sort of unique relationship that game stores have with their customers, right? That like, there is something about having a place that you go to with that sort of frequency and spend that kind of time there. Like, I, I feel like for people who do not frequent local game stores, like it’s a little hard for me to describe the sort of like.

[00:18:57] How it becomes sort of like part of your emotional landscape. Of like your week or your month or whatever. I’m curious about that sort of like if there’s something that you think that’s impor, like unique about the relationship between game store workers in particular and then you all as customers who are also players that made the tabletop solidarity committee work so well, and, and if there’s like lessons there that you think are portable to other industries, other businesses, especially like knowing that some of the biggest strikes that are happening right now are also, uh.

[00:19:27] You know, s essentially service, service industry folks. 

[00:19:31] Gabor Fu: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I’ll, I’ll take the first stab at that. I have thought about that so much. Something that I think is really interesting about the Brooklyn strategist, which is of the five stores, the one that I go to regularly, like many of the people who work there went there growing up like they were a part of the afterschool program.

[00:19:47] You know, they’re people who play these games and who, who know people in the community. You know, like these are people from Brooklyn who like, they walk into the store and they know like everyone who, who’s there. And if you’re new. You meet the worker at the front desk and they’re nice to you, and then they introduce you to the people that you’re gonna go play with.

[00:20:05] You know, like of, of course, like they’re, they know their work really well, but they’re also really connected. They’re really like a part of the community. And in terms of like, porting it over to other businesses like, or other industries, like, that’s a harder question that I would need to think more about, but it’s just like.

[00:20:21] When you’re deeply embedded in a community, when you have like this third space that you go to once or even twice a week, you’re gonna meet people and know them. And if it’s a worker and you’re a customer, you’re gonna see them every week at the same time. And ask I, I mean, I hope that you’re asking how they’re doing and talking to them like a real human being, and then.

[00:20:40] Like, you know, you’ll hear about the things that aren’t working at the workplace too. I, I, I mean, I still play magic with some of the people who are workers at these stores who I met through this campaign and other solidarity committee members who I never would’ve met really unless I was organizing with them.

[00:20:55] So I think that’s like awesome. It’s about staying connected to people. Yeah. 

[00:20:59] Sam LeDoux: And, um, I guess to add onto that too, I think, um, because it’s, uh, these game stores are a place you spend so much of your time, a lot of the, the workers’ pain points are also your pain points. Sure. 

[00:21:12] It’s 

[00:21:12] Sam LeDoux: like, you know, if the AC isn’t working at a store, like as a player, you want it to be fixed too.

[00:21:18] And, you know, if the store is understaffed, that’s, you know, that’s gonna be a bad experience for you too. That’s gonna affect how you spend your time there. And I, I think, again, like also so many. People that work at those stores are also playing the same games that you are. And because like, they often become your friends, uh, you know, it’s not just like, oh, I want the, the, the, the workers at the store.

[00:21:41] I go to be paid more. It’s, you know, I want my friend to get a raise too. So it’s, it’s ea easier to like, uh, start fighting for them. 

[00:21:49] Cayden Mak: Yeah, for sure. That makes a lot of sense. So knowing that both of you came in basically like through DSA, I’m also curious about like what other customer’s response to the unionization drive was like and if, if like there was a role that TSC played in basically organizing some of those other customers doing political education about why this was important, uh mm-hmm.

[00:22:09] And what thought, what that was like. 

[00:22:11] Gabor Fu: Definitely, I mean, it was in New York City, so people were generally pro-union, generally left-leaning, you know, there were a bunch of DSA members who were regular customers. Um, obviously from what we’ve said already, but it was really important. Like, you know, a lot of people who are into magic, for example, like this is an expensive game.

[00:22:29] There are a lot of people who have never been a part of the union because they work at, you know, companies that don’t have unions because they’re getting paid a lot or, or otherwise. And I think it was important to like explain like. It’s not just like the simple Oh yeah, like vaguely. I support a union.

[00:22:45] Vaguely. I think it’s good that these workers get what they want. It’s like, no, there are concrete things that are wrong. You know, like there’s things that’s not working. There are things that aren’t working for the the employees. And you can, if you extrapolate it, you’re seeing how it’s not working for you as a customer as well.

[00:23:00] And I mean, in terms of turning out people who aren’t like. Leftists and DSA people to these events that, that was like a huge part of our work is like you go to a magic night and you flyer every person who walks through the door, you know? You know, Sam was describing how you start a conversation when you’re playing a game of magic with somebody.

[00:23:18] You just like trapped somebody in a one-on-one, one-on-one with you. It’s like you, like they can’t, you know, they can’t say no when you like, or well, they can say no, of course. It’s important that you ask. That they’re okay with the conversation, but you can talk to ’em about the union. You can make sure that they understand what’s at stake and why it’s important and you know who, who you’re looking after.

[00:23:38] And there were definitely a lot of things spread by the owners as well. That’s like, oh, like we’re a small business. We can’t afford for our workers to unionize, you know, all these like classic like small business talking points or anti-union talking points at any industry or in any scale. And yeah, and a lot of like inoculation had to happen and one-on-ones with customers as well as within the union.

[00:23:59] I mean, yeah, Sam and I would not be having one-on-ones with. Union members, but we could talk to a lot of customers if we went to a single magic night and then get them to come to an event where they get inoculated even further and then tell them to tell their friends and it spread really quickly. Yeah.

[00:24:14] Cayden Mak: Yeah. That’s pretty amazing. I, I really like, just like thinking about using those sort of like moments of downtime in between games as. Or as you’re like shuffling up to play like as opportunities to like invite people in, which is really cool. 

[00:24:30] Sam LeDoux: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And I think, um, for some of the, like the big, uh, magic night events, it was also, there were definitely people who just showed up ’cause they saw, oh, there’s like a free place to, to play, uh, cube or to play, uh, commander.

[00:24:45] And they hadn’t even like really thought about it. So it was definitely like for those definitely having a. Captive audience. Uh, yeah. Of people who are like waiting to play. Uh, but it’s like, you know, first we’re gonna talk about the union first. We’re gonna do inoculation. These are things you might hear from the owners.

[00:25:00] Uh, here’s why they’re wrong. Stuff like that. Uh, people who are looking for an opportunity to, to play are gonna like, look for these free event events and it’s also, you know, a great time to just talk to them. 

[00:25:11] Gabor Fu: Yeah, for context, you have to pay to play at any of these stores. That’s not true across the country.

[00:25:16] New York real estate is premium, but also like this is happening more and more in more cities across the country where you have to pay like eight bucks, 10, 12 bucks to play for a single evening. So if we say, Hey, come play Magic for free. At this other location, all the same staff are gonna be there.

[00:25:31] We’re gonna have like these cool cubes, which we haven’t really described, but they are like, they can be like really unique like gameplay experiences that most people don’t get to try if they’re just playing like quote unquote normal magic all the time. And yeah, you can get a captive audience and ask them to do an action or inoculate them like we had everybody just like review five star review all the stores.

[00:25:52] But mention in your review the union. My five star review is because of the union and I like supporting union workers. And then the owners obviously see when, you know, suddenly 50 to a hundred reviews come in in the same night. And I mean, they got really upset that we were off, that we were like stealing business from them by.

[00:26:11] Hosting these events. Oh, I’m sure they were. And then, you know, like, of course we had union members who were there taking a photograph of a completely full store. Like they didn’t lose any business. You know, it’s like the, the store completely full. They still like made a bunch of money that night. Um, it’s not like it was crickets in there either.

[00:26:26] So I think the events and like pulling those together were, were really rewarding because you like get a bunch of people in the room that didn’t know about the union and we did all this firing, we did all this turnout, and then you. Like put on like a great event where people have a lot of fun and you also like bring them on board with the union and understanding why it’s important.

[00:26:43] Cayden Mak: Yeah, I feel like that sounds like a really good sort of like first organizing experience for a lot of people too. That’s like, oh, like I have a shared stake in this. I’m going to have fun with people that I enjoy being around, and I’m gonna learn why like supporting worker organizing is so important.

[00:27:01] Which just, it, it seems like in some ways, like a really ideal scenario. We kind of like organizing people into the set of politics, which is cool. 

[00:27:09] Gabor Fu: Yeah, definitely. 

[00:27:10] Cayden Mak: Well, let’s talk a little bit about some of the events that you threw. I know that, you know, we’ve been talking a little bit about, uh, game nights, like having like space and time to play with people and talk about the politics.

[00:27:20] I know that you were also part of organizing, uh, basically a strike fund. Um, as part of supporting the union’s negotiations. Um, yeah. Could you talk a little bit about some of the events you were able to organize and the impact they had on the union’s effectiveness? 

[00:27:36] Sam LeDoux: Yeah. So, um, I think, yeah, those, uh, game night events were, uh, as we mentioned, like they had actions involved.

[00:27:45] They had inoculation involved, but it was also like oftentimes. A place for us to get contact information for everyone. Uh, ’cause we had like a huge, you know, a, a text list where we would send out updates about the union also, while everyone was there at the event, we would give updates, get people connected to the, the various networks.

[00:28:05] And then also, uh, help spread the, the, the strike fund as well. So we had like, we had the strike fund and we also had this, uh, pledge, uh, essentially where people would, would put their names down of saying like, if. It should happen that the store starts striking, uh, in preparation for the, their contract negotiation that you would essentially agree to boycott the store until it progressed.

[00:28:31] And then there, there were a number of, uh, other events to, uh, there was a, like a pack, the store event we helped put on where essentially, you know, we got everyone to wear, uh, ’cause union. Unions colors, uh, are orange. Uh, so we had like everyone wearing orange. We had some like orange shirts that we gave out.

[00:28:51] Um, and one of the stores in kinda like downtown Manhattan, we packed a bunch of people into there. Uh, and then, you know. We had workers there giving speeches, uh, you know, they kind of stopped play for that time. There, there were people who, you know, who were otherwise customers who didn’t know about it, but then, you know, heard about the experiences of workers there.

[00:29:12] Uh, so that was, that was a big event. Um, yeah. Good war. If you wanna talk about some more. 

[00:29:16] Gabor Fu: Sure. Yeah, we would host a lot of these. The, the game nights. I think like for the timescale, you know, we mentioned this like 2023 to 2025, maybe about 18 months from start to finish. And like for all of 2024, we were running these game nights, you know, maybe monthly to once every two months, just like consistently making space for people to get plugged in to hear more about it.

[00:29:37] And then flyering basically as much as we could. And the flyering I think was really important too, because. You’re showing up at the store where a person might not hear about it, and you tell them, Hey, there’s this event next week. And then also firing parents when they come pick up their kids because they’re also like really important customers at the stores.

[00:29:55] And then the event that, like I worked a lot on right at the tail end when we were really pushing hard for the strike fund was like a big live stream and huge like fundraiser for the strike fund. It was again like around Cube, which is this sort of like niche format, but it was with a design project from in this like small niche fame, like a famous person in this small niche.

[00:30:17] Uh, he like designed this play experience that like, sort of went viral in the magic community. And so then this livestream got like a, a larger amount of traction than it would otherwise for this format. Um, and raised, you know, like thousands and thousands of dollars. I think it was like in the four to $5,000 range.

[00:30:33] Um. It was a lot of work. Me and another organizer were both unemployed at the time and basically did it as like a full-time job, but it was like so rewarding and just like, it was awesome to like see the end product, to like see all the people that heard about it that didn’t even know who I was, but heard about it from other things.

[00:30:51] And then, um, were donating money to support the union. And then, I mean, having a huge strike fund that is public is like a very good bargaining tool because you’re showing to the owners like, Hey, we can go on strike. For a really long time, like, you know, the workers are all gonna get paid a hundred percent of their wages and you’re gonna be out of business.

[00:31:10] Like, do you really wanna fight us on this? Um, and yeah, I think that was a big part of us winning. 

[00:31:15] Cayden Mak: Yeah, I feel like the fact that, uh, the, who like curated this list of cards is also somebody who has a media, has like a, like niche media following is like, that’s such a cool sort of like synergy between this like niche hobby community.

[00:31:30] People who care about. Uh, organized labor and leftist politics and like, I don’t know, just like what a neat way of sort of combining these interests and, and creating an opportunity for people to, to show their solidarity. 

[00:31:44] Gabor Fu: Yeah, I mean, cube as a format is slightly less. Like directly plugged into what like Hasbro is trying to sell from format of the gathering.

[00:31:53] And so I think it attract, it tends to attract people with politics that are slightly like anti-establishment or like, no, I don’t really want to like pay like for product every week and like continue to acquire product from this corporation all the time. Like cubes by design are replayable without acquiring new cards.

[00:32:10] That’s like the whole pitch. And so then it was like an audience that was really receptive to. Hey, we’re doing a big fundraiser for a union. It’s like, okay, well we’re all pro-union. You know, like, or almost all of us are pro-union and um. Like getting a person to bring their design project from Baltimore to New York.

[00:32:27] It was like not a difficult pitch. He was like very on board from the beginning, which was awesome. You know, it was also like he spent a bunch of time preparing like materials for this stream. ’cause he is also like a graphic designer. Uh, yeah, 

[00:32:39] Cayden Mak: yeah, yeah. 

[00:32:40] Gabor Fu: As his day job. So it was like, you know, so much like awesome volunteer time from people who are just really committed to helping the union win, which is, you know, always super exciting to see.

[00:32:50] Cayden Mak: So since the union won their contract in 2025, looking back, what are some of the lessons that you’ve learned and kind of carried forward in, in other organizing projects you’ve been involved in since then? 

[00:33:01] Gabor Fu: I think that, like, you know, me setting up meetings, setting up spaces where people feel welcome and uh, you know, to both provide like the inoculation and, you know, doing these one-on-ones to turn out to meetings is like a very longstanding labor organizing and other organizing like tradition.

[00:33:18] And I think. There were so many lessons learned on like how do you like get a person in the door who’s like. A little bit anti or a person in the door who is pro, but maybe just needs to get pushed over the edge. Like, I mean, it’s so much good one-on-one training, which is so important to being a good organizer and you know, like in the Jane McElvy model of like, how do you have like an effective organizing one-on-one?

[00:33:41] That was definitely something I learned a lot about and how to host like good events is something that’s obviously important to organizing, but transferable basically anywhere. It’s like how do you host an event that like gets to the crux of what you’re really trying to accomplish, but also like is.

[00:33:54] Exciting to show up to and that people are gonna go invite their friends to not like, you know, that you just have to do all the turnout one-on-one over and over again because it sounds like it’s gonna be a slog. It’s like, if you make it sound like it’s gonna be really fun and exciting, which is like uniquely easy to do with games, then you know, you can turn out a lot more people that way and get a lot more people plugged in 

[00:34:14] Sam LeDoux: again, like, like you and Gabor, uh, have kinda been saying is that like, it was just a nice.

[00:34:20] Controlled environment to like, you know, start getting experience with particular areas. For me, it was also like I did a lot of the, the flyering, um, and a lot of that felt like a, kind of like a controlled environment for canvassing where, you know, you are just like approaching strangers, uh, talking to them, but it’s already, you know.

[00:34:39] You already know they have an interest in games, uh, as they’re like going and coming outta the store. Uh, and then also like when you are addressing their questions, right? It’s like, you know, you don’t have to get like heady with, with policies. It’s like, okay, I’ve been to the game store before. I know like what I wanted this, I know what you probably want out of this.

[00:34:57] Um, so, uh, you know, getting, getting experience with identifying that, uh, and talking to people about that. And I think also, um, a lot of that with like the, I think. Any organizing entity also has to be like, super involved with like, you know, putting together that, that, that text list. And then from there it was also, you know, the, the idea of uh, you know, identifying the people who are more interested and, you know, working them towards being a more active organizer, you know, getting to the center of the target.

[00:35:28] So I think there’s a lot of experience with that. And then, you know, like finding. Some people you realize, okay, they’re really interested in this area and like, uh, you know, someone’s maybe more interested in, in tabletop than the rest of us are. And like, let’s figure out how to like get that energized, right?

[00:35:46] Uh, that, that. These different areas, um, and get more people involved with that. 

[00:35:51] Cayden Mak: Yeah, I’m really excited about having learned about this story. I really like, I think the insight about how you build a solidarity committee around some, like what feels like a very niche interest, but that actually like brings the union’s.

[00:36:08] To the forefront for a lot more people is like something that I think is really worth looking at and, and, and learning something from. So thank you so much for sharing your experience with us. Uh, is there anything else that you’d like to add about the work that you were able to do with the Solidarity committee?

[00:36:23] Gabor Fu: Yeah. Yeah. I think just in response to like what you said at the end there, it’s like the way that I put it to describe to people like, oh, why are you like a volunteer supporting this like small union? Like, what are you doing to like, like how does that actually help you win? It wasn’t like people who were anti-union, but people who were like, what are you actually doing?

[00:36:40] I think it was like really easy to describe as like. You as a person who doesn’t play a lot of games, show up to a game store and you buy one game and you leave and you don’t come back for the rest of the year until like next Christmas when you need a different game for your kid or something, right?

[00:36:55] But that’s not how the game store stays open. The game store stays open because there’s like 500 to a thousand people who come through their doors every week. This is true for gyms. This is true for, you know, baristas and, and coffee shops. This is true for like many retail stores. You know, some, some retail locations like do genuinely stay open just off of like tourists and stuff like that.

[00:37:16] But most places like stay open because they have a dedicated customer base, and if you organize the dedicated customer base and to a strike pledge, they’re ready to boycott. They’re inoculated, they’re ready to show up. They’re on the picket line, you know. The picket line is like, was full, you know, the picket line had more people on it than the inside of the store when they were open because you know, the managers, you know, kept the store open and Yeah, like, you know.

[00:37:41] That’s how you win. You know, it’s like you just have like so much pressure that the owners can’t deny it. And I think like using that lens to describe it to people who were on board but didn’t understand this particular context was really helpful. It’s like the store is open because these magic players, they come, each of them spends $25 at the store every week, 52 weeks a year for years on end.

[00:38:04] So if you want to win like a five, five year contract, you’re threatening like this much money. From this customer, you know, it’s like math. It’s just simple math. And there’s, there’s a lot of game stores in New York City. You know, like these customers could go anywhere else. So are you gonna like let them go or are you gonna like sign on to this contract and I.

[00:38:25] That was the question we asked the owners and they were pressured into signing a, a contract that that was really good for the workers. Of course. Yeah. 

[00:38:33] Cayden Mak: That’s awesome. Yeah, I think that that insight too is, feels really important to just like all of us in our daily lives, that there are places where we are regulars.

[00:38:40] And that like the relationship with the workers at those places that we’re regulars is an opportunity to really like live out our politics in particular ways. Well, Kaur and Sam, thank you so much again for making the time. It was great to chat, learn more about your experiences, and I hope that next time I’m in, I’m in New York, maybe we get to play some cube.

[00:39:00] Gabor Fu: Yes, yes. I’d love that. Thanks so much for having me. 

[00:39:03] Cayden Mak: This show is published by Convergence, a magazine for Radical Insights. I’m Kaden Mock, and our producer is Josh Stro. Editorial assistance provided this week by Aquin Ala Kimmy David designed our cover Art Convergence Magazine is a proud founding member of the Movement Media Alliance.

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