Grindr's controversial RTO policy causes employee exodus

Driving the news: The Communications Workers of America Wednesday said roughly 80 of Grindr's 178 workers were forced to resign on Aug. 31, less than a month after the company said they'd have to return to offices two days a week.

• According to the CWA, Grindr workers announced a unionization on July 20, which they say prompted the company's RTO mandate.
• The union Wednesday filed an additional Unfair Labor Practice charge against Grindr management — it had previously filed one on August 6 — on behalf of the members of Grindr United-CWA.

State of play: Grindr CEO George Arison, meanwhile, said the company was prepared for the exodus.

• "The team will be smaller than where we were before and where we want to be," he said at an industry conference this week, per Bloomberg.
• He said it also shows the leverage a business like Grindr possesses, as "you don't need that big of a team to do the things that we need to do."

Of note: Grindr, an LGBTQ+ dating app, went public last year in a SPAC deal.

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