Multiple local Syracuse news outlets reported this morning that TCGplayer parent company eBay will be shuttering their operations warehouse in Syracuse and relocate to an existing eBay location in Kentucky. eBay confirmed the change to NewsChannel 9 including that the move will result in laying off 220 Syracuse-based employees. TCGplayer was acquired by eBay just over two years ago for $295M.
The affected employees are members of TCGunion CWA Local 1123, who released their own statement that they have “filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) alleging that the company has terminated union employees to evade its bargaining obligations.” In 2023, the NLRB ruled in favor of TCGunion who alleged that eBay had, “refused to bargain with the union after its certification” among other serious allegations.
The labor difficulties in Syracuse began in 2019, with workers in the TCGplayer warehouses looking for improvements in healthcare and compensation among other issues. While workers considered unionizing over the summer they opted not to but then were met with a 15% reduction in workforce in November of 2019. A few months later, the employees declared their intent to unionize, at the time with the support of SEIU local 200. It would ultimately take workers nearly three years to successfully unionize, certifying the results in March 2023 as TCGUnion-CWA with support from CWA local 1123.
According to the CWA statement, union members, “are outraged. Since we launched our union, eBay has waged a relentless campaign to silence us and stop our efforts to make TCGplayer better for everyone, including card enthusiasts and sellers,” said Eric Tillotson, a member of TCGunion-CWA Local 1123. “Like other tech giants and oligarchs, eBay and TCGplayer think that they can disregard workers’ rights under the current administration by deploying illegal tactics to silence us and put an end to contract negotiations. They should realize by now that we will never stop fighting.”
CWA’s statement further highlights that, “According to eBay’s most recent proxy statement, eBay CEO Jamie Iannone’s total compensation was $21 million in 2024, which is 536 times the median annual wage for a TCGunion-CWA member in Syracuse earning $18.25 an hour. Iannone’s compensation has also increased 48% since 2022, the year that TCGplayer workers formed their union.” In his letter to CWA, TCGplayer CEO Robert Bigler informed them that the union employees losing their jobs would be entitled to, “fully paid COBRA/health benefits for four months, and ten weeks of pay.”
In Bigler’s email to TCGplayer employees, a copy of which was provided to us by CWA, he claims that, “the AC continues to operate at a loss, and unfortunately, even with major changes, including considering other spaces in Syracuse and the nearby area, we are unable to find a viable way to reach breakeven in Syracuse.” Bigler also claims that the move will allow them to share costs with the eBay facility such as rent and utilities, it’s hard to imagine that the main cost benefit would be anything other than the reduced labor costs.
According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, in 2024 New York State had 1.7M union members, representing 20.6% of the state’s 8M+ employees. Kentucky only has 156,000 union members out of 1.7M employees, representing just under 9% of their labor force. The minimum wage in New York is $16.50 per hour and will go up to $17 an hour in 2026. In 2027 it will continue to grow in accordance with the Consumer Price Index. The minimum wage in Kentucky is $7.25 per hour, the same as the Federal minimum wage, and has not changed since 2009.
The difference in annual compensation for a full-time (40 hours per week) employee making $18.25 an hour (median TCGunion member wage according to CWA) versus $7.25 an hour (Kentucky minimum wage) is $22,000 a year. If all 220 impacted employees are full-time, the savings would be $4.8M annually just on labor. Based on the general cost of warehouse space in Syracuse, which according to internet searches is generally between $5 and $6 per sq ft per year, TCGplayer would need to be operating an Amazon-sized fulfillment center in order for the rent to be a bigger concern than the labor costs.
This article has been updated at 9:40pm on May 22nd, 2025 with information provided by TCGUnion CWA local 1123. It was originally published at 1:22pm on May 22nd, 2025.
Rich Stein (he/him) has been writing about Magic the Gathering for more than a decade. The highlights of his journalism career include being given the honor of voting on the Magic the Gathering Hall of Fame Inductees and getting to cover the time some guy went viral for taking pictures of butt-cracks at a Magic tournament.