Gawker Media: digital media company forms union

Workers at Gawker Media have unionized, joining the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE). Ajoint statement from Gawker Media and the WGA explained that the unionization process would bypass the National Labor Relations Board and that a successful vote would be significant for the digital media industry:

Gawker Media and the Writers Guild of America, East are happy to announce a first-of-its-kind election whereby the members of Gawker Media’s editorial staff will determine whether they wish to form a union. The traditional process of union authorization runs through the National Labor Relations Board. But by mutual agreement we are bypassing this route in favor of holding our own secret-ballot vote, to be held on Wednesday, June 3, because we believe the cumbersome and often fractious process of unionization is premised on an assumption of complete antagonism between management and labor.

Nothing of the kind exists at Gawker Media. We are united in our belief that writers should decide for themselves whether to organize to protect their own rights through collective bargaining, and we hope the labor drive at Gawker Media, culminating in the June 3 election, can serve as a new model for cooperation in digital media.

The vote – 107 votes cast of 118 eligible votes; 75% yes, 25% no – comes less than two months after workers announced their intentions to form the first digital media union. In that announcement, one of Gawker’s editorial workers laid out why “every workplace could use a union”:

Nobody is seeking to hurt this company, or plunder it for all it's worth, or find a way to attack the people that run it. We're just trying to make it a bit more functional, and a bit more fair.

The online media industry makes real money. It's now possible to find a career in this industry, rather than just a fleeting job. An organized work force is part of growing up. I fully expect that Gawker Media will emerge from this experience stronger than it has ever been.

For everyone.

Joint Statement for the WGA and Gawker Media about Union Vote (Gawker Media, May 27, 2014)

Gawker Media Votes To Unionize (Gawker Media, June 4, 2015)

Why We’ve Decided to Organize (Gawker Media, Apr. 16, 2015)