Worker Power, Worker Owners: A Panel on Worker Cooperatives in Media

A virtual panel presented by the Writers Guild of America East, Democracy at Work Institute, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies and National Writers Union - Freelance Solidarity Project.

The media industry has never been the most stable place to work; its history has been characterized by booms and busts. But rounds of mass layoffs and corporate consolidations signal a need for a structural reset.

Can worker-owned cooperatives stop this race to the bottom, and empower media workers to build a resilient, revitalized, justice-oriented industry? Where do unions fit in?

In the last few years alone, the shuttering and reorganization of media companies has led to a dazzling array of new media cooperatives that center both media workers and mission. These include Defector, Hell Gate, and many more.

Join a hybrid conversation and workshop with these cooperatives’ worker-owners, as well as organizers, educators, and advocates from the Democracy at Work Institute, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies, Writers Guild of America East, and National Writers Union – Freelance Solidarity Project to discuss the challenges and possibilities of the coop model and envision a sustainable and just future for the media industry together.

Panelists

Additional names to be announced!

Rebecca Lurie – Moderator

Rebecca Lurie is Founder of the Community and Worker Ownership Project at the City University of New York (CUNY) School for Labor and Urban Studies and the Murphy Institute where she also serves as faculty in the Urban Studies Department. She is a founding member of the worker-owned cooperative, New Deal Home Improvement Company.