WGA East to Livestream from Vox Media’s First Union Bargaining Session
WGA East to Livestream from Vox Media’s First Union Bargaining Session
NEW YORK, NY (APRIL 10, 2018) – In an act of transparency, the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) will livestream the Vox Media Bargaining Committee’s caucus meeting prior to its very first collective bargaining session with management on Wednesday, April 11th at 1:30pm EST.
The livestream will be broadcast on the Vox Media Bargaining Committee’s twitter account at @Vox_Union. In addition, Lowell Peterson, Executive Director of the Writers Guild of America, East, will be tweeting insights on collective bargaining during the livestream on the Guild’s account at @WGAEast.
The livestream will provide unprecedented access into the collective bargaining process and showcase what gains could be achieved through joining a union. At the caucus meeting, Guild staff and members of the Vox Media Bargaining Committee located in New York and Washington, D.C. will review important issues that will be discussed at the bargaining table, including editorial independence, company transparency, job protection and inclusion and equity.
In January, Vox Media agreed to recognize the WGAE as the collective bargaining representative of approximately 400 creative professionals employed at its eight verticals – Curbed, Eater, Polygon, Racked, Recode, SBNation, The Verge and Vox.com – and Video Services.
Executive Director Peterson said, “Collective bargaining is about building power in the workplace and engaging people in the decisions that affect their work lives and careers. By live streaming its initial caucus the Vox Media Bargaining Committee demonstrates the importance of engagement and transparency. This is a great way to get negotiations off to a powerful start.”
The Vox Media Bargaining Committee said, “Livestreaming our Vox Media Union caucus on the first day of collective bargaining is a way to ensure our union remains transparent. We’ve worked hard to build strength and unity across Vox Media’s eight verticals and video services to guarantee a seat at the negotiating table. Our union gives us the opportunity to look out for each other, and we want to our coworkers and the broader community to see what we’re accomplishing.”
The WGAE has organized over 1,000 content creators in the digital news industry since 2015. In addition to Vox Media, the WGAE represents digital news staffs at Onion Inc. (The Onion, A/V Club, ClickHole), HuffPost, VICE, The Intercept, Gizmodo Media Group (Splinter, Gizmodo, Jezebel, Deadspin, The Root, Lifehacker, Kotaku, io9, Jalopnik, Earther), ThinkProgress, MTV News, Thrillist and Slate.
ABOUT WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA, EAST
The Writers Guild of America, East, AFL-CIO (WGAE) is a labor union representing writers in motion pictures, television, cable, digital media and broadcast news. The Guild negotiates and administers contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of its members; conducts programs, seminars and events on issues of interest to writers; and presents writers’ views to various bodies of government. For more information on the Writers Guild of America, East, visit wgaeast.org.
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