What We’re Up To
First Contract!
(June 25, 2024) Writers Guild of America East members at iHeart Podcast Network ratified their first collective bargaining agreement. The 100-member bargaining unit overwhelmingly ratified a three-year contract that came after more than two years of negotiations. Read the full press release here.
Victory!
(February 24, 2022) The writers, producers, editors, and other storytellers at the iHeart Podcast Network – the fastest growing division of iHeartMedia – won voluntary recognition of the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) as their representative for the purpose of collective bargaining. The recognition comes after a third-party card check confirmed that an overwhelming majority of employees in the bargaining unit signed union cards with the Guild.
The approximately 110-member iHeartPodcast Network bargaining unit is based in Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York City.
The iHeart Podcast Network includes hit series like “Stuff You Should Know,” “Fake Doctors, Real Friends,” “The Ron Burgundy Podcast,” “Las Culturistas,” “Bridgewater,” “Noble Blood,” and “Committed,” among many others.
The iHeart Podcast Network Organizing Committee said, “We’re incredibly excited to win official union recognition and secure our seat at the table to bargain for appropriate wages and benefits, accountability mechanisms, and other long-standing issues for our colleagues and ourselves. The iHeart Podcast Union represents over a hundred employees who drive the creation of a swath of shows for one of the largest audio media companies in the world. This victory stands to set important precedents in our field and for workers at large. We owe our success to our colleagues who’ve led previous efforts at shops like Gimlet, Parcast, and The Ringer, and to the folks at the WGAE. We endeavor to improve the working conditions for all in our industry, and hope that this trend will continue across creative fields and beyond. We now look forward to engaging in good-faith negotiations with the company, and are confident that this process will ensure the continued success and stability of the podcast industry.”
In addition to the iHeart Podcast Network, the WGAE represents workers at podcast production companies Gimlet Media, Parcast, and the Ringer. The Guild represents 7,000 workers in film, television, news (broadcast and digital) and podcasts.
Why We’re Organizing
We, the podcast producers, editors, researchers, writers, and hosts of iHeartMedia, are thrilled to announce that we are unionizing with the Writers Guild of America, East. Months of discussion with our colleagues have clarified some things: First, we love the community we have created at iHeart. We work shoulder to shoulder with some of the most creative minds in the business, who have come to feel more like family. We are devoted and passionate storytellers who take pride in our ability to provide our listeners with entertaining, thought-provoking audio content and, most importantly, companionship.
However, during difficult times, we are reminded that while the iHeart Digital Audio Group prides itself on its relative autonomy and ability to adapt to the shifting needs of the marketplace—much like a start-up—we work under the capacity constraints of a legacy broadcast conglomerate. Essentially, we have been encouraged to embrace the dynamism of start-up culture without any of the associated benefits.
Throughout the unprecedented challenges of the last two years, we managed to seamlessly transition to remote work; our adaptability helped the company not just sustain, but thrive during a period of economic uncertainty and social unrest. During team calls, town halls, and official email communications from leadership, we are frequently reminded of the financial gains that we helped make possible. Bob Pittman, CEO and Chairman of iHeartMedia, reported during last month’s quarterly earnings call that Digital Audio revenue increased by 77 percent compared to 2020. Our division’s significant growth was “driven primarily by continuing increases in demand for digital advertising and the continued growth of podcasting,” where revenue is up 184 percent compared to 2020.
Unfortunately, those gains have not reached the creators working round-the-clock to keep our audience of more than 30 million monthly listeners actively engaged. With hundreds of shows across all categories and genres, many of us are doing the work of multiple employees, and the huge volume of content we are responsible for is not met with equitable compensation. Furthermore, we lack transparency in workplace decision making, meaningful initiatives toward diversity and inclusion, fairness in managerial relationships, and clarity in divisions of labor. While we are proud to be an essential part of iHeartMedia’s success over the past few years, we are keenly aware of significant internal pay disparities between similarly positioned individuals within the company. And across the board, iHeartMedia’s overall compensation and benefits standards are wholly insufficient when compared to the greater podcast and scripted audio market.
Due to these working conditions, the creators of iHeart’s podcasts have banded together in order to help determine the best path forward so that iHeart can remain competitive, retain existing talent, and attract new voices to the network, all while creating a more equitable, transparent, and democratic workplace. Key elements of these goals include, but are not limited to:
● Appropriate compensation and benefits
● Accountability mechanisms regarding diversity and inclusion efforts
● Manageable workloads and appropriate staffing for shows
● Clear paths for advancement and standardized job descriptions
● Job security
We ask that iHeart leadership voluntarily recognize our union, and we look forward to working with our company’s leadership throughout the bargaining process to reach these objectives. In doing so, we can ensure that iHeart’s growth remains sustainable and that we retain our position as an industry leader.
Sincerely,
The iHeart Podcast Union