Vox Media Unionizes with WGA East

Vox Media Unionizes with the Writers Guild of America, East

NEW YORK, NY (January 11, 2018) – In a move that demonstrates the essential role of unions and collective bargaining in the world of digital news, Vox Media has agreed to recognize the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) as the collective bargaining representative of approximately 400 creative professionals employed on its eight verticals. Approximately 1000 content creators in the digital news industry have won bargaining rights with the WGAE since 2015.

Vox Media is a digital media company known for progressive coverage of news, technology, sports and lifestyle across its eight verticals – Curbed, Eater, Polygon, Racked, Recode, SBNation, The Verge and Vox.com. Management’s recognition of its editorial and video staff’s decision to unionize with the WGAE is the latest in a series of organizing successes in the digital media industry, and makes Vox Media the first major digital media company to recognize its employees’ union in 2018.

“The content creators at Vox Media have stood strong together throughout this process, insisting that their right to bargain collectively be respected,” said Lowell Peterson, Executive Director of the Writers Guild of America, East. “We are as proud of their solidarity as we are of the important work they do for a living, and we welcome them to the Writers Guild of America, East. We look forward to sitting down with Vox Media’s progressive management to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement that reflects the unit’s needs and aspirations and that ensures they continue to have a voice on the job.”

In a statement, the Vox Media Union Organizing Committee said, “We’re thrilled that Vox Media has chosen to recognize the Vox Media Union and our decision to organize with the Writers Guild of America, East. The company’s decision affirms what we have known since the start of our campaign: Across eight verticals, our colleagues overwhelmingly want the benefits and protections that come from union membership.

Through voluntary recognition, Vox Media has joined the growing ranks of digital media companies that understand the necessity of unions to secure basic protections for those of us who work in an always-evolving industry. As we wrote in our “Why We’re Organizing” letter three months ago, a union will give us the means to maintain what we love about working for this company, and to have a collective voice when we address anything that may change.

We’re proud to work for a company that places quality, inclusivity, collaboration, and respect among its core values. We formed the Vox Media Union because we believe that the best way to champion those values is to unionize, and we’ll continue to champion those values at the bargaining table as new members of the Writers Guild of America, East.”

In addition to Vox Media, the Writers Guild of America, East represents digital news staffs at VICE, HuffPost, The Intercept, Gizmodo Media Group (Splinter, Gizmodo, Jezebel, Deadspin, The Root, Lifehacker, Kotaku, io9, Jalopnik, Earther), ThinkProgress, MTV News, Thrillist and Salon.

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.

###