Management Memo

In the footsteps of last month’s union election at Gawker, an electronic news site, it has now been reported that all 26 of the writers and editors of San Francisco-based at Salon, another on line news organization, have served the publication with a letter announcing that each of them has designated the News Guild, which until April of this year was known as the Newspaper Guild,  as their collective bargaining representative.

Lowell Peterson the union’s Executive Director commented that the unionization campaigns at Salon and Gawker and a part of the Guild’s broader efforts ...

Last week we reported on the June 3rd vote by Gawker media’s employees for union representation and speculated what it meant in the broader context of union organizing among Millennials.

Today, Rachel L. Swarns of the New York Times provided some insight based on interviews and reporting with Gawker workers.

The article notes a recent study by the Pew Research Center finding that those in the 18-29 age group view unions more favorably than those in other age groups, with almost twice as many having a favorable view of unions than those who don’t.

Swarns also points out the issues ...

On June 3, 2015 editorial employees at Gawker Media (“Gawker”) voted to be represented by the Writers Guild of America, East ("the Union”).  In this closely watched organizing drive, employees of a leading “new media” outlet, chose an old line print journalism union to bargain with their employer, becoming one of the first (if not the first) digital media outlets to unionize.  This follows on the heels of increased union organizing and pressure in the technology field and organized labor’s Silicon Valley Rising campaign. Interestingly, the election was not conducted by ...