Slate Editorial Staff Seeks to Unionize With Writers Guild East
The editorial staff at digital news site Slate plans to unionize with the Writers Guild of America East and is asking management to voluntarily recognize that the WGA will become its bargaining representative.
More than 90% of Slate’s staffers have signed cards declaring that the WGA will serve as their representative in collective bargaining.
“Slate’s editorial staff joins a labor movement that has proven to be the most effective way for creative professionals to have a seat at the table and build sustainable careers in the billion-dollar digital media industry,” said WGA East Executive Director Lowell Peterson. “We call on Slate’s management to voluntary recognize their employees’ decision to seek workplace protections and benefits that can only be ensured by a collective bargaining agreement.”
The WGA East has been able to unionize an array of New York-based digital news sites in recent years. The guild represents editorial staffs at Huffington Post, Vice, Gizmodo Media Group, Fusion, the Root, ThinkProgress, and Salon.
The Slate Unionizing Committee said, “Slate’s editorial staff has decided to unionize with Writers Guild of America East. We are delighted to announce this development, and given that 90% of eligible staff have signed cards affirming their commitment to the union after considerable discussion, we are confident this is the right step forward for us.”
“We’re proud to work for Slate, and we feel that unionizing will help us ensure that it is the best possible place to work. We’re particularly excited about unionizing as a way for us to put our progressive values into action. We call upon Slate’s management, as well as the Graham Holdings Company, to voluntarily recognize the Guild as our collective-bargaining representative, ” the committee continued.
“Slate has decided to unionize because we believe collectively creating a contract that ensures critical workers’ rights for all employees, to be applied universally across the staff, will help create a more fair and stable workplace. Digital media is an industry in constant flux, and given Slate’s recent growth, we feel that now is the time to solidify certain protections and rights that will not only ensure that our workers are fairly compensated, but will help to create better industry standards and make Slate more competitive in the field,” they continued
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