WGA East Backs The Dodo, Thrillist in Fight to Merge Unions With Vox Media Employees: ‘One Union, One Contract’ (EXCLUSIVE)
The Writers Guild of America East council sent a letter to Vox Media brass Monday to demand the company allow employees at its publications The Dodo and Thrillist to merge into the Vox Media Union.
The Dodo and Thrillist parent company Group Nine was purchased by Vox Media in December 2021. The Group Nine publications have been incorporated into Vox Media operations, but the employees say Vox Media leadership is refusing to allow them to join the Vox Media Union.
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“The workers at Vox Media, the Dodo, and Thrillist all work together, for the same employer, and have integrated operations and staff across the company,” the WGA East council, including president Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, wrote in its letter to Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff and president Pam Wasserstein Monday, which was obtained by Variety. “More importantly, these workers have overwhelmingly expressed their wishes to bargain together for equal rights under one contract. Despite these realities, you have so far insisted on three separate units working under three separate contracts. Not only does Vox Media’s intransigence disrespect the wishes of your workers, it is also inefficient, forcing Vox Media, bargaining unit members, and the Guild to bargain and administer three separate contracts, wasting time, energy, and resources for all involved at a time of profound uncertainty and instability in digital media. This must change.”
Representatives for Vox Media did not immediately respond to request for comment Monday.
“After two years of tumultuous layoffs, chaotic acquisitions, and stonewalling good-faith efforts at communication with the company, Vox Media’s management had the opportunity to support their workers,” the Vox United Committee, comprised of employees across Vox Media, The Dodo and Thrillist, said in a statement. “Instead, they’ve denied their employees the dignity of a single contract for WGAE represented staff. Not only is this indicative of their lack of respect, it also complicates day-to-day operations for many teams. They are wasting precious time and resources by denying Thrillist, The Dodo, and Vox Media unions One Union, One Contract.”
Penske Media Corp., publisher of Variety, became Vox Media’s largest single shareholder in 2023 after PMC acquired a minority stake in the company. PMC invested $100 million in Vox Media for a 20% stake, the New York Times reported.
See the WGA East Council’s letter to Vox Media in full below.
We, the Council of the Writers Guild of America East, representing workers in film, TV, streaming, broadcast news and online media, write to express our unwavering support for our members of Vox Media Union, The Dodo Union, and Thrillist Union, and to demand that Vox Media management accede to their request to merge under one union and one contract. We are disappointed by Vox Media’s unwillingness to agree to this request outside of a lengthy and costly NLRB Unit Clarification process.
The workers at Vox Media, the Dodo, and Thrillist all work together, for the same employer, and have integrated operations and staff across the company. More importantly, these workers have overwhelmingly expressed their wishes to bargain together for equal rights under one contract.
Despite these realities, you have so far insisted on three separate units working under three separate contracts. Not only does Vox Media’s intransigence disrespect the wishes of your workers, it is also inefficient, forcing Vox Media, bargaining unit members, and the Guild to bargain and administer three separate contracts, wasting time, energy, and resources for all involved at a time of profound uncertainty and instability in digital media. This must change.
We stand fully behind our members at Vox Media Union, The Dodo Union, and Thrillist Union and are prepared to deploy resources of the Guild to help them achieve their goals. We hope to hear from you within one week regarding how we can move forward together to respect the wishes of these workers. If we do not hear from you, we will take appropriate, public, next steps.
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