Gawker Media
Yesterday marked a new journey for Gawker Media employees. The media outlet decided to unionize, becoming the first digital-only media company to do so. All of its 118 journalists were eligible to vote for the cause and 107 employees cast a ballot. reports New York magazine. Seventy-five percent (80) Gawker journalists were in favor of unionization with the Writers Guild of America, East. A quarter of votes (27) were cast against joining the union.
Lowell Peterson who serves as the executive director of Writers Guild of America, East shared in a statement: “As Gawker’s writers have demonstrated, organizing in digital media is a real option, not an abstraction. People who do this work really can come together for their own common good.” AFL-CIO, the federation of labor organizations agreed by saying, “Whether it’s from a factory floor or the iPhone of an enterprising young journalist, every worker deserves a voice and an opportunity to be heard.”
After the vote, Gawker Media said its employees will form a bargaining committee and negotiate/create their unionized contract. This new development may lead other journalists in the industry to form unions within their company, in order to protect their labor rights and further secure their employment status.
