Employees Of Online News Conglomerate Gawker Media Debate Unionizing
Online news conglomerate Gawker Media has become the latest high-profile company to consider unionizing. In a joint statement this week, the Writers Guild of America East and Gawker Media announced a June 3 vote among editorial staff of its Lifehacker, Deadspin, Gawker, Gizmodo, io9, Kotaku, Jezebel, and Jalopnik sites. The unionization effort first started April 17, the Boston Herald reports. In this case, the vote is set to “bypass the traditional route of having the election conducted through the National Labor Relations Board.” Gawker and the Writers Guild both said this was because working with the NLRB at a Federal level “presumes an antagonism between employers and employees that does not exist at the Gawker Media sites.”
Despite the optimistic tone set forth in the two parties’ announcement of the vote, the International Business Times reports that some workers have been nonplussed by the announcement. In the comments on a Thursday post on Gawker’s website about the issue, Deadspin staff writer Kevin Draper wrote, “Voting this soon is insane. The only prudent thing to do is slow down, make sure the opinions of all our coworkers are heard, and figure out conference-call technology so that our remote staffers can actually participate. If we could do that, I would proudly vote to unionize. But since we won’t, I have to vote no.” Deadspin’s Drew Margary says the vote “has created a GALACTIC amount of acrimony within Gawker.” Still another Deadspin staffer, Leslie Horn, said, “I’m not confident in the WGA’s abilities to help us unionize. I have constantly felt like I’m being sold something by a group that wants to be associated with Gawker Media, the fist [sic] digital media company to unionize.”
What Happens Next
If Gawker Media votes to unionize, there would be 120 workers affected, 60% of whom would be located at the company’s New York City headquarters, and the other 40% of whom work offsite. However, divisiveness surrounding the vote means it’s too soon to tell which way employees will vote.
What This Means For Small Businesses
Gawker Media’s unionization vote is just the latest high-profile attempt by a workforce to unionize. The public debate over unionization places increased pressure on small businesses to provide similar union votes and opportunities for unionization to workers in New York City and elsewhere. Unions lead to increased labor costs, bad for small business’ bottom lines.
Additional Reading
Poynter and Politico are among the media outlets covering the vote.
