Nick Denton ‘intensely relaxed’ by Gawker’s union drive (update)
Last edited Fri Apr 17, 2015, 11:59 AM - Edit history (1)
Source: Capital NY
By Peter Sterne
On Thursday afternoon, Gawker senior writer Hamilton Nolan announced that Gawker's editorial staff had decided to try to form a union.
The day before, Nolan wrote, Gawker staffers had met with representatives of the Writers Guild of America. Shortly after Nolan's post was published, Gawker employees discussed the potential union during their weekly "all-hands" editorial meeting.
A number of details about the potential unionization are still unclear, executive editor Tommy Craggs told Capital just prior to the meeting, but Gawker staffers are already in the process of signing union authorization cards.
One big question is whether Gawker editors—including "site leads" like Gawker editor in chief Max Read and members of the editorial management team (which the company calls the "Politburo"
like executive features editor Tom Scocca—would be eligible to join the union or whether they count as "management" and therefore be ineligible.
FULL story at link.
Denton. (Financial Times)
End of the controversy.
Original story below.
Why We've Decided to Organize: http://gawker.com/why-weve-decided-to-organize-1698246231
Hamilton Nolan
Some of us on the Gawker Media editorial staff have decided to try to unionize. Here's a brief explanation.
I will say first of all that I'd prefer not to be writing this story yet, because the organizing effort is still in the early stages. It would be easier to have this conversation internally. But Gawker Media is, for better or worse, a company with a rich history of gossip. Yesterday, a large group of editorial staffers representing many of our websites met with union organizers at the Writers Guild in New York. When a few dozen people know something, everyone here knows it. We also have that whole "radical transparency" ethos that demands that we discuss things openly. I've been informed that the union effort is going to be discussed at our weekly "all hands" meeting today, and Tommy Craggs, our company's editorial director, and Max Read, Gawker's editor, encouraged me to write something about it first. So here it is.
Generally speaking, Gawker Media is a very good place to work. So why do we want to unionize? I cannot speak for everyone, but for me, these are the motivations:
Every workplace could use a union. A union is the only real mechanism that exists to represent the interests of employees in a company. A union is also the only real mechanism that enables employees to join together to bargain collectively, rather than as a bunch of separate, powerless entities. This is useful in good times (which our company enjoys now), and even more in bad times (which will inevitably come).
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2015/04/8566182/nick-denton-intensely-relaxed-gawkers-union-drive
Gawker Media would be the first major online media company to organize!
= new reply since forum marked as read
For so-called "Progressive" companies on matters such as gender equality and gay rights, they are very "conservative" when it comes to unionizing and paying fair wages.
Hmm!
Not news? Didn't break today?
Oh, wait...it's union shit.
Never mind.
