Gawker employees vote to form union

Workers at Gawker Media Group have voted to unionize, in what is understood to be a first for the digital media sector.

Editorial employees at the company, which publishes a series of high-profile blogs including Jezebel and Gizmodo, voted 75% in favour to join the Writers Guild of America East. The guild has traditionally represented writers in the TV, radio, and film industries.

In a blog post about the decision, Gawker employee Hamilton Nolan wrote that: “There was a time when much of the media was unionized. As journalism has moved online and flourished over the past 20 years or so, union workplaces have become much more rare in our industry. Gawker Media would be the first major online media company to organize. That is something that everyone at this company … could be proud of.”

In a separate development, interns at the American Federation of Teachers based in Washington, DC, have voted to join the Office and Professional Employees International Union. This is believed to be the first instance of interns unionizing outside of the medical profession.

The Washington Post’s Lydia DePillis has commented that these two firsts are reflective of increased union activity among younger, lower-paid workers in the US, writing that: “It’s starting to look like the labor movement might be having a millennial moment.”

John Addison has written for IZA World of Labor about the implications of trade unions’ decline in power in recent decades. He writes that: “Although the evidence on union effects is mixed, it can be argued that union decline may give little immediate cause for concern. Even so, two indicators typically associated with union decline—heightened earnings inequality and a potential shortfall in employee voice—occasion more concern.”

In another article, Alex Bryson writes for us about the economic implications of union wage bargaining, arguing that: “Without unions bargaining successfully to raise worker wages, income inequality would almost certainly be higher than it is.”

Read more on this story here.

Related articles:
The consequences of trade union power erosion by John T. Addison
Union wage effects by Alex Bryson