The tactics media unions are using to build membership
Union membership as a share of the workforce in the United States has fallen to its lowest point in 80 years, but news media workers have bucked the trend, winning union recognition at roughly 30 digital news sites since 2015 and in numerous other traditional newsrooms. Looking at how they’ve done it offers a blueprint for would-be union organizers in other industries and is perhaps even an early sign that conditions are ripening for a labor comeback.
HOW THEY’VE DONE IT How have organizers changed the equation? First, they have convinced workers that having a union as a bargaining representative will actually help workers do better. Next, they have focused intensely on getting a first contract, even embedding their bargaining campaign into the organizing drive, as was done at Fast Company. In many cases, the contracts that have been negotiated are providing more than just baseline provisions: The contract at Thrillist includes merit-based raises, eight weeks paid parental leave, just cause for discipline and discharge, severance pay enhancements and the elimination of “pre-existing agreements.” Finally, they’ve convinced media workers that organizing — and agitating — is a risk worth taking.
A TIPPING POINT? Individually none of the strategies we’ve outlined above point to a new type of organizing. But taken together, and in the context of the gains that the labor movement has made among media workers, they signify a broader renewal for organizing. There are other signs, too. First, a recent survey reveals that nearly 50% of the nonunion workers would support union representation. Second, other industries are experiencing similarly growing protests. Finally, it’s worth noting that unionized media workers posses the communication skills and followings necessary to constitute a mobile corps of labor ambassadors. As such, unionizing them may lead the way to the much wider unionization of creative professionals, millennials, lower-paid workers and industrial workers.