Salon agrees to recognize union, starts negotiations on contract

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Poynter

by James Warren

Management at San Francisco-based Salon Media has agreed to start talks on a first union contract with its workers, it was disclosed Saturday.

“Salon Media has agreed to recognize the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE) as the collective bargaining representative of its editorial staff, whose decision to unionize was unanimous,” the union said in a formal statement.

Workers voted last month to join a union. The company could have forced a formal vote overseen by a third party or perhaps otherwise stalled union recognition. It did not, which now triggers the process of attempting to bargain a first contract.

“The men and women who write, edit, and produce stories for Salon.com have gained a voice on the job, and the intelligence and unity they have brought to the project is an inspiration,” said Lowell Peterson, Executive Director of the Writers Guild of America, East.

FULL story at link.

Read more: http://www.poynter.org/news/mediawire/362257/salon-agrees-to-recognize-union-starts-negotiations-on-contract/

[XemaSab]

1. This was one of their articles today:

http://www.salon.com/2015/08/02/%E2%80%9Cstop_working_for_free_%E2%80%9D_why_was_it_so_hard_to_take_that_advice/

[Old Union Guy]

2. What about their non-editorial staff? Unionized? n/t

[Xithras]

5. Salon has very few non-editorial, non-management employees.

The actual vote covers all employees in "creative" positions, which would theoretically include editors, writers, etc. Of course, since their formatting model is automated, virtually all of their backend technology needs are handled by a third party, and their articles come from non-employee contributors, they actually have very few employees outside of their editorial staff. A handful of sales people, two or three tech people, and a couple of accountants, and that's about it. For all of its prominence, Salon is actually a very small, very lean operation.

[silvershadow]

3. Almost 200 views, yet I am only the fourth rec. My how the party has slipped. nt

[Cryptoad]

4. Salon is a covert Right wing media incognito !