Employees across the video, editorial, design, social and photo departments at Hearst Magazines’ 24 brands announced on Monday that they are moving to unionize with the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE). (Adweek)
The New York-based WGAE, which has about 6,000 members in film, television, news and digital media, announced on Monday that a strong majority of the 500-member staff has signed union cards. (Variety)
The move by the editorial employees at Hearst—also home to Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, O the Oprah Magazine and 20 other brands—represents the biggest single-unit organizing effort in the history of the WGAE, the union said. (New York Post)
Hearst’s effort is unique in that it’s a joint initiative in print and digital and across publications. Staffers started organizing about a year ago and built an organizing committee of about 55 people, said Olivia Fleming, digital features director at Harper’s Bazaar and one of the union organizers. (CNN Business)
The union has made a major push in recent years to organize digital newsrooms, representing the writers and editors at Salon, Slate, HuffPost, Vice, MTV News, The Dodo, Fast Company, Gizmodo Media Group, Intercept, Onion Inc., Refinery29, Talking Points Memo, ThinkProgress, Thrillist, and Vox Media. (Deadline)