Vox Media voluntarily recognizes employee editorial union

Vox Media

• Vox Media officially recognized its editorial union.
• Vox joined several other digital media companies who have unionized over the past several years.

Vox Media management voluntarily recognized the legitimacy of its employee union.

After almost two months of meetings with representatives from the Writers Guild of America East, the committee to organize the union announced Wednesday that the company would officially recognize a bargaining unit.

"We have worked hard to form a unit that represents the people who build this company every day and want to look out for each other," the Vox Media Union Organizing Committee said in a statement. "That work has finally paid off."

Management had publicly said it was open to the prospect of a union, but talks had slowed as the two sides negotiated over whether individual employees should be permitted to join the editorial union. Organizers had taken actions including organizational happy hours, lunches, and a "Slack Strike" to push management to voluntarily recognize a larger bargaining unit.

Vox joined several other digital media newsrooms that have formed employee unions.

Staffers at Vice, HuffPost, and Thrillist successfully voluntarily unionized over the past several years.

Other newsrooms have also faced headwinds after attempting to form a union.

Gothamist and DNAinfo shut down last year after their editorial employees voted to unionize, staffers attempting to form a union at the The Los Angeles Times have faced harsh words from management following their unionization drive.