Unions Are Gaining a Foothold at Digital Media Companies<br />In the first tweet, Mr. Lopez said, “I am against #VoxUnion.” He followed<br />that one by arguing that some writers wanted a union “as protection for laziness.” He added that Vox was “a generous company” and “some people want to take advantage of that.”<br />Then a couple of weeks ago, Mr. Lopez changed his mind, swayed by the idea<br />that the company’s generosity isn’t set in stone and that new management could roll back benefits.<br />In recent months, 50 employees at Mashable were let go after the digital publisher Ziff Davis bought the website for $50 million, BuzzFeed fired 100 business<br />and British editorial employees after missing its 2017 revenue targets, and Refinery29 laid off 34 staff members.<br />Writers and editors at other digital publications — including The Intercept, Salon, Slate, Thrillist<br />and MTV News — have since affiliated themselves with the Writers Guild of America East, citing a need for better wages and benefits.<br />“That comes to things like transparency on pay, having a decent pay scale<br />that allows a ladder of sustainability where you can support yourself on such an income, and having due process and a guarantee of severance in the case of layoffs,” Mr. Marans said.<br />Lowell Peterson, the executive director of Writers Guild of America East, denounced the tendency of executives at<br />online media companies to make important decisions concerning company strategy without the input of employees.<br />Kim Kelly, an editor at Noisey, Vice Media’s music<br />and culture section, said fair wages had played a central role in Vice Media employees’ decision to go union.
