ABC News Digital Staff Vote to Unionize With WGA East

ABC News Digital employees have voted to unionize with the Writers Guild of America East, the union and the company announced Wednesday, following a July 31 election that established a new bargaining unit representing approximately 50 editorial staffers. The vote formalizes union representation for eligible digital employees at ABC News. The parties said they have agreed to voluntarily recognize the bargaining unit, which will now begin negotiating its first collective bargaining agreement. WGAE President Tom Fontana said, “The WGAE has represented unionized workers at ABC News since the 1960s. We appreciate that management engaged in productive conversations for recognition, and we look forward to winning union protections for ABC News’ digital staff.” The ABC News Digital organizing committee added, ““We organized to have a stronger voice in our working conditions during this time of transition in the industry. The best way to ensure a fair, safe and productive workplace is through collective bargaining. When we support one other, we improve our environment and our news coverage. We will now nominate and elect a bargaining committee and identify the most important issues to prioritize for our first union contract.” According to the joint announcement, employees cited compensation, benefits, job security, career development, editorial standards and transparency among the issues that motivated the organizing effort. ABC News already has several union-represented employee groups, including members of the Writers Guild of America East representing portions of its broadcast workforce. The newly recognized digital bargaining unit will now begin the process of negotiating its inaugural labor agreement with the company.