Editorial staff at Raw Story Media, a Washington-based progressive online news organization, have received voluntary recognition of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild as their exclusive bargaining representative.
“The group is excited to continue the wave of organizing among journalists across the United States,” Senior Editor David Ferguson and Staff Writer Elizabeth Preza wrote in a July 19 press release, “and to work collectively to establish sustainable working standards in collaboration with management.”
Sang yul-Lee, Raw Story Media’s labor counsel, wrote to WBNG that the organization was “pleased to convey its voluntary recognition” of the Washington-Baltimore News Guild as the exclusive bargaining representative for the organization’s 10 online journalists.
The journalists explained that unionizing is a natural extension of the principles that guide their work:
“As the writers for a progressive digital publication, we support the rights of all workers to form a union. We believe that the process of unionization is the best way that we as workers can work collaboratively with management to advocate for ourselves and for our ideals.
“Organizing a union is a way for Raw Story to practice the values of fairness and equality that it supports. We will work with management to create a contract that puts in place basic workplace protections, provides clear policies and rules regarding work responsibilities, and which fosters a productive, healthy and mutually beneficial work relationship between management and staff.”
The staffers noted that among the Raw Story successes over the years are stories putting the spotlight on “racial discrimination in the criminal justice system, the right-wing assault on reproductive rights, and the increasing number of roadblocks voters face every time they head to the polls.”