(Bloomberg) — MSNBC employees voted to unionize in a government-supervised election, according to the Writers Guild of America, East, part of a labor-organizing push sweeping the media industry.
The mail-in ballot election, held by the National Labor Relations Board, covered around 300 staff, including writers, producers and fact-checkers, according to the union.
The organizing campaign went public in June, saying a majority of workers had signed a letter requesting that MSNBC voluntarily recognize and negotiate with their union. The network’s president, Rashida Jones, declined that request, arguing in a memo reported by the New York Times that “our employees should be able to make such an important decision through a standard election process.”
The vote was 141-to-58, according to the union. MSNBC, part of Comcast Corp., and a labor board spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
If the government certifies that the union has won the election, MSNBC would be required to recognize and collectively bargain with the group. That would extend a wave of unionization victories in recent years in the media industry, including at NBC News’ digital division, where workers voted in 2019 to unionize with the NewsGuild of New York, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America.
“This victory is the first of its kind in cable news,” the MSNBC union’s organizing committee said in an emailed statement. “We now look forward to constructive, good faith negotiations with MSNBC management to make this an even better place to work — with input from all of us.”
The WGAE has swelled its ranks in recent years by successfully organizing digital journalists at HuffPost, Vox Media and Vice Media, but has recently been roiled by internal conflict over organizing priorities. The group recently announced a “pause” on trying to organize new digital media targets, and some leaders have voiced concern about digital media workers diverting the group’s budget and focus away from television and film struggles.
In an emailed statement Tuesday, WGAE Executive Director Lowell Peterson emphasized the role of unity in securing success at MSNBC: “The organizing campaign at MSNBC took over a year of intense work that saw every sector of our union, from screenwriters to digital news members, join together to deliver a resounding victory.”
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2021 Bloomberg L.P.
