Candidate for Council, Online Media Sector
I’m Sie Morley, a Community Editor at SB Nation, shop steward with the Vox Media Union, and a current council member running for re-election.
When I first became active in the Vox Union, I was thrown to the wolves, very quickly organizing around the furloughs and eventual layoffs that hit our company in early 2020. I’ve been reminded of this often over the last two years of serving on council, largely because layoffs haven’t stopped at any media company in WGAE since then, no matter how many assurances we’re given that this time the company has righted the ship.
Media companies who choose to organize with the Writers Guild do so partly because of the overlap between our industries – news stories have always been fodder for creative works, and the pressure of constant growth on media companies leads to multi-media partnerships. But another motivation comes from the examples set by our comrades in film, television, and broadcast media. We need to radically re-think our industry’s structure sooner than later and being on council has taught me so many new ways of organizing.
There have been so many industry shifts in the last five years, but one constant in my two contract campaigns with Vox Union has been the ceaseless river of incredibly talented writers and creatives being sent careening out of the door. The state of online media has been one of fewer and fewer jobs each year. What was once a career has become a job in an industry that many only stay in for as long as that job lasts.
Things can be different. Our comrades in the Writers Guild show us a way of organizing where employers must come to the Guild to find talent. I often dream of an online media sector so thoroughly saturated with organized labor that companies know they cannot survive without working with our talent. I dream of healthcare and pensions untethered from employers. I dream of a future I know we can attain because our comrades in film, TV, and broadcast have paved the way for us.
At Vox, we often say that we move as a unit, but being on council, I am constantly reminded that we don’t just have the power to move as a unit – we have the power to move as an industry. I have a vision of what the industry can look like when we do.
It would be my immense pleasure and honor to continue to represent Online Media members on the WGAE Council.
Responses to Candidate Questions
1. What do you think is the most pressing issue facing the Guild and what steps will you take to address it?
So many of the issues facing the Guild bleed into each other, it’s difficult to pull one thread out from the rest as the most pressing. The issues threatening the Guild all coalesce into a more general bucket of traditional, right-wing, conservative and capitalist mentality. The issues of censorship, public funding, AI – these all come from a mindset that deprioritizes the worker and minimizes the work itself.
Conservative capitalists hate art. They hate what we do, what we stand for, and who we are. The issues we see facing the Guild are simply the tools they are using to accomplish the goal of keeping us starved and complacent, desperate for scraps.
We fight by never losing sight of the goal. We cannot let any new tool they bring out to be used against us. We must stay vigilant to new ways that the machine of fascism will come for us, and luckily, I work in a role that already requires that of me. If elected, I will continue to raise flags toward all of the ways our work and our lives are under threat.
2. WGAE is divided into three sectors: Film, Television, and Streaming; Broadcast, Cable, and Streaming News, and; Online Media. How will you work with and represent all Guild members, including those outside of your own work sector?
I firmly believe that our sectors have more in common than we do differences. What we do in one sector ripples out to the others, even in ways we don’t anticipate or expect. Being on council inherently shares ideas across sectors. Since joining council, I have not been afraid to ask questions and workshop ideas with our comrades in film, television, and broadcast, especially around their big wins. I want to know about the things they are doing because there is always something we can learn from their experiences to bring back to our own shops.
I will continue to stand in solidarity with film, tv, and broadcast news, celebrate their wins, and mourn their losses because we are all fighting for the same goal. I want WGAE to be the place where online media talent is protected, respected, and thriving. We can’t accomplish that without extending the same sentiment to all sectors we represent.
3. What qualities or characteristics do you look for in a Guild leader?
A good organizer is the foundation of a good leader, but the qualities that truly make a leader are the abilities to listen, ask questions, build creative solutions, and communicate clearly and effectively. We’re tasked with juggling the entire spectrum of perspectives and turning that into policy. In order to do so, we have to understand all sides of the issue and be open to creative solutions, even if the creative choice isn’t our first or preferred option. And we have to be able to adapt quickly in a constantly shifting industry.
4. What do you think WGAE’s role should be in the broader labor movement?
Something I’ve seen in both the most recent MBA strike, as well as Vox Media’s third contract campaign, is how the world watches what we do. We’re great at getting the public’s attention when things are running normally; what I’ve found is that we’re even better at holding their attention when things aren’t. For a lot of people, our work is escapism. When you disrupt the thing that people turn to for relief, it brings a lot of emotions to the surface, and people want to know why.
There are people who learn about labor and organizing from us, who never thought about themselves as a worker until they learn that the things we are asking for in every contract negotiation are reasonable and fair. The public nature of our work allows for reach that other unions simply don’t have. Our place in the labor movement is one of education, radicalization, and solidarity with all workers.
Endorsements
Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, Sara David, Kaitlin Fontana, Elizabeth Godvik, Liz Hynes, Nitish Pahwa, Seth Rosenthal, Suzanne Weber
Endorse Sie Morley for Council, Online Media Sector
Note: WGAW members who wish to endorse a candidate may follow the process outlined in section G.1.B of the 2025 Election Policy.
