Futuro Media Unionizes with WGA East; Demands Voluntary Recognition and First Contract

NEW YORK (April 28, 2026) – The staff behind the Pulitzer Prize- and Peabody Award-winning podcast, radio, video, and digital media coverage at Futuro Media have unionized with the Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) for the purpose of collective bargaining.  

Futuro Media’s approximately 15-member bargaining unit has called on management to voluntarily recognize the union and concurrently agree to a basic union contract containing only essential industry-standard provisions including just cause and a fair disciplinary process, codified wages and benefits, and other standard protections to preserve an equitable workplace.  

Futuro Media was founded in 2010 by Pulitzer Prize winner Maria Hinojosa and produces the Peabody Award-winning LATINO USA. Other recent projects include the Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast SUAVE, and critically acclaimed podcasts LA BREGA, ANYTHING FOR SELENA and LOUD: THE HISTORY OF REGGAETON. 

In a “Why We’re Organizing” letter to management, the Futuro Union wrote: 

“We are proud to announce that we are unionizing with the Writers Guild of America East. 

Our collective actions are because we deeply care about Futuro, our coworkers, and the work we do – telling stories with heart, producing award-winning journalism, and creating stories that inform, entertain, and resonate with our audiences. Our union is a way of expanding that commitment and we are excited about the potential that comes with this step. We believe in Futuro’s mission and see our union as a way to help make the company more collaborative, equitable, and transparent – making it an example for our industry. 

We’ve seen the journalism industry shaken and directly attacked. The suffering of our peers is palpable. While Futuro hasn’t remained unscathed, it has rebuilt and continued to survive. As a union we see the monumental effort of this, and we don’t want the process of unionizing to take more resources than needed away from our important work. That is why in good will, we are presenting an initial collective contract that covers only essential labor protections. Our goal is to achieve union recognition and a union contract at the same time, to minimize the costs and time that more extensive bargaining might incur. 

We are proud of our collective work and achievements at Futuro. Additionally, we are grateful for Futuro leadership engaging in a dialogue with us (in particular, in the aftermath of our 2023 layoffs) and taking steps to increase transparency. We believe there is still space for Futuro to grow and that recognizing a union will provide the structure to achieve this. Through our organizing, we’ve identified key areas for improvement to help achieve this goal: 

• Clear and fair disciplinary and termination policies 
• Equitable pay across roles and experience levels 
• Standardized job titles that reflect responsibilities with clear processes for promotion 
• Ensuring that any significant expansion of responsibilities or workload is accompanied by appropriate compensation and support 
• Employee input in company decision-making 

Leadership has told us that we’re integral in fulfilling the mission of Futuro: telling stories of our communities from a humane and nuanced perspective. We’re deeply invested in this and through collective bargaining, we hope to honor and enshrine those values in our culture, communities and contracts. As a non-profit and one of the last remaining independent audio companies in the industry, we also believe we have a particular opportunity to demonstrate leadership for our peers and show how this process can make Futuro stronger and more competitive. 

We believe a union will be a bold statement during these volatile times: that we are continuing to take steps to be a progressive organization committed to the care of its staff while telling rigorous, impactful journalism. We stand in solidarity with unionized audio production houses – such as Pushkin Industries, Pineapple Street, Vox, NPR, Lemonada, and iHeart – and with groups across media more broadly. 

As Futuro continues to evolve, we are committed to continuing our important and necessary mission with collaboration and determination. We believe that our work at Futuro is important and needed, and we also believe that a union will help continue to do this work with even more certainty. We ask that management honor its commitment to those values by voluntarily recognizing our union. 

In addition to Futuro, the WGA East represents Online Media members at Bustle Digital Group, Civic News Group, Committee to Protect Journalists, Fast Company & Inc., Financial Times Specialists, Future PLC, Gizmodo Media USA, HuffPost, Jalopnik at Static Media, Hearst Magazines, Inc., Jewish Currents, NowThis, Onion Inc., Salon, Slate, Talking Points Memo, The Intercept, The Root, Vox Media and VICE. 

ABOUT THE WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA EAST 

The Writers Guild of America East, AFL-CIO, is a labor union of more than 7,500 members working in film, television, news, podcasts and online media. The Guild negotiates and administers contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of its members; conducts programs, seminars and events on issues of interest to writers; and presents writers’ views to various bodies of government. For more information on the Writers Guild of America East, visit wgaeast.org.