Onion Inc. to Unionize with Writers Guild of America, East
NEW YORK, NY (MARCH 29, 2018) – The editorial and video staffs at The Onion, A/V Club and Clickhole have unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE). An overwhelming majority of the staff have signed union cards and called on management to voluntarily recognize the Guild as its collective bargaining representative.
Onion Inc., which operates the popular satire, culture and humor sites The Onion, A/V Club and Clickhole, is part of the Fusion Media Group. The Guild currently represents editorial and video staffs at the Fusion owned Gizmodo Media Group, which includes sites Splinter News, The Root, Lifehacker, Gizmodo, Jezebel, Deadspin, Kotaku, io9, Jalopnik and Earther.
In 2011, comedy/variety writers for The Onion’s satirical television news show, Onion News Network, joined the Writers Guild of America, East. The show aired for two seasons on IFC.
In addition to Onion Inc., the WGAE represents digital-first editorial and video staffs at Vox Media, HuffPost, VICE, The Intercept, ThinkProgress, MTV News, Thrillist and Salon. In 2010, writers for cbs2chicago.com, the website for Chicago’s CBS station WBBM, became the first news writer-producers working solely on Internet content to join the Guild.
Lowell Peterson, Executive Director of the Writers Guild of America, East, wrote, “We welcome the editorial and production employees at Onion, Inc. to the movement for collective bargaining in digital media. Working together, we can build power and make concrete gains in the workplace as we have at GMG and across the digital media landscape.”
“Onion Inc. is unionizing with the Writers Guild of America, East. By organizing, we intend to protect the culture and values that make Onion Inc. a singularly great place to work and establish a formal means by which the employees have a collective and meaningful voice in our workplace. We’ve seen the positive effects of unions across digital media newsrooms, especially at our Gizmodo Media Group sister sites, and believe Onion Inc. will similarly benefit,” wrote the Onion Inc. Organizing Committee. “As we continue to work with Univision and Fusion Media Group, we are unionizing to establish transparency and open communication around the high-level decisions being made that affect Onion Inc. A union will ensure that Onion Inc. remains a place that attracts and retains talented people, upholds opportunities for professional growth, and continues to be the most widely read, most lucrative, and most respected media company that has ever existed in the history of the written word.”
ABOUT WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA, EAST
The Writers Guild of America, East, AFL-CIO (WGAE) is a labor union representing writers in motion pictures, television, cable, digital media and broadcast news. 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.
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