WGAE, Gawker Invited To White House Worker Summit
NEW YORK, NY (October 6, 2015) – The Writers Guild of America, East, AFL-CIO (WGAE) today announced that Hamilton Nolan, a digital media writer at Gawker Media, and Justin Molito, WGAE’s Director of Organizing, have been invited by the Obama administration to participate in the White House Summit on Worker Voice on Wednesday, October 7th. At the summit, Nolan will appear on the panel “Millennials Finding Their Voice.”
The WGAE represents men and women who craft the stories that are seen, heard and read on film, television, radio and the internet. In June, Gawker Media voted to unionize with the WGAE, beginning a historic wave of digital media writers gaining a strong, collective voice in their workplaces.
“The writers at Gawker, Salon, VICE, and ThinkProgress have demonstrated the vitality of collective bargaining,” said Lowell Peterson, Executive Director of the Writers Guild of America, East. “Joining a union gives all working people, including creative professionals, a collective voice in critical decisions about pay and benefits and working conditions, and enables them to build sustainable careers doing work they care about.”
“I’m attending this summit because I believe that organizing is one of the best things American workers can do for themselves. We should all do what we can to spread that message,” said Gawker’s Hamilton Nolan. “I’m proud of all the editorial workers at Gawker Media who came together this year to help show our industry that this can be done.”
The AFL-CIO has released seven guiding principles aimed at protecting and strengthening the rights of working people to take collective action. These principles embody what the labor movement intends to affirm during tomorrow’s conversations at the White House and what all leaders should look to in their efforts to support working people.
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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