Daily Kos community members may remember the momentous announcement from February of this year that Daily Kos staff members have organized to form a union under the NewsGuild-CWA. Our initial announcement, and the response from Daily Kos management recognizing us, seemed like a promising start towards quickly negotiating the terms of our first collective bargaining agreement.
Unfortunately, six months later, we still haven’t agreed on the terms of the most fundamental part of the process -- namely, who is in our unit. In the absence of such an agreement with the company, we remain uncertified. And until we take that step, we lack what are termed “status quo” protections for our current staff.
Given the delay and the precarity it creates, we in the unit thought the community would appreciate an update on where things stand. Thus, we’re writing to explain where our process stands now, and to ask for your support in helping us build worker power here at Daily Kos.
In January, we formally announced to Daily Kos management our intent to unionize. In February, we were officially recognized by the company. Throughout our campaign, we have had a solid staff response; currently over 80% of eligible staff have signed cards. After several months, however, our discussions with Daily Kos management have stalled due to disagreements over the makeup of our unit -- aka, who gets to be included in our union.
At the core of this dispute is where to draw a distinction about who has power within the organization. The members we believe deserve inclusion comprise a group of seven staff whose titles include the word “manager,” but who lack the ability to make important decisions about projects, decide how their team’s work will be structured, or make the final call when it comes to hiring or firing -- distinctions that give someone true managerial status. All of these staff report to managers who have the power to perform the aforementioned duties or tasks.
We strongly believe that these staff members qualify to be in our union. More importantly, we refuse to leave our colleagues behind. We believe that building true worker power at Daily Kos means including these individuals in our union.
Daily Kos Guild fears that if these staff are excluded from our union, they would be caught between a rock and a hard place. They would not only lose the protections that come with being in a union, but also continue to lack true power to advocate for themselves and their teammates, or protect their roles within the organization. We would also be remiss not to mention the fact that most of these members in question are staff of color, who are much more at risk of facing intersecting oppressions, microaggressions, and retaliation in the workplace.
We have been working hard to ensure the inclusion of these disputed members into the unit, but now we are at an impasse. In the absence of such an agreement with the company, we remain uncertified as a union and lack status quo protections, a set of legal protections conferred to workers in the lead up to an NLRB election or decision that would protect existing terms and conditions, wages, and benefits until the election is completed.
In short, we are in a precarious position, and this is highlighted especially by Daily Kos management’s actions since we have been in disagreement over the staff in question and their inclusion in the union.
While we were having discussions with management over the past few months, they began quietly changing these disputed staff members’ duties in an opaque attempt to make them more ineligible to be part of our union (not unlike other anti-union moves recently in the news). For example, several of these disputed staff reported major shifts in their job duties and increases in level of work that came as directives from their managers without any warning or discussion.
We know that Daily Kos is a champion of progressive values and a supporter of labor rights, and as staff we appreciate the opportunity we have to advance these common goals through our workplace. Unfortunately, management’s recent actions fall short of living up to their own professed values.
We still have hope that management will do the right thing and recognize our union with its full membership, but it’s becoming clear we’ll need community support to get there. Once our unit composition is finalized and we have filed with the NLRB, we can finally begin collective bargaining and negotiate over a contract. We look forward to reaching this milestone and working with management to create a more equitable and just workplace.
We are in a difficult situation as we fight for our colleagues and make worker power a reality at Daily Kos. Can we count on your help?
Here are some ways you can support us:
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Follow these accounts: our user account and the group DK Guild Solidarity on the site and our Twitter account.
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Stay tuned for updates!
We look forward to being an even more effective presence on the site, and in the progressive movement more generally, with your support.