It’s been an incredibly busy and exciting few months for our Local. There is no doubt that what we’ve won and the fights we’ve waged this past Summer will continue into the Fall. From inspiring cross-unit actions fighting back against inadequate return-to-office policies at the New York Times and NBC, to an energizing demonstration of collective power to win a strong contract at Insider, to the hard-fought and highly anticipated recognition of our 500+ member-strong Condé Nast Union, we’re on a roll.
Plus our Local held our first ever, hugely successful Strike School! If you missed it, here’s a recap:
Over 100 Guild activists from over a dozen shops spent a whole day discussing, planning, and learning about what it takes to go on strike and what it would mean for our organizing efforts across the Guild.
CWA president Chris Shelton gave an opening address to the group before turning things over to a panel of activists from ZiffDavis, The New Yorker, and Wired who talked about how they organized walkouts and strike authorization votes to win stellar first contracts. You can learn more about how our union has fought and won first contracts here.
We were also excited to unveil our new NewsGuild on Strike! poster.
Following the panel, activists learned the steps to building to a strike before breaking out into planning sessions of their own. Planning sessions were followed by a workshop on advanced organizing conversations as well as a final panel featuring a rank-and-file Teamster working to organize to a strike at UPS and a nurse activist in CWA 1168 who just successfully organized a strike authorization vote with overwhelming numbers.
Strike School is a critical step in our continuing evolution to become a fighting force for change in our workplaces and across our industry. The past few years have clearly demonstrated that media employers will put the bottom line over editorial integrity, workplace diversity, and even the health and safety of their employees. The workplace standards we strive for are only possible if we are ready and willing to do what it takes to win them—and increasingly, that means preparing to strike fast and strike hard.
Strike School is the first digital conference put together by our Local, but it definitely won’t be the last. Interested in attending a future Strike School and related workshops? Fill out this form!
Two things I'm taking with me from Strike School:
First, from nurses to UPS drivers, from classrooms to newsrooms, we’re part of a huge, bold, fighting worker movement that is ready to collectively demand our due.
Second, and most importantly, we—the journalists, editorial, media, tech, non-profit, business and admin workers that make up our gorgeous Guild—have more power than we know.
