Jacobin Magazine Editorial Staff Join NewsGuild

10/19/2016

New York, New York – Editorial staff at Jacobin, a Brooklyn-based print and online magazine that offers socialist perspectives on politics and culture, have joined The NewsGuild of New York, TNG-CWA Local 31003. The NewsGuild is the largest union for media professionals in the country.

Management voluntarily recognized the union after 100 percent of its editorial employees signed cards seeking NewsGuild representation. 

Jacobin reaches an online audience of over 1 million a month, with a print circulation for its quarterly magazine of 20 thousand.

“This past year Jacobin’s ideas have reached more people than ever before,” said Elizabeth Mahony, an Assistant Editor at Jacobin. “It’s important for people to see that those ideas are reflected in our everyday practices at the magazine, and that we’re in solidarity with a wider labor movement that is increasingly made up of unconventional workplaces.”

In a mission statement, Jacobin staffers explained why unionizing is a natural extension of the principles that guide their work: 

“We are proud to be part of Jacobin and the contribution it has made to the growth of left-wing politics. At a time when more and more people are open to socialist ideas, and Jacobin expands in size and reach, we believe it’s vital to put the magazine on a firm institutional footing.

By unionizing relatively early in the life of Jacobin, we hope to institutionalize the socialist principles that have guided the magazine’s development. We’re confident that, thanks to our initial efforts, future Jacobin staffers will see the principles of democracy, solidarity, and economic security embodied in their workplace. They’ll be staffers at a publication that shows worker power does more than produce good working conditions — it produces a great magazine. 

We also unionize knowing that a revitalized labor movement is a precondition for a revitalized left. In our work at Jacobin, we’ve tried to do our part to contribute to labor’s resurgence. We’re thrilled that we can now lend not just our intellectual labor to the union movement, but our time and energy as rank-and-file trade unionists. 

As we move into contract negotiations, we look forward to organizing alongside our union sisters and brothers in the industry and beyond.”

Negotiations for a first contract are expected to begin shortly.

###

About NewsGuild of New York

The NewsGuild, Local 31003 of the Communications Workers of America, represents nearly 3,000 media professionals and other employees at New York area news organizations, including The New York Times, Thomson Reuters, The Nation, The Daily Beast and Time Inc. 

Go back

News Archive

Share this story