The Guardian US Writers Vote Unanimously to Join The NewsGuild-CWA

Writers and staff members of The Guardian US announced Wednesday that they voted to join The NewsGuild-CWA in an unanimous vote, held through an expedited election agreed to by The Guardian’s management and staff. Forty-five staffers participated in the election. The announcement is the latest in a series of organizing victories for digital news reporters.

“This is a big day not only for the writers and staff members at The Guardian US but for the news industry as a whole. Digital media is growing up, and it’s time our digital reporters received the same benefits and protections as their print media colleagues,” said Bernard Lunzer, President of The NewsGuild-CWA.

“The News Media Guild is pleased that the editorial staff of The Guardian US chose our union to represent them,” said News Media Guild President Martha Waggoner, the TNG-CWA local where The Guardian US staffers will join. “The Guardian has a history of great reporting that continues today. It’s a publication with a grand tradition of unionism that now includes its U.S. writers.”

The Guardian US writers and management released a joint statement announcing the vote to unionize:

We are proud to announce that the editorial staff of Guardian US have voted in favor of collective representation under the auspices of the News Media Guild, following a ballot which was conducted independently by the American Arbitration Association. The union has been voluntarily recognized by Guardian News & Media LLC following the result of that ballot.

We would like to thank the News Media Guild and the Communication Workers of America for their invaluable help, advice and support. Furthermore, we greatly appreciate the support shown by our unionized editorial colleagues in the UK and Australia, where the Guardian has a strong history of working in partnership with its unions.

We are also grateful to the leadership shown by the Guardian US editor, Lee Glendinning, who immediately welcomed our initiative to seek collective representation. Our discussions with Guardian management have been conducted in a constructive manner and we're confident, moving forwards, we can all achieve our stated goal - a long-term, sustainable future for the Guardian and its quality journalism.

Guardian US is in the process of rapid growth, which has been reflected by increasing audience figures and groundbreaking journalism, from our Pulitzer prize-winning Edward Snowden disclosures to our current work highlighting police-related deaths through The Counted project. Together we look forward to continuing to enhance the Guardian’s reputation as one of the most read, most respected and most trusted news organizations in the US.

-- Guardian US-The News Media Guild

The NewsGuild-CWA has represented digital workers for over 20 years, first as print and broadcast employers expanded online, and later in digital-only operations. Today, it represents over 2,000 digital employees. They range from staff members at The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Associated Press, Reuters, Boston.Com, SFGate and Philly.com to writers at The Daily Beast, Truthout and In these Times.