Hearst Magazine Employees Ratify Union Contract With WGA East

thewrap.com:

Writers Guild of America East announced on Thursday that its members at Hearst Magazines have voted to ratify its first labor contract, ending a two-year struggle to unionize staffers at the media conglomerate in the face of management resistance that was met with writer walkouts and formal charges of unfair labor practice. “This contract will establish and codify many important workplace benefits and protections, including industry-standard wage floors, minimum guaranteed annual wage increases, just cause, gender-neutral bathrooms, a path to reporting discrimination, and a diversity committee to help hold the company accountable to more equitable hiring practices,” said the Hearst Magazines Union Bargaining Committee in a statement. “After spending over two years at the bargaining table, we’re looking forward to working under the new reality of our unionized workplace,” the statement continued.

The contract includes an annual pay increase of $15,000 for the lowest-tiered staffers working in New York and California, along with other annual wage increases for all unionized staffers working at Hearst’s 28 publications, which include Cosmopolitan and Seventeen.

Additional highlights from the contract include: Hearst Magazines Union was successfully formed by WGA East after a National Labor Relations Board election in July 2020, one that was held after a nine-month legal battle in which Hearst refused to voluntarily recognize the union and its motion to break the union into six separate bargaining units was dismissed by the NLRB.But the unionization vote was just the beginning of the staffers’ struggle, as negotiations on a labor contract were stalled for well over a year.