What a week this is shaping up to be! It’s inspiring to see the support and solidarity across all the Hearst brands and throughout the entire industry. We are all building something really special in the Hearst Union, and we’re excited to share some important updates with you:
1) We tried to meet with Troy and Kate today to discuss formal recognition of our union. Unfortunately, they said they did not have time. Regardless, they’ll receive our demand for recognition this week, possibly via email. We’ll keep you posted.
2) We’ve put together a video, demonstrating that we are the Hearst Union! We have organized to join the Writers Guild in order to have more of a voice at Hearst and join with our colleagues across the media industry, who are also standing up. You can view it on the website, Twitter, and Instagram.
3) We are holding our first general meeting! All are welcome this Monday. Please RSVP here. It’s always better to share updates in person and have a discussion on next steps together, so please join us. We’ll have options for the folks working outside of New York, details to come.
Hearst Union General Meeting
Monday, November 18th at 7:00pm
American Federation of Musicians at 322 W. 48th St.
4) We are hearing from coworkers at several brands about “educational” or “informational” meetings that managers are holding with editorial staff. Sadly, these types of meetings are neither educational, nor informational—they are a typical part of a corporate response to employees unionizing. We certainly hope Hearst management will cease this unseemly practice and stop wasting everyone’s time, but we should be prepared for more.
It’s important to remember why some companies react negatively to employees unionizing and why they might decide to use any argument they can to try to stop workers from exercising our rights. Companies that engage in these types of tactics do not want to give up unilateral decision-making, so they look for any excuse to change the subject after its workforce asks a simple question: “Why shouldn’t we have the opportunity to sit down and negotiate over our pay, benefits, and working conditions?” Here’s a comprehensive FAQ from our website that addresses many of the issues that may come up.
And we’ve also created something that addresses some of the specific talking points we’re hearing these days from Hearst. Please take a look!
One of the things we’ve heard from these meetings is that we don’t need an “outside third party” to be brought into our relationship with our employer. This is a tired anti-union trope. We are the union.We are looking forward to seeing you Monday! Please stay in touch with your committee person and don’t forget to follow the Hearst Union at https://twitter.com/HearstUnion and https://www.instagram.com/hearstunion/.
