We Finally Won Just Cause Protection at The New Yorker after AOC and Warren Refused to Cross Our Pic

[Omaha Steve]

October 23, 2020 / Hannah Aizenman, Stefanie Frey, and Mai Schotzenlarge

After 95 years, at-will employment is over at The New Yorker. Our union finally won just cause in our first contract. Securing this protection took strong organizing and strategic mobilization—on top of nearly two years of negotiations.

What changed the tide was a digital picket of the New Yorker Festival, a weeklong annual event where celebrities, politicians, and various experts discuss timely topics. The opening night was to feature Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Elizabeth Warren talking about “the future of progressivism.”

The New Yorker Union was formally recognized in 2018 and has been at the bargaining table since November of that year. One of the biggest hang-ups: management’s insistence that we remain an at-will workplace.

At-will employment is the default condition in nonunion workplaces: management can legally fire anyone at any time for almost any reason, or no reason. It fosters a discriminatory culture that endangers journalists of color, silences voices of dissent, and jeopardizes the editorial independence of newsrooms.

FULL story: https://labornotes.org/2020/10/we-finally-won-just-cause-protection-new-yorker-after-aoc-and-warren-refused-cross-our

[Sherman A1]

1. Super!