(Bloomberg) -- Politico reached an agreement to voluntarily recognize a union of its employees, extending a wave of successful organizing efforts in the media industry.
Politico Editor-in-Chief Matt Kaminski said in an all-staff email Tuesday that the NewsGuild had presented management with enough union cards to suggest there was “overwhelming support” for organizing.
“Because this is such an important decision for our company, and because we want to roll up our sleeves and begin to work collectively now, we wanted to voluntarily recognize the union quickly and move ahead,” he wrote.
German publishing giant Axel Springer SE completed its acquisition of the political news site on Oct. 19 in a deal valued at about $1 billion. The NewsGuild has won collective bargaining rights in recent years at publications including the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian and Insider. The guild's Washington-Baltimore affiliate, of which Politico's PEN Guild is part, represents workers, including those at the Washington Post as well as Bloomberg Industry Group, a subsidiary of Bloomberg LP.
Politico employees went public with their unionization campaign on Oct. 29, saying they had secured over 80% support among roughly 250 eligible employees. The company announced hours later that it was initiating talks about voluntarily recognizing the union, which will also represent employees at E&E News, an energy and environmental policy publication.
“The workers appreciate the good faith negotiations that led to this agreement and look forward to continuing that spirit in contract talks,” the NewsGuild tweeted Tuesday.
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