Gawker Media and the union that represents its employees announced on Monday that they had reached an agreement on a labor contract, the first designed and negotiated specifically for a digital media company.þþThe contract, which the union, the Writers Guild of America, East, described as unique, says that editorial decisions must be made strictly by editorial staff, sets a minimum annual salary of $50,000 and ensures 3 percent yearly raises for staff members this year and for the next two years. Employees should receive severance amounting to two weeks for every year of service, it says. But employment is at-will, which the company argues allows it to respond to market conditions.þþThe company described the negotiations as “occasionally intense but always collegial” and said that the agreement would guarantee writers and others “the security, fair wages and quality benefits they have earned” and the company’s management “the flexibility to run the business effectively in a fast-paced and fluid environment.” The Gawker staff will vote on the contract in the coming days.þþLast June, Gawker became the first in a series of digital media companies to seek to unionize. Others like The Huffington Post, Vice and Salon followed suit.þþMany of those making the push for unionization described the digital media industry as maturing fast enough, along with its staff, to warrant greater safeguards for employees.þþAt Gawker, staff members also cited unionization as part of an effort to improve haphazard communications between management and staff members as the company grew from a scrappy start-up to an established site.
Source: NY Times
