Editorial and video employees at Onion Inc., known for its satirical news site The Onion, announced on Thursday that the company would unionize.
Editorial and video employees at Onion Inc., known for its satirical news site The Onion, announced on Thursday that the company would unionize.
The employees at The Onion, along with its partner sites, Clickhole and A/V Club, said they would organize with the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE).
Workers at the company said they were unionizing in order to give creative staff a seat at the table in the decision-making process, to maintain editorial independence, and to ensure fair wages and hiring practices.
“By organizing, we intend to protect the culture and values that make Onion Inc. a singularly great place to work and establish a formal means by which the employees have a collective and meaningful voice in our workplace,” employees at the company wrote in a letter to Onion Inc. and Univision management, which retains a minority stake in the company.
“A union will ensure that Onion Inc. remains a place that attracts and retains talented people, upholds opportunities for professional growth, and continues to be the most widely read, most lucrative, and most respected media company that has ever existed in the history of the written word,” the letter continued.
Onion, Inc. follows other news outlets in unionizing, such as The Los Angeles Times and Gizmodo, which is also represented by WGAE.
Newsroom employees at The Times voted overwhelmingly in January to unionize with the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America, based in Washington, D. C.
