News writers and producers at MSNBC have voted overwhelmingly to be represented by the WGA East for the purpose of collective bargaining. The vote, which was conducted by the National Labor Relations Board, was 141 and 58 opposed. The 300-member bargaining unit includes writers, producers, booking producers, and other editorial staff at every program airing on MSNBC and The Choice on Peacock. The network and the union are now expected to sit down at the bargaining table to work out a first-time contract.
The unionizing campaign was supported by many of the network’s hosts, including Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, Joy Reid, Ali Velshi and Jonathan Capehart.
“Victory!” proclaimed the MSNBC Organizing Committee. “This victory is the first of its kind in cable news and we are so proud of what we’ve all accomplished together. A big thank you to our fellow union members in the Writers Guild, across media, and the entire labor movement. We are also deeply appreciative of our MSNBC coworkers, hosts, regular contributors, and the elected officials who supported us along the way. We now look forward to constructive, good faith negotiations with MSNBC management to make this an even better place to work – with input from all of us. This is who we are.”
MSNBC president Rashida Jones told her staff today that “The National Labor Relations Board has counted the ballots and the union election results are in. As you may have seen, the results of today’s vote count reflect that the majority of those who voted decided in favor of being represented by the Writers Guild of America East. The tally reflected 141 votes for union representation and 58 votes against union representation.
“The Writers Guild of America East will now be the representative of full-time and regular-part time employees employed by MSNBC who work on programs produced by MSNBC intended for initial distribution on the network or Peacock’s The Choice from MSNBC. This includes line producers, segment producers, booking producers, producers, associate producers, and production assistants. Senior Producers and anyone who is in a supervisory or managerial role are among those who are not part of the unit.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Deadline