↓
 

Respect the Daily Kos Guild, engage with the union

Fierce Planet Posted on by

Friends and kindred spirits wandering by this site probably have heard of DailyKos, the ur-parent blog of the US progressive sphere. Just last year, DKos (as the place is often known) celebrated the site’s 20th anniversary. Personally, I’ve been a member there for 18 of those years.

I’m not entirely sure who makes up “Daily Kos Management” (DKM) these days, but a number of the workers at the site are represented by the Daily Kos Guild (DKG), a Pacific Media Workers Guild member and certified as the bargaining unit of represented staff.

DKM recently announced layoffs that would affect more than a quarter of the represented workers, and is apparently balking at engaging with DKG, refusing to share financial information or to enter into negotiations around the layoffs themselves. This seems all wrong to me, wrong for any organization, but surely even more so for an org that claims as much progressive space as DKos does.

 

 
Here is a DKos diary on the events. I have no inside knowledge of the financial and labor situation at DKos, but any solution has to include the workers in all decisions made. Please sign the petition mentioned in this diary, and encourage DKM to act in accordance with progressive values.

After all, the point of unions isn’t just to gain higher wages for workers, but to ensure they have power in the decisions that affect their lives and affect the work of the organization.

Daily Kos announces staff layoffs; Daily Kos Guild demands to negotiate

…These proposed layoffs are focused in our Activism and Content departments—responsible for leading campaigns that advance human rights, equity, and justice, and for creating the news you read on Daily Kos. The proposed cut would affect 28% of unionized employees….

DKG calls on Daily Kos Management to:

• enter into and honor good faith negotiations with the DKG about layoffs, and allow DKG to work with management to avoid cuts to personnel;

• be honest and transparent about the organization’s financial status, including an audit of Daily Kos’ finances by CWA financial analysts, and an independent audit;

• keep Daily Kos’ mission, the Daily Kos Community, and our collective activism at the heart of any decision about the organization’s future…

 
ETA: An update from the Guild. Read through to the end to see their positions for the future. I am very happy to hear that DKM intends to negotiate and not simply act without consultation.

Solidarity: An update from Daily Kos Guild before Jan. 24 bargaining

…At our bargaining session last Friday, Daily Kos Guild had approximately 30 DKG members present as observers. Our bargaining committee sat across the table from representatives from DKM—two members of the Daily Kos PeopleOps (Human Resources) team, and the Daily Kos labor legal advisor.

We think it essential to clarify that these are the usual representatives for DKM—and they have been the only representatives we have met at the bargaining table since October 2022. Neither Daily Kos’ president nor founder has been present for a single bargaining session. No other representatives from senior management have attended a meeting….

Our next bargaining session is scheduled for today, Tuesday, Jan. 24, starting at 1:15 PM PT. Until then, our members will continue to examine the documents we received in response to our information request, which unfortunately arrived after deadline and only an hour before our bargaining session began Friday. DKM’s negotiators have stated their intent to negotiate—not declare—the terms of any staff reconfiguration, and we intend to hold them to their word….

Share/Bookmark

Comments are closed.

↑