{"id":5778,"date":"2023-01-23T11:28:29","date_gmt":"2023-01-23T18:28:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fierce.jnfr.com\/?p=5778"},"modified":"2023-01-26T13:01:18","modified_gmt":"2023-01-26T20:01:18","slug":"respect-the-daily-kos-guild-engage-with-the-union","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fierce.jnfr.com\/?p=5778","title":{"rendered":"Respect the Daily Kos Guild, engage with the union"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Friends and kindred spirits wandering by this site probably have heard of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/\">DailyKos<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Daily_Kos\">ur-parent blog<\/a> of the US progressive sphere.  Just last year, DKos (as the place is often known) celebrated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/groups\/DKosAt20\">the site&#8217;s 20th anniversary.<\/a> Personally, I&#8217;ve been a member there for 18 of those years.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m not entirely sure who makes up &#8220;Daily Kos Management&#8221; (DKM) these days, but a number of the workers at the site are represented by the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dailykosguild\">Daily Kos Guild<\/a> (DKG), a Pacific Media Workers Guild member and certified as the bargaining unit of represented staff.<\/p>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Daily Kos was the first online home for a generation of progressive activists, and has remained critical to the success of the movement. We don&#39;t want that to change, and are fighting the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/layoffs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#layoffs<\/a>. Join us. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bExky5OZ2b\">https:\/\/t.co\/bExky5OZ2b<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Joan McCarter &#x1f33b; (@joanmccarter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joanmccarter\/status\/1616442138782494722?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 20, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">When I was hired at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dailykos?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@dailykos<\/a> four years ago it was a point of pride that in the entire organizations history there had never been mass layoffs. To gut our activism and content departments feels like destroying the soul of our mission. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/a8G28HhLMR\">https:\/\/t.co\/a8G28HhLMR<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Cara Zelaya (@carazelaya) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/carazelaya\/status\/1616472691204325377?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 20, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nHere is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/stories\/2023\/1\/20\/2148040\/-Daily-Kos-announces-staff-layoffs-Daily-Kos-Guild-demands-to-negotiate\">a DKos diary<\/a> on the events. I have no inside knowledge of the financial and labor situation at DKos, but any solution <em>has<\/em> to include the workers in all decisions made. Please <a href=\"https:\/\/actionnetwork.org\/forms\/add-your-name-stand-up-for-progressive-values-at-daily-kos?source=direct_link\">sign the petition<\/a> mentioned in this diary, and encourage DKM to act in accordance with progressive values.<\/p>\n<p>After all, the point of unions isn&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Daily Kos announces staff layoffs; Daily Kos Guild demands to negotiate<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;These proposed layoffs are focused in our Activism and Content departments\u2014responsible 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&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p><strong>DKG calls on Daily Kos Management to:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 enter into and honor good faith negotiations with the DKG about layoffs, and allow DKG to work with management to avoid cuts to personnel;<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 be honest and transparent about the organization\u2019s financial status, including an audit of Daily Kos\u2019 finances by CWA financial analysts, and an independent audit;<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 keep Daily Kos\u2019 mission, the Daily Kos Community, and our collective activism at the heart of any decision about the organization\u2019s future&#8230;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<strong>ETA:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailykos.com\/stories\/2023\/1\/24\/2148895\/-Solidarity-An-update-from-Daily-Kos-Guild-before-Jan-24-bargaining\">An update<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Solidarity: An update from Daily Kos Guild before Jan. 24 bargaining<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;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\u2014two members of the Daily Kos PeopleOps (Human Resources) team, and the Daily Kos labor legal advisor.<\/p>\n<p>We think it essential to clarify that these are the usual representatives for DKM\u2014and they have been the only representatives we have met at the bargaining table since October 2022. Neither Daily Kos&#8217; president nor founder has been present for a single bargaining session. No other representatives from senior management have attended a meeting&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p>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&#8217;s negotiators have stated their intent to negotiate\u2014not declare\u2014the terms of any staff reconfiguration, and we intend to hold them to their word&#8230;.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We hope that Daily Kos management reads our request and gives it the consideration it deserves. Help us get senior management to the bargaining table so we can work through this together.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/MvLQ8qbI4n\">https:\/\/t.co\/MvLQ8qbI4n<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DlLdst9P4f\">pic.twitter.com\/DlLdst9P4f<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Cara Zelaya (@carazelaya) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/carazelaya\/status\/1617955035526361088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 24, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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&#8217;s 20th anniversary. Personally, I&#8217;ve been a member there for 18 of those years. I&#8217;m not entirely sure who makes up &#8220;Daily Kos Management&#8221; (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 <span class=\"excerpt-dots\">&hellip;<\/span> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/fierce.jnfr.com\/?p=5778\"><span class=\"more-msg\">Continue reading &rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[36,17,38,20],"tags":[307,308,64],"class_list":["post-5778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-democrats","category-justice","category-labor","category-media","tag-blogs","tag-dkos","tag-labor-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p13tCM-1vc","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fierce.jnfr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fierce.jnfr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fierce.jnfr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fierce.jnfr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fierce.jnfr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5778"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/fierce.jnfr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5800,"href":"https:\/\/fierce.jnfr.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5778\/revisions\/5800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fierce.jnfr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fierce.jnfr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fierce.jnfr.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}