New York, N.Y.— (Apr. 18, 2018) — The New Republic today announced its plans to work with its staff and a New York communications union to advance a unionization process initiated by members of its editorial staff. As part of the plan, management has offered voluntary recognition to a larger bargaining unit than the union sought, namely all New Republic staff members—including publishing, marketing, sales, administrative, print, and maintenance teams.
The announcement came today from J.J. Gould, TNR’s editor and president, and Rachel Rosenfelt, the publisher and vice-president.
“A collaborative and participatory work environment is essential to everything we want to do at The New Republic,” said Gould and Rosenfelt. “Our perspective is, a union can play a vital role here. We want to ensure the best possible conditions for an effective collective-action process, so we’re eager to recognize the union with only the stipulation that it should be open to everyone on staff, not just to editorial. There are always uncertainties and complications to any process like this, but we’re excited to make it work together.”
The New Republic’s announcement comes after news that members of the organization’s editorial staff voiced their desire to be represented by NewsGuild of New York, TNG-CWA Local 31003, a union that represents 3,000 media professionals and other employees at New York area news organizations.