November 4, 2017

News workers unionized. Days later, they were jobless. Was it payback?

A billionaire’s decision last week to shutter the news sites Gothamist and DNAInfo, just a week after employees voted to unionise, seemed to mark another low for unions in online media age.

Owner Joe Ricketts seemed to be making good on threats to pull the plug on his publications if workers joined a union. But in a public statement, Ricketts – a Donald Trump backer and founder of the discount stock brokerage TD Ameritrade – said the decision was purely financial.

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But Tim Schick, administrative director of NewsGuild-CWA, says unionization doesnt have to come with a huge cost to the employer. “They fight it tooth and nail because it means they have to sit down with workers to talk about wages and benefits.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/04/dnainfo-gothamist-union-ricketts-shutdown

LAist was my favorite go-to site for local events and news. They were very good at covering political rallies and other local political activism (in addition to the usual "10 places to get donuts in LA" articles)