WAMU Votes To Unionize

• Content creators at American University’s NPR-affiliated 88.5 WAMU/Washington have voted unanimously to recognize SAG-AFTRA as their union. The election was conducted by mail ballot and votes were counted last Thursday by the National Labor Relations Board. The new bargaining unit will cover the public media pros who create content for all areas of the station, including DCist.com, The Kojo Nnamdi Show, 1A, The Big Broadcast, Hot Jazz Saturday Night and the podcasts Dish City, What’s With Washington and Diane Rehm: On My Mind. The victory allows them to move forward to negotiate a first contract, and the newly formed bargaining unit will be made up of 80 employees, including hosts, reporters, producers, editors and engineers who create content for the news, programming and digital units.

In making the official “welcome aboard” announcement, SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris said, “On behalf of our membership, I am delighted to welcome WAMU’s talented team of content creators to SAG-AFTRA and to support their efforts for a fair contract. SAG-AFTRA is dedicated to supporting public media professionals as they organize, and WAMU’s vote to join our union is an important milestone in these efforts.”

Esther Ciammachilli, news anchor on WAMU’s Morning Edition, commented, “WAMU’s content creators, as a collective bargaining unit represented by SAG-AFTRA, are thrilled to advance our shared beliefs in transparency, accountability, fairness and most importantly, the truth.” WAMU reporter Ally Schweitzer added, “This is a remarkable day. For the first time in the station’s history, employees have won the legal right to advocate for ourselves in the workplace. We look forward to negotiating in good faith with American University.”