Five staffers at politics and culture magazine Current Affairs won voluntary recognition shortly after announcing their intention to unionize. They wrote this note to readers:
We, the staff of Current Affairs, are pleased to announce that we have unionized with the Chicago News Guild (Local 34071), an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America and the AFL-CIO. We received immediate voluntary recognition from our editor-in-chief, Nathan J. Robinson, and the Current Affairs board of directors, and are grateful for their support and cooperation as we take this step forward.
Membership in the News Guild will allow us to maintain the high standards in wages and working conditions we’ve experienced at Current Affairs, allowing us to do our best work and provide you with the high-quality writing, art, graphic design, and political analysis you’ve come to expect.
As a magazine of the political left, we’re also proud to be joining the wider American union movement at a pivotal time in history. Unionization will allow us to preserve the magazine’s editorial independence and continue serving our readers with integrity in the years to come.
In a time when the journalism and publishing industries are becoming increasingly dominated by corporate capital and precarious for workers, we are proud to be moving in the opposite direction.
Signed, Sonya Eugene, Development Manager
John Ross, Digital Editor
Alex Skopic, Associate Editor
Emily Topping, Associate Editor
Cali Traina Blume, Art Director