May 12, 2022 Update: Staffers at the Financial Times US bureaus won recognition of the FT US Guild on Wednesday, tweeting, “We’ve officially been recognized by @FT management!”
Jan. 31, 2022 – Staffers at the Financial Times US bureaus are forming a union, becoming the latest group of workers to join the surge in organizing among media employees. They will join the News Media Guild, which also represents employees of the Associated Press, Guardian US and others.
“Unions have become an integral part of media companies these days,” said Marc Filippino, an FT podcast host and a member of the union Organizing Committee. “The FT is no different. Our U.S. office needs a union – for diversity and inclusion, for fair pay, to avoid burnout. And those are just a few of the reasons.”
“It’s not a big ask,” Filippino said. “Our colleagues in London have a union, colleagues at our sister publication FT Specialist have a union. Now it is our turn.”
Although FT Group CEO John Ridding said the US accounts for 30 percent of the FT’s global readership, the US newsroom has just 11 percent of the company’s 700 journalists. “It’s clear that we need a seat at the table,” members of the FT U.S. Guild said in announcing their union drive.
In a Mission Statement, staffers pointed out that that FT has argued that capitalism needs a reset “because the long-term health of the system depends not just on delivering profits but also meeting the needs of other stakeholders—including workers.
“The FT’s editorial board has cheered this holistic approach to business, while applauding collective action in other industries and deploring employers’ attempts to block workers from unionizing. It’s time for the FT to practice what it preaches,” they said.
“Our decision to unionize to improve pay and working conditions in the US newsroom will only augment the long-term health of the Financial Times. We call on the FT to honor its long history with the NUJ, and its recent recognition of FT Specialist Guild, by recognizing us as well.”
Claire Bushey, a member of the organizing committee and the FT’s Chicago reporter, said, “We’re proud of where we work, and we want to make it better.”
Follow them on Twitter @FTUSGuild or visit their website, cwalocals.org/ft-us-guild.