I Was Skeptical of Unions. Then I Joined One
A year and a half later, sleepless but amped up on coffee and solidarity from a 29-hour marathon final bargaining session, I celebrated with the rest of the bargaining committee, made up of select union members who negotiated directly with the company, as the union and Vox Media management reached a contract agreement.
I had done a complete 180 on unions.
Good organizing and outreach from colleagues helped change my mind about the need for a union at Vox Media specifically. But so did approaching the research on unions the same way I would any topic in my reporting: by looking at the data and talking to experts.
Research suggests that unions have their biggest effects from density. When more people are part of a union, unions don’t just boost their workers’ wages and benefits; they also lift up those they don’t represent.
Unions accomplish this in two ways...