The Onion's Unionized Staff Reaches Tentative Deal With G/O Media Hours Before Strike Deadline

The Onion’, Inc.’s unionized staff have reached a tentative agreement with G/O Media on a new collective bargaining agreement, the guild announced late Wednesday.

The deal was reached just hours before the current contact was set to expire, at which point The Onion Union, part of the Writers Guild of America East, would have gone on strike.

“It was critical we reach a deal that addresses the numerous challenges and existential threats to our careers, and this tentative agreement could not have been won without a willingness to take collective action to secure the contract we deserve. Our union has never been stronger and more united,” The Onion Union said in a statement shared with TheWrap.

On Monday, The Onion Union and WGAE Council voted to authorize an Unfair Labor Practice strike if a deal was not reached by midnight Wednesday.

“We do not take the decision to go on an open-ended ULP strike lightly, but we have to take a stand for what is just,” the guild said in a statement at the time.

The tentative agreement will now go to The Onion Union and the WGAE Council for ratification votes. Details of the collective bargaining agreement, which the guild says include “important gains in wages and workplace protections,” will be made public upon ratification.

The Onion Union is a 36-member bargaining unit representing the creative staff at The Onion, The A.V. Club, Deadspin, and The Takeout.

Nearly all — 97% — of the members at Onion Inc., signed a strike pledge on Jan. 12. Marnie Shure, managing editor of The Takeout and a member of WGAE’s Onion Inc. Union bargaining committee, said at the time talks were needed, “to address several pressing workplace issues, especially the need for fair pay and AI protections.”

Approximately 100 writers and content producers at Jezebel, Gizmodo and other G/O Media websites went on strike in March 2022 to fight for a cap on health care costs and guaranteed minimum wage increases.

The post The Onion’s Unionized Staff Reaches Tentative Deal With G/O Media Hours Before Strike Deadline appeared first on TheWrap.