FT’s US journalists are seeking to unionize

Journalists at the Financial Times are seeking to unionize the publication’s U.S. operation, reports Josh Eidelson of Bloomberg News.

Eidelson writes, “Employees involved in the drive said they’ve signed up more than two-thirds of a proposed bargaining unit of about 40 people and are asking the company to voluntarily recognize their union. In an emailed statement, the U.K.-based publisher’s spokesperson Finola McDonnell said, ‘We respect the right of our staff to organize if they so choose.’

“FT journalists have been organizing confidentially for around a year and are seeking to join the NewsGuild, an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America that represents staffers at the New York Times and Washington Post. They’re seeking a say on issues like pay equity and job security, including paths for contract workers to become permanent employees.

“‘I’m proud of the place that I work,’ said Claire Bushey, a Chicago-based reporter with the FT and union organizing committee member. ‘I want to try to make it better for myself and my colleagues, and whoever’s going to have my job after me.'”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.