Union files for secret ballot vote among Fortune digital staff

The Fortune union organizing committee sent the following message to the digital staff of the magazine:

Hi friends,

We wanted to provide you with an update on our unionization efforts. We’re happy to tell you that the NewsGuild has filed for a secret ballot election at the request of the Fortune union organizing committee. After we win this election—with overwhelming support—the meaningless print/digital divide will cease to exist and all Fortune editorial workers will finally be joined as one union.

To be clear, this election is not the same as requesting voluntary recognition from management, which is what we’ve pursued thus far. We’re not asking anymore. If we have more than 50% of staff support in the election, management is bound by U.S. law to recognize us as a union.

We want to remind everyone that we didn’t want to hold this election, which is costly for both management and the NewsGuild, and will take up our valuable time. But management has refused to voluntarily recognize us—or even talk to us about it—so we’ve been forced to take action.

The secret ballot election will be held in Fortune’s New York office at a date of our choosing. If you work in New York, you will only be able to vote at the designated time in our office. (Remote employees will mail in ballots; we’ll reach out to you individually.) Right now, we’re looking at midday on May 9 or May 16, both Thursdays. New York employees: Please let us know if you will NOT be in the office on either of those days. That will help us determine the best date.

We’re excited to work together in taking command of our future at Fortune.

Best,

Fortune Union Organizing Committee