Crosscut, KCTS 9 Ask For Union Recognition — But Employer Says No

SEATTLE, WA — The staff at Crosscut and Seattle PBS affiliate KCTS 9 notified their employer Monday of their intention to join the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild. But Cascade Public Media told those employees late in the day it would not voluntarily recognize the union.

About 90 percent of editorial staff in the newsrooms support the unionization effort, according to union organizers. Now they will have to hold an official vote in front of the National Labor Relations Board to get legal union recognition.

In a statement, Cascade Public Media said it is declining to recognize the union because "not every employee who may be subject to union representation is included on the mission statement submitted today" — a reference to the union petition filed by the staff.

"We will hold a union election soon and have the numbers and drive to win," the Crosscut Union wrote on Twitter in response.

According to Crosscut employees, the news organization has experienced growing pains, like high turnover and finding experienced talent. The newsroom has also tripled in size since 2015. Unionizing the staff, reporter Lilly Fowler said, may help with those problems.

"We're at a good place, we have a good staff and a lot of new reporters," Fowler said. "But we want to make sure before we push forward that we have certain guidelines and policies in place."

Unionization talks began in January, she said, as staff held discussions about the pros and cons of joining a union. Fowler experienced one of the downsides of union employment while working as a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Right after the Ferguson riots, the paper's owners ordered a round of layoffs, and Fowler was let go because she was a relatively new hire — although she was hired back after about a week.

In Washington, newspapers like the Seattle Times, Kitsap Sun, and Skagit Valley Herald are part of the PNW Guild. At those workplaces, union contracts have secured pay minimums, re-hire protections during layoffs, and protections for part-time employees.

Crosscut's effort comes as other news outlets around the U.S. have sought to unionize, some with mixed results. Editorial staff at Vox — which owns the Seattle-area Eater and Curbed news sites — just wrapped up collective bargaining negotiations in mid-June. In February, Buzzfeed news staff asked ownership to recognize their union formation, but that effort was still ongoing as of June 17.

In the Seattle area, KUOW editorial staff in June negotiated their first ever contract represented by the SAG-AFTRA union, which also represents KNKX staff.

Crosscut was founded in 2007 by David Brewster, founder of the now-defunct Seattle Weekly. It was acquired in 2015 by KCTS, and the nonprofit Cascade Public Media was created to manage the two outlets. Crosscut has grown noticeably over the past two years, adding staff to cover arts, the environment, the state Legislature, and the region's housing crisis. And it has become a news-reporting powerhouse, breaking stories about waste at Seattle City Light, and immigration arrests outside court houses across the state.