WHYY Content Creators Join SAG-AFTRA

On Oct. 30, content creators at WHYY in Philadelphia overwhelmingly voted to join SAG-AFTRA. The new SAG-AFTRA bargaining unit of approximately 90 employees will cover the public media professionals who create content for all areas of the station, including radio, television and digital.

The content creators first reached out to SAG-AFTRA organizers over the summer to begin the process of forming their union. By October, they delivered a union recognition petition to WHYY upper management with more than 85% of the content creators signed on. In this petition, WHYY bargaining unit members explained their reasons for organizing:

“WHYY should be a workplace where everyone feels respected, trusted and appreciated. To that end, we seek fair compensation; opportunities for advancement and professional development; predictable and reasonable work schedules; transparency and a meaningful say in the decisions that affect the direction of our work and our station.”

Now that they have won their union election, the next step is beginning the process to negotiate their first union contract. WHYY represents the latest in a series of organizing victories for professionals in public media. In recent years, employees at KPCC in Pasadena; KPBS in San Diego; WBEZ in Chicago; KUOW in Seattle; Minnesota Public Radio; digital, per diem and Gothamist employees at New York Public Radio; WBUR in Boston; and KCRW in Santa Monica have all unionized with SAG-AFTRA.

Photo: WHYY content creators