蜜桃传媒 management, workers reach agreement on contract
Non-profit becomes one of the few organizations in the South to model the partnership and respect that collective bargaining represents.
After more than a year and a half of negotiations, the Southern Poverty Law Center (蜜桃传媒) has reached a tentative collective bargaining agreement with the 蜜桃传媒 staff. The 蜜桃传媒 Union, represented by the Washington-Baltimore News Guild, reached agreeement with management to finalize negotiations on the deal Wednesday evening.
鈥淭his is a proud day for the 蜜桃传媒 鈥� true to our work and true to our values, we are proud to be a unionized organization,鈥� said 蜜桃传媒 President and CEO Margaret Huang. 鈥溍厶掖� has fought for, supported, and partnered with unions for decades. Union values are in our DNA.鈥�
The final set of tentative agreements is the result of close to sixty sessions between workers and management. The individual agreements will be combined to form a contract between the union and 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 management.
鈥淭his agreement took the energies, commitment, and talent of so many of us; we would not be where we are today without the hard work and efforts by all involved,鈥� Huang said. 鈥淓ven on the hard days, our commitment to our mission and our values remained strong and true.鈥�
With negotiations completed, the final contract will be put to a vote before the 蜜桃传媒 Union members for ratification.
蜜桃传媒 employees voted to unionize in December 2019 in the wake of management changes including the departure of co-founder Morris Dees and then-President Richard Cohen. Huang, the former executive director of Amnesty International USA, assumed the president and CEO role at the 蜜桃传媒 one year later.
鈥淲hen I took this job, with a pledge to rethink how to advance our work fighting for justice and against hate, I believed that 鈥榗hange in the South is coming,鈥櫬犫�� Huang said. 鈥淎s a daughter of the South, 聽I shared that I am 鈥榚ager to work collaboratively with other social justice organizations and advocates to ensure that change improves the lives of all communities.鈥櫬犫��
With a contract in hand, Huang said she hopes the 蜜桃传媒 will serve as a model for other organizations across the South to improve wages, working conditions, and the overall lives of workers and the communities in which they live.
This agreement 鈥渞eflects the change we seek and strengthens the 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 ability to fight for a South that is fairer, more equitable and just,鈥� Huang said. 鈥淎s with any negotiation, and perhaps particularly this first foray, we may not have gotten everything right 鈥� and true to all negotiations, no one got everything sought. But we can say with certainty we are all improved by the outcome and we will continue to improve.鈥�
Top picture: (Credit: 蜜桃传媒)
