Liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America will finally allow its employees to vote on unionization, according to a SEIU statement released Thursday.
Media Matters employees first began unionization attempts in March and were shocked when MMFA management denied them a card check in April, prompting the unionization organizing committee to file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board.
“The actions of Media Matters executives have placed employees in the impossible position of continuing to produce content espousing pro-labor values for an employer who is challenging our right to unionize,” the Media Matters Organizing Committee said at the time. “Not only is management subjecting Media Matters employees to arduous NLRB procedures, the actions of their attorneys indicate Media Matters executives object so tenaciously to our union that they appear willing to prevent employees from ever having the opportunity to vote on the matter.” (RELATED: Media Matters Are Now Publicly Attacking Their Bosses)
The Washington Examiner called it “an awkward situation,” noting that MMFA “was launched with help from billionaire liberal donor George Soros and has often written in favor of workers’ rights and collective bargaining.”
MMFA was founded by self-described “ex-conservative” journalist David Brock in 2004 to monitor, analyze and correct “conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.”
According to the SEIU statement, MMFA executives “have promised to abide by their pro-union principles and have indicated they will be taking a position of absolute neutrality with respect to our decision to hold a union election.” It did not specify a date for the elections, although it did note that they will be “soon.”