Young Turks Founder Cenk Uygur Caught Busting Workers Union

Cenk Uygur, a founder of the progressive news network The Young Turks (TYT) and former congressional candidate, was just caught pleading with his staff not to unionize following a labor rights announcement from the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) in February.
According to a report by The Huffington Post, the progressive pundit was involved in a âtenseâ meeting with employees held in Culver City, California to argue whether a union belongs at a small news company âstruggling to make profitsâ. As described by two workers present at the discussion, Uygur was adamantly convinced that unionization would be inconvenient to the independent network as âit would not have grown the way it hasâ.
The conversation â described as âemotionalâ and âchastisingâ with Uygur throwing his papers to the ground near employeesâappears very different from the so-called progressive, pro-worker broadcasts TYT offers its millions of supporters globally. Jack Gerard, TYTâs current chief operating officer during Uygurâs run for Congress, issued a statement saying âwe're not discouraging unionizationâ, contradicting staffers who feel âdiscouraged, disappointed, but unshakenâ by their corporate bosses. âWe feel itâs the right thing to do because of what TYT values.â
Before the report was published, Uygur agreed to an interview with HuffPost to clarify his position on worker unions, preferring to focus his attention on âlarge corporationsâ which âarenât sharing profits with their workers.â The explanation isnât total bullshit, arguing a protected workforce would bring ânew legal and bureaucratic costsâ at a time of collapsing online ad revenue, even despite TYTâs growing subscription base, raised venture capital and a $25M course investment from Googleâs News Initiative alone.
âThe reality is weâre in a precarious position,â Uygur said. âWeâre in a digital media landscape where almost no one makes money or is sustainable. For a smaller digital media company, those are absolutely real considerations. It doesnât mean you shouldnât have a union. Everyone should know the full context. If folks say they donât believe weâre in a precarious position, OK. And thatâs their decision to make.â
He later confirmed the meeting took place, the papers were thrown and he did he chastise an employee, stating âthe person smiling seemed to be openly mocking the idea that the company might not survive after 18 years. And we put all this blood, sweat and tears into it. I donât find the idea of us going down funny.â After Uygurâs interview was published, TYT was reported to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) â a government agency overseeing collective bargaining and unfair labor practices â which may force the companyâs hand towards unionized labor.
The report notes that IATSE asked TYT management to voluntarily recognize the union â representing the production and post-production staff â through the use of âcard checkâ, a basic practice where a clear majority of staffers are represented if theyâve signed union cards. This is the standard practice across unionized media companies, avoiding the terrible âlegal and bureaucratic costsâ Uygur cited as a problem. Ironically, TYT prefers to temporarily halt the union until theyâve gone through a bureaucratic âsecret-ballotâ election administered by a third party outside the NLRBâs oversight, which Uygur conveniently claims is supported by âsome, not allâ of his staff.
âTYT puts its employees first,â the company wrote in a statement. âWe have been clear that we will honor the majority decision of our staff and want to provide them with the most democratic approach for sharing their preference. To clarify our position in regard to IATSE, TYT voluntarily agreed to recognize the union. We did not tell IATSE to go to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). We asked for an immediate secret ballot to confirm majority support, which is used by many progressive employers as part of the voluntary recognition process.â

âWe also asked IATSE to clarify which parts of the company would be covered by the union,â it continues, providing a screenshot of their proposal. âIATSE was participating in this discussion and asked us for a process to go forward. Then last Friday, instead of responding to our proposal about how to proceed, they ambushed us with a public statement claiming we were not voluntarily accepting the union, which is false. Also we have no idea who is in @TYTUnion, nor do we want to know, but they donât represent all of the employees of TYT at all. Most of the employees of TYT would be unaffected by IATSE.â

âGiven the unusual circumstances here,â the statement concludes, âIATSE not only is actively campaigning against the founder of the company in his political race, but also has clearly acted in bad faith. It would be absurd to accept that they truly represent the wishes of our employees without verification. If our employees confirm that they really do want this union to represent them, that changes the equation completely. We believe our employees are the ones who should decide and we continue to call for an immediate secret ballot. If IATSE doesnât agree, itâs obvious they never had the support of our employees and this was all a ploy to intimidate us and the people who work at TYT.â
The campaign came at a time the TYT host was trying to fill the primary seat of Californiaâs former Rep. Katie Hill, a Democrat who resigned in October amid an ethics probe into her relationship with a staffer. Following the election on Super Tuesday, Uygur was beaten by Christy Smith, a California assemblywoman, known her unifying of both the partyâs establishment and many labor unions throughout the state. At the time, Uygur blamed the union movement as bad faith political theatre by IATSE, which endorsed Smith. No evidence of foul play was presented, as both staffers and union organizers revealed previous negotiations to unionize TYT date back over two years ago.
âLook, at the end of the day, my opinion on it is irrelevant,â Uygur concluded. âItâs the employees who get to decide and who should decide.â Whether TYT allows these decisions are yet to be determined, as staffers are hoping to undermine the secret-ballot as unreasonable for a pro-worker establishment. âWe love the company,â the staffer said, surprised theyâre fighting over the formation of a union itself rather than fair contact terms. âAfter all, weâre just getting the company to live by its principles.â
Thank you for reading. This article was published for TrigTent, a bipartisan media platform for political and social commentary. Bailey Steen is a journalist, editor, and designer from Australia. You can read their work on Medium and previous publications such as Janks Reviews and Newslogue.
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