Urge Ziff Davis and IGN Management to Voluntarily Recognize the IGN Creators Guild!
Ziff Davis Board of Directors, IGN President Yael Prough, and IGN CEO Vivek Shah
As of February 22, 2024, the IGN Creators Guild has been voluntarily recognized by Ziff Davis and IGN Management! Thank you all for your fierce support! You can follow along with us on social at @IGNUnion.
A super majority of IGN creators joined forces to create the IGN Creators Guild and unionize with the NewsGuild-CWA. Now, we need your help to urge IGN and Ziff Davis management to voluntarily recognize our union!
Refusing to voluntarily recognize our union will delay bargaining between Ziff Davis and IGN creators. Given our industry is mired in uncertainty, it is urgent that IGN's workers have an equal voice at the bargaining table in determining how to weather difficulties and build a thriving workplace.
Below is our mission statement. If it moves you — or if you're simply a fan of IGN and what we do — please support our cause by signing our petition and sending a letter to management in support of our union!
IGN Creators Guild Mission Statement
“IGN has a lot going on” might be the understatement of the century. At any given time, there are countless irons in countless fires as our teams continue to deliver multi-award winning original coverage of games, film and television, technology and more in both written and video spaces. This fact, as well as the awards, the prestige, and the hundreds of millions of monthly visitors, none of it exists without IGN’s incomparable staff. Together, we have navigated a pandemic, multiple entertainment strikes, massive live events seasons, surprising trailer leaks, and whatever other curveballs the multiple industries that we cover have thrown at us. Through it all we have delivered best-in-class articles, videos, guides, live-events, and more, banding together to ensure IGN remains a top player across industries.
Now the IGN creative teams are banding together once more, this time to form the IGN Creators Guild. We are unionizing with the News Guild alongside our colleagues at the Ziff Davis Creators Guild, as well as other leaders in the online media space like the L.A. Times, The New Yorker, Vice, and Time.
Of our many goals, we first and foremost want to see IGN grow and thrive as digital media continues to become more and more tumultuous. We have been an institution for over 25 years, and the creators of IGN want to see it continue for 25 more and beyond. But to do so, we need support.
We need fair and competitive pay for all, including those who are asked to live and work in some of the most expensive cities in the United States; affordable health insurance; and better diversity, equity, and inclusion across the board. We need protection against layoffs amid a hectic media landscape, guarantees of reasonable compensation when those layoffs cannot be avoided, as well as protections against generative AI and similar technologies. We need to be supported in reclaiming necessary rest time when we work long, unavoidable extra hours covering major events and releases. We also need clear paths for career growth, including management training to ensure our team leaders are both supportive and effective. And we must avoid future mismanaged pivots and reorgs, as well as address the ethical editorial concerns that have grown with the acquisition of sponsorship-focused subsidiaries.
In the last year alone, our teams have put on remarkable coverage against unbelievable odds. We developed an incredible and unique live-show at a San Diego Comic Con without actors or writers. Our video and editorial teams moved mountains for multiple massive releases and events, including when the most anticipated game trailer of the year leaked early, topping the YouTube charts after a seemingly impossible turn-around. And we continue to put forth unbeatable and groundbreaking original reporting amidst a neverending news cycle across mediums.
It is in that same spirit and drive that we form this union now. We stand together in solidarity with one another in a fight for better wages, earned comp time that is supported and enforced, reasonable protections against layoffs, and fair compensation when they cannot be avoided. We believe in IGN because we believe in each other, and we stand before management now requesting voluntary recognition of our unit, as well as the willingness to negotiate in good faith when the time comes.
The future of IGN is bright if we fight for it. Let us do so together.
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To:
Ziff Davis Board of Directors, IGN President Yael Prough, and IGN CEO Vivek Shah
From:
[Your Name]
I am a reader and a member of IGN's community, and I am calling upon IGN and Ziff Davis management to recognize the IGN Creators Guild now!