You can sign a letter encouraging PLOS to voluntarily recognize PLOS Union here
PLOS, the groundbreaking nonprofit publisher of several open-access scientific journals, is the latest nonprofit to see its staff unionize. Yesterday PLOS Union, affiliated with Pacific Media Workers Guild (NewsGuild-CWA Local 39521), publicly announced its existence on Twitter. They claim supermajority support among the 49-worker bargaining unit they want to unionize and are asking for voluntary recognition from the nonprofit by no later than Wednesday, May 17, 2023.
While PLOS has noble goals and worthwhile principles, it has sometimes internally failed to live up to its own standards and that is reflected in what the union is asking for. Their six major demands of PLOS are:
- Dignified salaries and benefits that keep pace with cost of living.
- Concrete efforts to address shortcomings in diversity, equity, and inclusivity.
- Concrete efforts to address PLOS’s high rate of turnover and ensure adequate staffing.
- Clearly defined job responsibilities, organizational policies, and reporting structures.
- Transparent and clear communication from management.
- Meaningful input from workers on changes that affect us.
They're optimistic these demands will ensure the continued sustainability of PLOS while ensuring that its workers aren't exploited or burned out by their work.
Despite an attempt to union bust by PLOS, today all of the votes were counted and PLOS Union is official! 49 workers in the US are covered by the unit. Congratulations!