After a rocky final stretch of negotiations, the union representing staff members at Crooked Media and the progressive media company behind Pod Save America have reached a tentative contract agreement.
The labor group and management jointly announced their provisional deal, which is still subject to ratification, on Friday. “We’re delighted to have agreed on a contract that we all feel reflects the values of Crooked Media and that can serve as a new benchmark for our industry,” the parties stated. “Bargaining can be contentious, but we’re excited about this agreement and ready to channel the immense talent, passion, and creativity of this team into calling JD Vance a creepy weirdo.”
In concert with the deal, the Writers Guild of America East-backed union is withdrawing an unfair labor practice charge that it filed with the National Labor Relations Board last week. The charge claimed that the company, which voluntarily recognized the union in 2023, had been “unilaterally changing the status quo of the previously negotiated Recognition Agreement” by purportedly prohibiting certain staff members from joining the bargaining unit.
The animus between the two sides reached a peak when Crooked Media union members staged a one-day walkout on August 5 as negotiations faltered over the first labor agreement.
The details of the new agreement were not immediately available. The union had been advocating for higher salary minimums, cost of living raises and guardrails against layoffs as the negotiations stretched past their one-year mark.
As the two sides were disputing contract provisions, the union took aim at an alleged disparity between Crooked Media’s progressive ethos and the way they were treating their workers at the bargaining table. Founded in 2017 by former Obama speechwriters Jon Favreau and Jon Lovett and fellow former Obama staffer Tommy Vietor, Crooked Media now produces podcasts including Lovett or Leave It, What A Day and the upcoming Assembly Required with Stacey Abrams. On Monday WGA East’s president Lisa Takeuchi Cullen called the company’s negotiating tactics “anti-union.”
In their statement on Friday, Crooked Media founders Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett and Tommy Vietor said the deal “sets a new standard for how media companies treat their workers” and emphasized that they had “*never* engaged in any kind of union-busting.”