UK staff at the foundation that runs Wikipedia seeks union recognition

UK-based unit astatine the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF), the nonprofit that supports Wikipedia, are pushing guardant pinch their unionization drive. On Wednesday, the unit sent a missive to WMF guidance requesting the statement voluntarily admit the union.

“The WMF has undergone a play of important alteration successful caller months, escalating workers’ concerns complete transparency, trust, and the organisation’s early direction,” a property release from the Communication Workers Union reads. “The workers are longtime contributors and organisers, and are profoundly committed to the Wikimedia movement.”

WMF unit are based astir the world, and the UK contingent is the first to activity national recognition. Workers person been organizing for months nether the Wiki Workers United umbrella, and the UK has the second-highest number of WMF labor aft the US, the property merchandise says.

The missive sent connected Wednesday comes aft weeks of tense relations astatine WMF and Wikipedia. In May, the instauration announced it was disbanding a beloved team that worked intimately pinch Wikipedia contributors, the service of editors, writers, and different volunteers who create and support the encyclopedia. (Contributors are not labor of WMF, though immoderate person gone connected to activity for the instauration successful a general capacity.)

The announcement of imaginable layoffs came arsenic a daze to many, and some volunteers and immoderate erstwhile WMF labor expressed interest complete the early of Wikipedia. Some questioned whether the move was related to WMF unit efforts to unionize their workplace. At the time, WMF main of unit Nadee Gunasena denied that the disbanding (and imaginable layoffs) were related to national activities, and told The Verge that the statement “respect[s] the authorities of each eligible unit to vote, and if the mostly of eligible unit ballot successful favour of representation, we will proceed to discuss successful bully faith.”

In consequence to the disbanding, volunteers rallied down Wiki Workers United: More than 1,100 contributors person signed a petition saying they would beryllium consenting to participate successful corporate action if the national called for it. Collective action could mean volunteers mightiness moreover spell connected strike, refusing to edit and support Wikipedia isolated from for utmost cases.

The Wikimedia Foundation didn’t instantly respond to a petition for comment. The UK-based group of Wiki Workers United did not respond successful clip for publication.