As Twitchy reported last week, production and postproduction team members for the progressive network “The Young Turks,” hosted by congressional candidate Cenk Uygur, recently decided to unionize and form The Young Turks Union but were “dismayed to report” that The Young Turks didn’t voluntarily respect their choice. That left progressive Democrat Uygur in a thorny position.
HuffPost reports Monday that Uygur called a “tense all-hands meeting” where he urged staff not to unionize, saying the network couldn’t sustain one.
NEW: In a tense all-hands meeting, Cenk Uygur urged staff at The Young Turks not to form a union, arguing the progressive network couldn't sustain one. "The reality is we're in a precarious position," Cenk told me. https://t.co/1dlN2rVdOS
— Dave Jamieson (@jamieson) February 24, 2020
How tense? At one point Cenk threw his papers on the ground. At another, he reprimanded a staffer he saw smiling. "We generally feel disappointed, but unshaken," a staffer told me.
— Dave Jamieson (@jamieson) February 24, 2020
Dave Jamieson reports on the Feb. 12 meeting:
… In the staff meeting, the network’s co-founder and influential host, Cenk Uygur, urged employees not to do so, arguing that a union does not belong at a small, independent outlet like TYT, according to two workers who were present. He said if there had been a union at the network it would not have grown the way it has.
…
In an interview with HuffPost, Uygur said he is a strong supporter of unions, especially at large corporations that aren’t sharing profits with their workers. But he said he worries a unionized workforce would bring new legal and bureaucratic costs that TYT can’t sustain. The network has a growing subscription base and has raised venture capital money, but faces many of the same headwinds as other online media dealing with the collapse of ad revenue.
“The reality is we’re in a precarious position,” Uygur said. “We’re in a digital media landscape where almost no one makes money or is sustainable.”
So big corporations should cater to unions, but in the digital media landscape, unions just don’t mesh with reality.
Socialism for thee, not for me
— NOT a Russian Bernie Bot (@Brad90478228) February 24, 2020
@AOC sure had a lot to say when conservative (or even sports) news agencies held a similar meeting. I await her moral outrage and soapboax preaching here as well.@BarstoolPrez
— Southeast PA for America (@SoutheastPA4USA) February 24, 2020
This guy pretends to be a progressive who is fighting for the people but he is anti-union.
Yeah that seems legit.— PCR RitesGood (@pcrritesgood) February 24, 2020
— Tennis-Fan (@TennisFan_01) February 24, 2020
I wonder if he realizes that this is exactly the same problem every employer has and that it's ironic that one of the progressive planks harms businesses' ability to sustain themselves? He probably doesn't realize it, does he?
— Phil (@philllosoraptor) February 24, 2020
When the virtue signalling mask is torn off.
— Mitchell Scott (@ScottsOriole) February 24, 2020
that's a disgusting person right there
— Anji Passion (@AnjiPassion) February 24, 2020
This is amazing. When leftists eat their own BS, there is nothing better.
— Izzi (@Izzi12) February 24, 2020
I’m crying pic.twitter.com/w7HfMf0LcK
— Guns&Sandwitches (@GunsnSandwitchs) February 24, 2020
Cenk Uygur is not a progressive.
— Krishan Patel (@IAmKrishanPatel) February 24, 2020
Is Cenk a hypocrite… pic.twitter.com/hLv7gWNvgB
— Charles Mulligan (@CharlesMullig15) February 24, 2020
Progressive ideas are for everyone else
— Matt Foley’s boy (@lyncofta) February 24, 2020
Of course unionizing is often not viable at smaller companies operating on minimal margins. This should have always been obvious, but it sure is a bad look to tout across the board unionization and then admit reality of the complications only when it affects his business.
— Adam Ferguson (@Cornstock_99) February 24, 2020
Capitalism always wins.
— Pounce de León (@RightAllTheTime) February 24, 2020
Cenk learning a lesson in economics…
— Keyzer Soze (@Come_On_Ground) February 24, 2020
Wait…there's a cost associated with unions? You don't say.
— Alex Lekas (@TheAlexLekas) February 24, 2020
Socialists that can't afford unionizing. Microcosm of socialism at large.
— Tim (@TThurlkill) February 24, 2020
This is the freaking best.
What's the matter Cenk? Don't think you deserve the guillotine you built?
— Caesar Pounce ? (@caeser_pounce) February 24, 2020
And the trumpet sounds from the Horns Of Hypocrisy resounded throughout the hills as the evil mage Cenk retreated into his Cave Of Fraud to pout and stew.
— Travis DeCoster (@MyStupidTown) February 24, 2020
Straight into my veins.
— Red Dot in a Blue Dot in a Red State (@reddotinaustin) February 24, 2020
I printed out your story in single-sheet, color, 3 hole punch, and put it in a binder so I could hug it.
— Regs (@r3gulations) February 24, 2020
absolutely hysterical…
— Dr Strangelove (@DoctorStrangel3) February 24, 2020
For what it’s worth, Uygur is tweeting that he just wants to put it to a vote:
Please read the whole thread. The most important part is that we are asking for an IMMEDIATE secret ballot election so that our employees can get what they want. If a majority of affected employees want it, we’d have a union tomorrow. The other side is now delaying. https://t.co/xVETc17LfD
— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) February 24, 2020
Why not let anyone who wants to unionize form a union right now?
— wood (@woodenraygun) February 24, 2020
Related:
‘Unreal’: Google’s throwing YouTube money at the Young Turks as part of its ‘News Initiative’ but there’s definitely ‘no bias,’ you guys https://t.co/F3we9Ungxh
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 11, 2020
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