That is Scorching Pod, The Verge’s publication about podcasting and the audio business. Enroll right here for extra.
Mailchimp, one of many podcast business’s best-known sponsors, just lately reached out to Pineapple Road Studios about making a brand new present. Pineapple and Mailchimp first collaborated in 2019, producing narrative advertisements for Mailchimp and branded collection. So given their longstanding relationship, Pineapple Road employees had been shocked when administration at their father or mother firm, the radio large Audacy, knowledgeable them at a gathering on October third that the brand new Mailchimp contract required all work on the collection to be carried out by non-union staff.
Most of the producers who labored on Mailchimp initiatives prior to now, or would tackle a brand new branded collection, had been within the union. In response to staffers current on the assembly, administration gave them an ultimatum: signal a facet settlement permitting the corporate to rent non-union contractors, or Mailchimp walks not solely from the brand new collection, however from the advertisements and current present as effectively. Two days later at a follow-up assembly, Audacy reiterated that with out the settlement, it will lose Mailchimp as a consumer. However making a path across the union would defeat the purpose of organizing within the first place. The union refused to signal, and Mailchimp pulled its enterprise.
Audacy declined to touch upon the assembly or contract negotiations. When Scorching Pod reached out to Mailchimp, firm spokesperson Christina Scavone stated there have been quite a lot of elements contributing to the cancellation. She didn’t deny that the disagreement over union labor was one in all them.
It’s a stunning flip of occasions contemplating their historical past — however loyalty apart, Mailchimp, Pineapple Road, and the entire business have modified
“We’ve worked with Pineapple Street Media over the past few years and always valued its contributions; however, for various business and creative reasons, we decided not to move forward with this show,” Scavone stated in an announcement. “Intuit Mailchimp has and continues to proudly work with unions across different areas of our business, and we are constantly evaluating opportunities to produce great content.”
It’s a stunning flip of occasions contemplating Mailchimp and Pineapple Road’s historical past. However loyalty apart, Mailchimp, Pineapple Road, and the entire business have modified. Each firms so related to the podcast growth had been snatched up by bigger companies when occasions had been good — Pineapple Road by Audacy in 2019 and Mailchimp by monetary software program firm Intuit in 2021. The audio business, as soon as flush with cash, began contracting in 2022, leaving Audacy in a precarious monetary place. Following the lead of staff at studios like Gimlet and iHeartMedia Podcasts, Pineapple Street staff unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East final fall, claiming pay cuts and insufficient wages underneath Audacy’s administration. (Disclosure: The Verge’s editorial employees can be unionized with the Writers Guild of America, East.)
In a letter despatched to Intuit and Mailchimp on Monday, the union claimed that the choice to cancel their partnership over the labor dispute seems to be “unethical and illegal.” “As we’re sure you’re aware, the National Labor Relations Act protects union activities and prevents employers from discriminating against employees or job applicants based on union status or sympathies,” the letter says.
Nevertheless, Mailchimp is a consumer, not an employer. Scott Witlin, a associate at Barnes and Thornburg who focuses on labor legislation within the leisure business, says that Mailchimp is inside their rights to make such a requirement. “A company can terminate a contract with another company because that subcontractor’s employees have unionized, and it’s not a violation of the law,” Witlin stated.
As for the “why,” Scavone declined to touch upon Mailchimp’s demand. However Witlin stated that when firms take such a stance, it’s as a result of they don’t need to get caught up in one other firm’s union battle. “People are afraid that there will be a strike or a lockout or some other disruption for the work and they don’t want to have that happen with their products,” he stated.
Within the yr since forming the union, Pineapple Road staffers have but to stage any sort of work stoppage. Producer Emerald O’Brien, who labored on Going Via It, a Mailchimp branded present that wrapped its fourth season in July, stated the union by no means got here up as a difficulty previous to the assembly with administration.
“At no point did Intuit Mailchimp express any issues with that,” O’Brien stated. “I have no idea what they think is going to happen using union labor.”
Audacy’s lawyer instructed staffers that, with out the facet settlement, “there will be downstream consequences, such as operational reductions.” Staffers understood this to imply layoffs
With Mailchimp out of the image, the argument between Audacy and Pineapple Road’s union shouldn’t be performed. Employees current on the October assembly with administration say that Audacy lawyer Ron Allen instructed staffers that if the union didn’t comply with the facet settlement — which might have utilized to any consumer that demanded non-union labor, not simply Mailchimp — that “there will be downstream consequences, such as operational reductions.” Staffers understood this to imply layoffs.
On Thursday, the union filed a cost with the Nationwide Labor Relations Board on Thursday alleging that Audacy “negotiated in bad faith bargaining in negotiation sessions … by engaging in threatening tactics and surface bargaining.” Audacy declined to touch upon the labor cost.
As for Mailchimp’s involvement in future podcasting initiatives, the corporate’s choices could also be restricted as union retailers turn out to be the norm. The business contraction has resulted in additional studios unionizing as staff search higher protections towards layoffs or, at the very least, a greater severance bundle within the occasion layoffs occur anyway. Crooked Media unionized with the WGAE in February, as did Pushkin Industries final month.
“Mailchimp has been a great 21st-century patron of the arts,” stated Pineapple Road producer Sophie Bridges. “It would be hugely disappointing for that to stop being the case.”