Podnews - iHeart Podcasters want a union

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At iHeartRadio, podcast producers, editors, researchers, writers and hosts are unionising with the Writers Guild of America, East. The iHeart Podcast Union was launched yesterday; the website contains many concerns about working conditions. Saying that they “have been encouraged to embrace the dynamism of start-up culture without any of the associated benefits”, the union says “iHeartMedia’s overall compensation and benefits standards are wholly insufficient when compared to the greater podcast and scripted audio market”. The union has support from around 70% of employees, we’re told. The union hopes that iHeart will voluntarily recognise it; it’s the latest unionising activity in the podcast space after Gimlet, Parcast, The Ringer, and others.
We’re also told that iHeartMedia has a current policy of “no promotions, no raises”; and we’ve learnt iHeart’s average salaries - $55k for a producer, $70k for a supervising producer, and $90k for an executive producer. (These are around 15% lower than Werk It’s survey in 2019), or AIR’s rate guide from the same year).
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