Hi, I'm Dan Premack, and welcome to Axios Recap, where we dig into one big story.

Today is Wednesday, June 23rd. New York opened up in-home COVID vaccinations to everyone.

The Supreme Court comes down with a big free speech ruling, and we're focused on media's big union moment.

Earlier today, the editorial staff of the Washingtonian magazine announced that it's unionized,

joining the News Guild.

This comes about one month after CEO Kathy Merrill wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post,

which put a very heavy emphasis on having employees returned to the office in the same capacity they did pre-pandemic.

And at the time, the staff went dark for a day. Now, the Washingtonian staff says they want more

of a say in issues of compensation, hiring, and having what they refer to as a, quote,

healthy workplace culture. But this really goes well beyond a single magazine in D.C.

For starters, there's been a recent spate of other media unionization efforts at outlets like The Atlantic and New Yorker,

plus union-related tensions at much larger organizations, like the New York Times. But the even

bigger picture is this is really about increased stress throughout the entire country between employees

and employers,

as we all try to navigate what work should be like after the pandemic. So today we want to

speak with Jessica Sidman, a food editor at the Washingtonian, about her own workplace and also

the restaurant workplaces that she covers, many of which are facing similar issues. That

conversation in 15 seconds.

We're joined now by Jessica Sidman, food editor at the Washingtonian.

So Jessica, let's start here.

Why is the staff of the Washingtonian unionizing?

I really truly love working at Washingtonian.

...