Every single eligible voter in ABC News Digital's roughly 50-person staff has voted to form a union with the Writers Guild of America East — a clean, unanimous result that leaves no room for a contested outcome.

The ballots were counted on Friday, 31 July, covering a bargaining unit that includes digital reporters, editors, video producers and social media producers across ABC News' online and social platforms. The WGAE said it had already reached an agreement with ABC on the union representation process before the count, meaning the company accepted the framework for the vote rather than contesting it (Variety).

The win extends a relationship that goes back decades. The WGAE, led by president Tom Fontana and executive director Lowell Peterson, has represented unionised workers at ABC News since the 1960s — but those existing units covered broadcast and production staff, not the digital side that has grown into a core part of how news organisations reach audiences (Variety).

The ABC News Digital unit now joins a WGAE news sector that already represents workers at CBS News, CBS News Digital, CBS News 24/7, Fox 5 WNYW-TV, NBC Promo Writers, 1010 WINS, Audacy and several other outlets. The guild, affiliated with the AFL-CIO labour federation, counts more than 7,500 members across film, TV, news, podcasts and online media (Variety).

The vote also lands during a busy stretch for the guild on the legal front. Last month, the WGAE and its sister union, the Writers Guild of America West, filed an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block the proposed Paramount–Warner Bros. Discovery merger. The guilds allege the deal would reduce writers' pay and undermine competition in three labour markets (Variety).

That litigation is separate from the ABC News Digital organising drive, but together they paint a picture of a union working on multiple fronts — expanding its membership base while challenging consolidation it believes will squeeze the workers it represents.

For the ABC News Digital staff, the unanimous vote is the first step. The next one is bargaining a first contract, which will cover pay, benefits and working conditions for the unit. No timeline for those negotiations has been announced.