Announcements

Announcements from Wiki Workers United.

2026-06-24 UK Wikimedia Foundation staff seek union recognition

Wikimedia Foundation staff employed in the United Kingdom have joined the United Tech & Allied Workers (UTAW-CWU) union and have made the first formal step of the union recognition process by requesting voluntary recognition from WMF. This would form the UK branch of the WWU (WWU-UK). A substantial majority of the WMF’s UK staff are already members of UTAW-CWU.

UTAW-CWU and WWU call on the Wikimedia Foundation, as the effective management of the global organisation, to act in good faith throughout the recognition process and to uphold the recent public support and commitments from its leadership affirming the rights of eligible staff to organise and form a union.

UTAW-CWU have published a CWU press release and a UTAW press release.

Enquiries to be directed to the CWU Press Officer, Marcus Barnett, at mbarnett@cwu.org.

We would like to express our deepest gratitude to all those who have chosen to sign WWU solidarity petitions on both Meta and on the English Wikipedia. These are community-initiated petitions, and the level of support shown gave us confidence to continue with our efforts to form a global solidarity union of WMF employees.

– WWU-UK Branch 12:00 UTC, June 24, 2026

2026-05-23 Statement from WWU

We, the provisional members of WWU, are deeply appreciative of the many community voices speaking in support. While we do not know the reasons behind Foundation leadership’s recent actions, it remains clear that a union is necessary to ensure that WWU’s focus areas are established and upheld for the health of the organization and of the movement.

As a pre-recognition and pre-contract solidarity union, we are currently focused on internal organizing efforts and protecting Foundation staff. Therefore, we cannot commit to responding to external inquiries at this time.

For Foundation staff who have been following these conversations and are interested in learning more or participating, organizing conversations are ongoing and there is space to join them.

A heartfelt thanks to all parties who share in WWU’s values and goals.

– Provisional Members of WWU 01:30 UTC, May 23, 2026