Wiki Workers United | Announcements

UK Wikimedia Foundation staff unionising update - July 2026

2026-07-17T00:00:00+00:00

A quick update from the UK Branch of Wiki Workers United on developments since our voluntary union recognition request was filed last month.

As noted in the previous update, on Wednesday 24th June UTAW-CWU sent a letter to the Wikimedia Foundation (WMF) and Safeguard Global (the WMF’s Employer of Record in the UK) requesting recognition of a bargaining unit that would represent all the WMF’s UK staff. They had 10 working days to respond and choose one of three standard options. Either to: voluntarily recognise this bargaining unit/union; reject recognition; or request negotiations.

On 7 July, UTAW-CWU were notified that Safeguard and the WMF had chosen the third option, and as such, we are now entering negotiations with mediation from ACAS (the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service) – a UK government body that assists with such matters. These negotiations aim to reach an agreement on the proposed bargaining unit, and will proceed over the next few weeks in accordance with standard practice. If voluntary recognition is not reached during these negotiations, we may then file for statutory recognition via CAC (the Central Arbitration Committee) – as the application requirements are already met.

We want to repeat our thanks to the volunteer community for your support. WMF staff will be attending Wikimania in Paris next week in person, including from the WWU UK Branch. Of note, there is a workers’ union meetup on Friday. If you are also attending, come and say hello. We have stickers and badges to share!

UK Wikimedia Foundation staff seek union recognition

2026-06-24T00:00:00+00:00

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.

Statement from WWU

2026-05-23T00:00:00+00:00

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.