Advertising Has Its First Union. Why Marketers Should Worry

Amid a rise in industrial action, worker action in the ad sector is putting pressure on agency bosses—and clients

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This story may sound familiar to many working in advertising: Thom Binding, a strategist at a London agency, was struggling with burnout and mental health issues. He partly attributes this to toxic experiences in previous workplaces.

However, unlike everyone else, when leaving one such agency, he took an unusual step to provide a solution: He co-founded a trade union.

The formation of what appears to be the first union of advertising agency workers—called Creative Communications Workers (CCW) and comprising advertising, digital, PR, design, media and production employees—comes as industrial action is sweeping Europe.

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