New York City-based teachers of English as a second language at the Washington Post Co.'s [NYSE: WPO] educational subsidiary, Kaplan Inc., voted today for workplace representation by the Newspaper Guild of New York, becoming the company’s first employees to unionize.

In a government-supervised election, the teachers, based at the three Manhattan facilities of Kaplan International Centers, voted for the Guild by a 2-1 margin, despite an intense anti-union campaign by management that included a steady stream of leaflets and regular work-time meetings with managers and outside consultants, all urging them to vote no.

“These are professional employees, many with Masters’ degrees, who are paid at an assortment of illogical hourly rates as low as the $7.25 federal minimum wage,” said Guild President Bill O'Meara. “They know they should be treated better and they deserve a lot of credit for maintaining their focus through Kaplan's incredibly intense campaign.”

The National Labor Relations Board, which conducted the election, is expected to certify the Guild as the bargaining agent for the group of about 95 teachers after seven days. No other Kaplan teachers in the United States are union-represented. The results require Kaplan to bargain in good faith with the Guild for a contract covering the teachers’ employment terms.

A group of the Kaplan ESL teachers approached the Guild several months ago seeking help not only in raising their pay, but in bringing some clarity to their confusing compensation system and getting paid time off for sickness and vacations, among other things.

“This is of course a great day for teachers at Kaplan,” said Kaplan teacher Danny Valdes. “But I hope that this shows teachers that we can increase standards industry-wide by coming together to organize.”

New York-based Kaplan Inc., with $2.5 billion in revenues last year, was founded in 1938 by Stanley Kaplan and provides higher education programs, professional training courses, test preparation materials and language instruction around the world.

The Newspaper Guild of New York, Local 31003 of the Communications Workers of America, represents more than 2,800 employees at New York area-based media organizations and their respective bureaus around the nation. Its members also include non-media workers, such as those on the staff of the Writers Guild of America, East and at Hudson News Manhattan retail outlets.