More than 300 members of Vox Media’s editorial staffs employed at seven websites walked off the job today in New York on the last day of the WGA East’s attempts to negotiate a new contract for them.
“Today‘s our last scheduled day of bargaining,” the Vox Media bargaining committee wrote on Twitter. “Vox Media is still apart from us on competitive wage scales, strong guaranteed raises, better severance, subcontracting work. We’ve decided we’re not showing up to work today until we resolve these issues. Our unit members are taking their sites dark today to show management how important these issues are to us.”
The guild has been collective bargaining with Vox Media’s management since April 10, 2018. “Although our negotiators and the Vox Media bargaining committee have been working overtime for a long time and have made many important gains at the table, the company has to do more to address concerns about pay fairness and transparency,” said WGA East executive director Lowell Peterson. “These issues are essential to the people we represent at Vox Media, and these employees are demonstrating their resolve, their solidarity, and their commitment. The WGAE is proud to be their collective bargaining representative.”
Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff said in an email to his employees that he “couldn’t be more serious about reaching a fair and highly competitive agreement quickly. From the beginning, through every stage of our company’s growth, we have invested in our employees, as much as or ahead of where our company finances and industry outlook have allowed. While paying people a lot more than market wages sounds great on the surface, it’s not realistic or smart.”
Vox Media’s news sites include Curbed, Eater, Polygon, Recode, SB Nation, The Verge and Vox.com – all of which still have stories posted there.
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