WGA East members at Vox Media sites The Dodo and Thrillist will mount a one-day strike Wednesday, the group announced Tuesday.
Striking union members said in their strike pledge that their parent company is ignoring “the will of its employees” by refusing to recognize them as members of the Vox Media Union and its contract.
Read the pledge, which was signed by 100% of the 42 members across The Dodo and Thrillist, in full below:
“We, the undersigned members of The Dodo and Thrillist Unions — who comprise 100% of our bargaining units — are committed to being recognized as members of Vox Media Union under one contract, receiving the cost-of-living adjustments that we are entitled to, and becoming eligible for promotions.
“As Vox Media continues to ignore the will of its employees and appropriately recognize Thrillist and The Dodo employees as members of Vox Media Union, we are left hanging in the balance. Vox Media has withheld raises and promotions until negotiations are finalized, but the company has also repeatedly refused to respect their employees and are forcing a protracted legal fight. This has left 42 of us working more for less money and taking home salaries that don’t even come close to the rising cost of living and inflation. We have asked Vox Media to make cost-of-living adjustments for employees at Thrillist and The Dodo — as they did for hundreds of union and non-union employees over the last few months — but the company has refused and continues to treat us as lesser than the rest of the company. This is unacceptable and, frankly, it’s retaliation for our efforts to join our fellow employees under one union.
“If management does not recognize us as members of Vox Media Union under one contract, institute cost-of-living salary adjustments, and put promotions back on the table, we are prepared to strike.”
The single-day strike was announced amid ongoing labor talks with Vox Media and nearly nine months since WGA East requested a merger between Vox Media Union, Thrillist Union and The Dodo Union with the National Labor Relations Board in January. That filing was signed at the time by 300 WGA East members across the three unions, but Vox Media has kept them separated.
“Only employees in the The Dodo and Thrillist unions have had raises withheld. All other Vox employees did receive raises. Vox management is trying to force us into remaining separate, weaker unions by withholding our pay,” representatives for the striking union members said in a statement to media. “As more than 95% of Vox Media Union, Thrillist Union, and The Dodo Union have already voted, we are one union. That is our goal. Vox Media management has the opportunity to do the right thing and voluntarily recognize one Vox Media Union. Until then, they must pay us commensurate with all other Vox Media employees. Our walkout, which 100% of our Dodo and Thrillist members have signed on to, demonstrates our commitment to our demands for immediate raises.”
WGAE president Lisa Takeuchi Cullen said in a statement, “Despite Vox Media management’s attempts to undermine their unionized employees, our members at Thrillist and The Dodo are making sure their voices are heard with this one-day strike. Members at Vox, Thrillist and The Dodo are coworkers under the same company – and they deserve union protections that represent them as such. It’s time for Vox Media to respect their union’s demands.”
In a statement to TheWrap, a Vox Media spokesperson said, “In advance of the contracts’ expirations in the spring, Vox Media expressed to The Dodo and Thrillist bargaining units the company’s willingness to bargain over annual salary increases, promotions, or any other appropriate subject of bargaining in the context of renewal negotiations for each of these two now-expired agreements. Neither union has responded to our request to bargain, and they have chosen to not engage in those negotiations. Instead of bargaining over annual increases, the unions each chose to file a petition with the NLRB asking them to decide whether it was appropriate to combine those units under the previously negotiated separate contract of the Vox Media union.”
Vox Media owns sites including New York Magazine, The Verge, The Cut, Eater, Vulture, The Strategist, Polygon, SB Nation, Intelligencer, Curbed, Grub Street, Thrillist, PopSugar, The Dodo and Seeker.
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