The union that covers about 350 workers at Vox Media, the publisher of websites including Recode, Eater and SB Nation, said on Wednesday that its members had signed a strike pledge as negotiations over a contract go down to the wire.
The Vox Media Union’s contract expires at midnight on June 13. Union members said that the company had not yet agreed to its proposals. A strike pledge means the members are ready to strike if the union calls for one if a deal can’t be reached.
Seth Rosenthal, a video producer for Secret Base, SB Nation’s YouTube channel, said the union was seeking competitive salary minimums, cost-of-living raises and affordable benefits, as well as measures to acknowledge workers’ longevity at the company and a commitment to protect those proposals in case of a corporate sale or merger.
Mr. Rosenthal said that in April 2020, early in the coronavirus pandemic, Vox Media had asked staff to give up their contractual salary increases for the year but never compensated them for that later.
“Since then, Vox Media has expanded its business and made multiple large acquisitions, but our unit members have not been made whole for their sacrifice,” said Mr. Rosenthal, a member of the union’s bargaining committee.
Lauren Starke, a Vox Media spokeswoman, said in an email: “We are actively engaged in bargaining, and, with bargaining scheduled on most days through the expiration of the contract, hope to reach a resolution at the table that we are all proud of.”
The negotiations come as consumer prices rise at their fastest pace in four decades, and housing costs across the country climb faster than wages.
“People are getting priced out of their homes and experiencing financial hardship because their salaries are totally failing to keep up with inflation,” said Caitlin PenzeyMoog, a senior copy editor at Vox.com and also a member of the bargaining committee.
The union, which formed in 2018, covers editorial and video staff across Vox Media sites, including Vox.com, SB Nation, Curbed, Eater, Polygon, Recode and The Verge.
It doesn’t include staff at New York Magazine, which is also owned by the company. That publication’s union agreed to its first contract with the company in January, after two and a half years of negotiations.
Source: NY Times
