Vox Media Walkout

Overview

The Vox Media Walkout occurred on June 6th, 2019 following a contract dispute between the Vox Media Union, representing the employees of Vox Media, and management. After bargaining failed, union members refused to work, leaving the site and its subsidiaries without news content for the day.

Background

On June 6th, 2019, the Vox Media Union Twitter ^[1] account posted "Today‘s our last scheduled day of bargaining. @voxmediainc 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." The tweet received more than 12,000 likes and 2,300 retweets in 24 hours (shown below, left). As a result, more than 300 employees refused to work on June 6th to pressure executives to meet their demands.

Following the tweet, the account shared images of the empty Vox Media office following the walkout.^[2] The post received more than 9,000 retweets and 2,000 likes in 24 hours (Shown below, right).

Developments

Management Response

That day, Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff wrote in an email,^[3] "While I'm disappointed that the union chose to take this action in the midst of good faith bargaining, especially as progress was being made, I am still committed to promptly resolving all outstanding issues."

The message continued that he had "instructed our bargaining team to ensure that while making ambitious, values-based investments in our people, we don't undermine that goal by spending so far above industry norms that we create an unsustainable environment."

"Of course we need to pay people competitively and fairly to attract the best and keep them (a.k.a. all of you), but we've stopped short of the union's insistence on levels that far exceed industry norms and averages. While paying people a lot more than market wages sounds great on the surface, it's not realistic or smart."

Online Reaction

That day, HuffPost^[4] published an article entitled "Vox Media Employees Walk Out On Final Day Of Union Bargaining." Many commented on the article, stating that, when put together, the first letter of every paragraph spells the word "Solidarity."

Freelancers of Vox also joined the walkout in solidarity. Writer Kyle Chayka tweeted,^[5] "Vox Media is one of the best digital media companies out there, for staff or freelancers. Keep it going, sign a contract with @vox_union. Alongside their walkout I won't be working on Vox stories today either" (shown below, left). Writer Clio Chang tweeted,^[6] no contract, no content !!! as freelancers we will NOT be crossing the picket line so YES that means no blogs from me about the toronto raptoonies on vox dot com." The tweet received more than 500 likes (shown below, center).

Other criticized the executives for their salaries. Twitter^[7] user @MsKellyMHayes tweeted, "The average Vox Media executive makes $223,347 per year. When you have employees living in a place as expensive as DC making $30K per year, you can fuck off with your disappointment about people walking off the job." The tweet received more than 500 likes and 175 retweets in 24 hours (shown below, right).

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the walkout, including CNN,^[3] HuffPost,^[4] Washington Post,^[8] Deadline^[9] and more.

Resolution

On June 7th, 2019, the Vox Media Union tweeted^[10] that they had reached a "tentative agreement" with Vox Media (shown below).

Search Interest

External References