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Why GMG Union Is Striking

We are the unionized workers at Gizmodo, Jalopnik, Jezebel, Kotaku, Lifehacker, and The Root.

Since January 31, the Gizmodo Media Group Union (GMG Union) and G/O’s Media’s outside counsel have met five times. Every session, the company’s outside counsel sidestepped and delayed, refusing to provide written counterproposals to the union’s good-faith proposals. How can you bargain a contract when the people across the table won’t even clearly state what they’re advocating for?

We have not made this choice to strike lightly. Please read about the company proposals we’re fighting below.

  • Endangering Our Healthcare

    Management insists on removing all guarantees that our current healthcare benefits and cost-sharing will continue. Management doesn’t want to codify the widely accepted WPATH standards of care for our trans and gender-expansive colleagues.

  • Lowballing Salaries During Unprecedented Inflation

    After a year of unprecedented inflation, management proposed raising the minimum salary tier for our lowest paid colleagues—and no one else. Management’s insistence on offering new hires the minimum tier negatively affects our recruitment and talent retention.

  • Insisting on No Mean Tweets

    Management insists on including “no social media campaigns” in the strike clause. You know what that means? No mean tweets about Jim Spanfeller and our poor working conditions.

  • Insisting on Return to Office

    After producing years of journalism from our homes to great success, management refuses to add work-from-home flexibility into the contract…even though return-to-office plans were twice delayed due to COVID variant spikes.

  • Kicking Diversity Efforts Down the Road

    GMG Union wants a robust diversity hiring initiative with the budget to back it up. Rather than codify this in our contract, management wants to punt further discussions about possible diversity efforts to our Diversity Committee.

  • Threatening Possible Forced Relocations

    Many of our colleagues were remote workers before COVID-19 changed our lives, and management refuses to codify their remote positions. GMG Union insists on protection from forced relocations to the NYC office.

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