NEW YORK, NY (January 9, 2025) – The following is a statement from Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) members in the Vox Media Union:

Today, barely a month after devastating layoffs at Thrillist, Eater, and PS, and a wave of unannounced staff layoffs from around Vox Media, we learned that 18% of our union colleagues at Vox.com had been laid off. These layoffs impact staff both inside and outside of the newsroom as well as members of the Vox Media Podcast Network — and once again disproportionately affect women and journalists of color.

We are again devastated to lose some of our most hard-working, experienced, and authoritative colleagues. These layoffs reflect a significant downsizing of our editorial team and a defanging of our editorial work, and come with little explanation about how they will impact our journalism moving forward.  The Writers Guild of America East and Vox Media Union will do everything we can to help and support the colleagues who are leaving us, just as we have supported recent layoffs around the company.

As we approach negotiations for our third collective bargaining agreement, we are redoubling our demand for a clear, transparent layoff process that reduces the anxiety and frustration caused by unexpected layoff announcements that seem to have no clear strategic purpose. We’re also fighting for expanded protections for workers and expanded severance for departing employees. Vox Media Union has been a vanguard of digital media at the Guild, and we realize that we are advocating not just for our own employees, but for this industry as a whole. We will continue to demand equitable treatment and respect for all journalists.

Details on how you can support laid off workers at Vox Media will be forthcoming. Solidarity forever.