HuffPost Union Statement on Layoffs

NEW YORK, NY (February 6, 2025)—The following is a statement from the HuffPost Union and Writers Guild of America East (WGAE):

This week, nearly 30 members of HuffPost staff lost their jobs, a majority of whom were part of the HuffPost Union with the Writers Guild of America East.

News of the layoffs came as a shock to the newsroom on the heels of a year of record-breaking traffic and nonstop coverage of a divisive election. Management has insisted that these devastating cuts were financially necessary, but refused to share data to back up that claim or pursue cost-cutting alternatives.  

Management has chosen to slash our newsroom by over 20% at a time when the Trump administration is waging an unrelenting series of attacks on the most marginalized members of society, which is why it is so crucial that HuffPost continue to educate the public and hold those in power accountable — only now we are expected to do so with fewer reporters, editors and designers. Our newsroom is bearing the brunt of poor decision-making by those at the top of the Company.

Thanks to protections we won in our latest collective bargaining agreement, management was required to inform the union of the layoffs ahead of time, allowing us to negotiate buyouts to the teams targeted for layoffs. But we are disappointed management is mandating relocation for some teams, giving them an impossible choice: uproot their and their families’ lives to relocate after years of working remotely without issue or take the buyout offer.

While we are losing immeasurable talent and experience in our colleagues who accepted the buyout offer, we are grateful to them for lessening the impact of layoffs on HuffPost as a whole.

Today, more than ever, we are grateful for the strong severance protections we secured through collective action — but we are incredibly disappointed that management has chosen to make these unnecessary and unwarranted cuts.

ABOUT THE WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA EAST
The Writers Guild of America East, AFL-CIO, is a labor union of more than 7,500 members working in film, television, news, podcasts and online media. The Guild negotiates and administers contracts that protect the creative and economic rights of its members; conducts programs, seminars and events on issues of interest to writers; and presents writers’ views to various bodies of government. For more information on the Writers Guild of America East, visit wgaeast.org.

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