WGAE-Vox Media Union Statement on Layoffs at Thrillist and East

NEW YORK, NY (December 5, 2024) – The following is a statement from Writers Guild of America East (WGAE) members in the Vox Media Union:

Today, we were blindsided by news from Vox Media management that many of our colleagues at Thrillist and Eater would lose their jobs. We are devastated to lose writers and editors who produce invaluable work each and every day, and disgusted by Vox Media’s short-sighted decision making. As always, it is the workers who bear the brunt of management’s poor choices, and this close to the holidays, their callousness is especially galling. 

We are incredibly disappointed by management’s decision to decimate Thrillist, a vertical that it has invested almost nothing in since acquiring it from Group Nine. As we have made clear to management with our demand for One Union, One Contract, the WGAE-Vox Media Union views our colleagues at Thrillist as members of our union, and we will make sure that they are made whole in light of management’s decision to essentially shutter this beloved publication. 

Many of those impacted by today’s layoffs work on Eater’s Cities team, a group of powerhouse journalists who produce some of the most impactful local journalism in the country. Their work has always differentiated Eater and built it into the country’s most prominent food website, and management’s treatment of these workers is both irresponsible and reflects a complete lack of understanding of the journalism that is needed in this moment. We need more boots on the ground doing this essential work, not fewer. 

As always, the Guild will continue to demand that members are treated fairly in the aftermath of layoffs. As we approach the upcoming negotiations for our third collective bargaining agreement, we want to make abundantly clear to management that the status quo of constant, cyclical layoffs will not continue. We will fight like hell to ensure that our industry has a future, no matter how many times those in charge attempt to run it into the ground. 

Details on how you can support laid off workers at Vox Media will be forthcoming. Please follow the Vox Media Union on X (@vox_union) and Bluesky (@voxunion.bsky.social). Solidarity forever. 

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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