Hundreds of Insider staffers are expected to walk off their jobs today over proposed layoffs at the company. The Insider Union, which represents numerous Insider employees, announced the walkout protests in a tweet last night. Union members and their supporters will begin picketing at 9 a.m. this morning.
The response comes after Insider management announced plans to lay off 10% of its staff, reports The Daily Beast. The layoffs include about 60 Insider unit members who are represented by the Insider Union. As many as 250 staff members are expected to picket today.
The Insider Union says the goal of the walkout is to prevent the layoffs at Insider and get the company to agree to bargaining dates and its first contract with the union. Under current plans, Insider aims to complete the layoffs by late May. Affected Insider workers who are not in the union have already been notified.
The Insider layoffs are just the latest to hit the media industry. While tech has garnered most of the headlines for its massive layoffs since the end of 2022, media organizations more recently have been implementing job cuts to save on costs as the slowing economy has led to some advertisers scaling back on spending.
This month Disney confirmed it will move ahead with layoffs at ESPN, while last week BuzzFeed announced it will close its News division. Other media companies including Vox, CNN, and NPR have also implemented layoffs recently.
In response to the news of today’s strike action, the company’s chief people officer, Jessica Liebman, sent an email to staff on Sunday night, saying, “Some of our US union employees are planning to walk out Monday to protest our proposed team reductions. Though we would have preferred to use this time to meet and bargain with the union, striking is the union’s right and we respect that.”
But as one Insider staffer, William Antonelli, told The Daily Beast, such comments reflect “a style of communication that a large majority of our unit members are starting to see through. Obviously, people are fed up about it.”
Reached for comment, an Insider spokesperson told Fast Company, “We value our editorial union members and support their right to express their views. We continue to be available for discussions.”
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