Gizmodo Media Group successfully strike for new working conditions
by Adam Fitch
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Updated
Update — March 7, 10:17 GMT: After going on strike for four days, Gizmodo Media Group Union has reached a deal with management at G/O Media. The staff will successfully have all of their demands met should the "tentative" deal go through following a vote from the union.
"We want to thank everyone who joined us on the picket line, our vocal supporters on social media, and those who gave to our GoFundMe," the union said on its website.
Members of the Gizmodo Media Group Union, which is comprised of workers from several prominent publications, has gone on strike.
The basics: A lot is at play between the union and holding company G/O Media.
- The group encompasses staff from gaming site Kotaku, technology site Gizmodo, automotive site Jalopnik, women-focused site Jezebel, productivity and software site Lifehacker, African American-oriented site The Root.
- Coming together as the Gizmodo Media Group Union (GMG Union), the involved staff have all stopped working and are requesting for people to not visit their respective websites while the strike remains active.
The conflict: The dispute between the union and the holding company has only grown stronger in recent weeks.
- GMG Union is aiming to maintain their healthcare plans, increase the time given as parental leave, include flexibility regarding working from home, integrate a "diversity hiring initiative," and stop "possible forced relocations" for staff.
- Having come together on January 31, the Union has met with G/O Media's outside counsel five times (according to its website). The holding company's counsel has "sidestepped and delayed" proceedings and "won't even clearly state" its side of the bargain.
- The union's contract with G/O Media expired on February 28 and, considering they did not come to an agreement, the workers decided to down tools in hope of forcing change — a move they didn't take "lightly."
- It's said that 93% of the membered staff participated in a vote regarding a potential strike, and 100% of the voters favored executing the plan. The union's GoFundMe for the striking workers has raised $45,851 at the time of publication.
