Why We're Walking Out
Today, BuzzFeed shareholders are voting to take the company public in a deal that will make our rich executives even richer. Management believes that BuzzFeed is the future of digital media. We agree. But we believe the future can only be as strong as our working conditions.
We have been bargaining our contract for almost two years. There is no BuzzFeed News without us, and we’re walking out today to remind management of that fact. Below are some of the most critical issues BuzzFeed management is refusing to listen to us on:
PAY AND BENEFITS: Management has only offered 1% guaranteed raises per year, and they have not budged on their proposed $50,000 salary floor. That’s not enough to live in the major cities like New York and San Francisco where BuzzFeed has newsrooms, and not enough to attract truly diverse talent. Management also proposed salary floors cleverly designed to ensure no one in our union would have their pay raised a cent. All the while, they continue to refuse to even cement our current benefits on paper.
CREATIVE CONTROL: BuzzFeed management has dug in on a proposal regulating the creative work many of us do outside of our jobs, and it’s even more restrictive than the current policy. It would require that union members get approval to do any outside “content” work — including pitching a freelance article that falls outside your newsroom beat, writing a personal Medium post about your mental health, posting outfits on Instagram, or even doing a makeup tutorial on TikTok. We live a large part of our lives online, especially in the ongoing pandemic, and BuzzFeed management is trying to stake out ownership over those lives, our free time, and hobbies.
CLICKS AND DISCIPLINE: Management has repeatedly resisted our proposal that union members not be disciplined over traffic or revenue metrics, and they have repeatedly pushed for squishy language and carve-outs for some writers. Pageviews and clicks are not something an individual employee can control and are often influenced by social media algorithms and readers’ biases. We believe when you come to BuzzFeed News, you should be able to trust that we are motivated not by clicks, but by honest reporting.
Here’s what our members had to say about why they support the union’s fight on these issues and what a strong contract means to them:
“I support our BuzzFeed News Union and a strong first contract because while this company goes public and makes its top executives (even more) wealthy, the workers who have helped build the company and its strong reputation deserve basic protections for their jobs, their work, their salaries, and their benefits. Because as this company grows, so have its workers and their families. We love our work, but we deserve to know that our health care costs won't spike, that we will be able to spend time with our kids with parental leave, and that we'll be able to have a 401(k) that will provide some sort of future for us, just as our work has provided a future for the company. Its workers have weathered layoffs and uncertainty, and good intentions don't mean much if management can't put them down on paper.”
—Salvador Hernandez, reporter
“Job security in this industry is waning, but newsrooms that respect their employees enough to support strong contracts seem to attract the brightest stars. That’s a culture I want to be a part of.”
—Kadia Goba, reporter
“This union contract is an opportunity to build an enduring newsroom that is able to hire, and retain, talent capable of out-reporting the most powerful media institutions in the US. A strong contract means people of all economic backgrounds will feel confident applying to work for BuzzFeed News, knowing they won't need to worry about making rent, paying for medical care, or getting much-earned time off. A powerful, agile, diverse newsroom starts with fair compensation.”
—Brandon Hardin, news curation editor
“I stand with my union 100% because I want BuzzFeed News to be a place where I, and my talented coworkers, can build a long career. That’d be a newsroom that pays everyone fairly and outlines clear paths for advancement, regardless of which department we happen to be in. That’d be a company that commits to affordable health care costs and to severance packages that adequately reflect our years of service. And that’d be a workplace that encourages us to be our whole, creative selves, not one that grants our bosses first claim to every idea we have off the clock. In an industry marked by constant upheaval, a strong contract that upholds these protections — and many others — is crucial to making BuzzFeed News a place I’d stay for the long haul.”
—Stephanie M. Lee, reporter
“I support the BuzzFeed News Union because we need a strong contract — one that keeps copy editors from feeling overworked, underpaid, and unappreciated by the company. We all deserve job security, damn it.”
—Emerson Malone, copy editor
STAND WITH US
Show your support for our fight by tweeting that we deserve a fair contract with adequate pay raises, affordable health care, a sensible outside work policy, and reasonable discipline standards. Please tag @bfnewsunion and use the #BFNWalksOut hashtag to tell our executives why you stand with us. BuzzFeed must do better.