BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti announced last week that 68 employees in other divisions of the company will be furloughed to further cut costs during the COVID-19 crisis, following staff-wide pay cuts in April. We’ve been told some form of staff reductions will hit our newsroom next.
While we haven't yet received management’s proposal to the union, and there’s a lot of information we still need, we want to be clear: We believe we can and must avoid people losing their jobs.
A little more than a year ago, we lost about 20% of our newsroom colleagues to unexpected layoffs. Going through that again — in the middle of a pandemic — would be devastating. We’re ready and eager to negotiate a better alternative.
Losing a newsroom job now isn’t just a temporary setback. For many colleagues let go, this could be the end of their careers in journalism — all the more calamitous when the work journalists do has never been more important.
Right now, our biggest concern is that the company will finalize decisions about furloughing non-union staff before discussing any proposals with the union. Those decisions inevitably impact us; we all work together as one newsroom, and believe this needs to be one conversation.
We know there are options, like the work-sharing plan the @latguild recently agreed to, that could prove a win-win for both employees and the company. We hope our leadership will seriously consider them before finalizing any crushing — and avoidable — layoffs or furloughs.
Our newsroom is united and ready to work with BuzzFeed toward an agreement that lets us truly share any sacrifice required and helps ALL of our colleagues. We ask management to keep an open mind, and come to the bargaining table ready to explore all possible solutions.
You can follow @bfnewsunion.
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