Forbes to Lay Off 3% of Staff as Union Stages 3-Day Work Stoppage in Protest

Natalie Korach
·3 min read
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The Forbes editorial union began a three-day walkout Thursday to protest management negotiation tactics and layoffs hitting around 3% of staff.

“To meet our 2024 business goals, like many companies, we needed to reprioritize resources, resulting in the difficult decision to reduce less than 3% of staff,” a Forbes spokesperson said in a statement to TheWrap.

According to the union, Forbes leadership is attempting to union-bust and stall negotiations with guild membership. The union said after the pending layoffs were announced it had not received word on how many of its members would be affected.

“A super majority of our members have walked off the job for THREE DAYS in protest of Forbes slow-walking contract negotiations and interference with union activity,” the union posted on social media on Thursday.

“We’re demonstrating the value of our labor and we are #FedUpWithForbes,” the post continued.

“We formed this union to protect the standards of a professional newsroom and create a more inclusive and transparent workplace, as well as for job security, equity in pay and opportunity, and accountability,” unit chair and statistics editor for Forbes Andrea Murphy said in a statement to TheWrap. “Management’s only interest is to delay, stall and obstruct, as well as try to block our members from protected union action. We are taking this unprecedented step to show that we will not allow such disrespectful behavior towards our negotiations to continue.”

“Forbes’ success is a direct result of our members’ hard work and their commitment to quality journalism,” the president of The NewsGuild of NY Susan DeCarava said in a statement. “Management needs to recognize that fact, stop trying to prevent our members from exercising their rights and bargain in good faith.”

The walkout occurs amid the production of the February/March print issue of Forbes.

According to the guild, Forbes staffers have been fighting for two years for a “first contract, only to be met with tired, union-busting tactics by Forbes management.”

On Thursday, the NewsGuild of New York filed an unfair labor practice charge on behalf of the Forbes Union, “or the company’s interference with protected union activity, discrimination based on protected union activity, and refusing to bargain in good faith.”

During the three-day walkout, the union has organized multiple events for staffers to partake in.

On Thursday, union members will hold a virtual rally via Zoom. Then on Friday, members will distribute fliers outside the Forbes on Fifth office, prior to moving to the Jersey City office. Then on Monday, union members will be hosting an in-person rally at 2:30 p.m. ET outside Forbes offices.

The post Forbes to Lay Off 3% of Staff as Union Stages 3-Day Work Stoppage in Protest appeared first on TheWrap.