New York Magazine Union's Statement on Vox Media Announcement to Impose Furloughs, Reduced Work Hours, and Pay Cuts

Due to the industry-wide impact of the coronavirus, Vox Media announced today that it will be imposing furloughs, reduced work hours, and pay cuts that impact the New York Magazine Union members.

Initially, management insisted upon furloughing a small subset of our colleagues with the looming threat of immediate layoffs, possibly for a larger group, should we not come to an agreement. We made several counter-proposals that we take on these burdens collectively through across-the-board salary reductions and/or rolling furloughs. Management rejected every attempt from our union to achieve similar cost-savings. 

While we secured the best possible terms under these extraordinary conditions, we believe management’s insistence upon specific furloughs falls far short of what Vox Media’s own CEO, Jim Bankoff, has described as a “shared sacrifice.” We are disappointed that New York Magazine’s public relations messaging on this point was ultimately empty rhetoric. We had hoped that management would have taken our demonstrated willingness to create a true shared sacrifice into account during these negotiations.

We successfully obtained access to fully covered health insurance, including payment of premiums and deductibles, for not just our unit members, but for all employees furloughed across the company today. This includes our colleagues in the Vox Union. Given the uncertainty of this time, we also secured full Just Cause job security and a further guarantee that there will be no additional layoffs, furloughs, or pay cuts for our membership through July 31. 

We hope that this will be the first and last time we are negotiating under such dire and unprecedented circumstances. Whatever comes, we will continue to fight for our members and our publication. Our industry depends on it.