UNION: FORBES HAS A LABOR PROBLEM

NEW YORK –  Forbes management has increasingly shifted to using short-term, part-time,  temporary employees instead of replacing those who leave with full-timers, a new Forbes Union/NewsGuild of New York study shows. 

“Hiring temp workers – who are not represented by us and won’t benefit from the contract we are fighting for – is another example of Forbes management’s union-busting,” said Hank Tucker, a staff writer and vice chair with the Forbes Union. 

Forbes Union officers sent the study in an email to Forbes CEO Sherry Phillips with an invitation to lunch to discuss the results. Phillips, who took over as CEO earlier this year, had told the bargaining team she wanted a reset at the table and announced an initiative to hold monthly lunches with staff members.

No reset has happened and only one lunch meeting was held.  

The union submitted a formal request for information to further understand how many temps Forbes management has hired, as well as their length of service and pay. 

The study found: 

• As of February 2025, the latest this data is available, there are 19 temps in the newsroom, making up a 17% share of the overall non-management editorial staff, which has roughly 100 employees including temps
• Forbes hired 49 temps in 2024 but only 4 full-time employees, down 90% from the estimated 41 full-time employees hired in 2023
• About 40% of the temps hired by Forbes were part-time
• Of the 8 editorial jobs Forbes is currently hiring for, just two are for permanent positions. Some of the temporary roles appear to be strikingly similar to previous permanent roles, like Associate Video Editor and Assistant Producer of ForbesTV
• The average temp works at Forbes for just under five months

The Forbes Union organized with The NewsGuild of New York in 2021. For more than three years workers have been fighting for a first contract, only to be met with tired, union-busting tactics by Forbes management. 

At the bargaining table, Forbes’ representatives continue to dismiss the union’s concerns about the chronic use of temp hiring. 

“Forbes CEO Sherry Phillips has an opportunity to work with us to accomplish a fair deal for the journalists who make Forbes required reading, ” said Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of New York. “We need to see management invest in newsroom stability by agreeing to some basic limits on the use of temporary workers and recognizing the experienced, nuanced work of staff journalists. Phillips could be the first Forbes CEO to finally settle our contract and accomplish labor peace. The ball is in her court.”