Vox Media Union

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Donate to Eater Isn't Essential Without Journalism, organized by Ashok Selvam On Thursday, August 8, Vox Media laid off 15 members of Eater, Punch, and Thrill… Ashok Selvam needs your support for Eater Isn't Essential Without Journalism

One last push for our departing Eater colleagues before we close the GoFundMe for support. Please chip in if you can, and let's help them get to $15,000! www.gofundme.com/f/eater-isnt...

Donate to Eater Isn't Essential Without Journalism, organized by Ashok Selvam On Thursday, August 8, Vox Media laid off 15 members of Eater, Punch, and Thrill… Ashok Selvam needs your support for Eater Isn't Essential Without Journalism

We're still shy of our GoFundMe goal for departing Eater staff! These are our brilliant colleagues who've done so much for journalism and for this union. If you can contribute, share, or pass this on, please do! Thank you all! #voxunion #1u #unionstrong

www.gofundme.com/f/eater-isnt...

MARCH TO PROTECT FREE SPEECH AT THE 2025 NYC LABOR DAY PARADE SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2025  Meet up begins at 9 a.m. on 44th Street btwn 5th Avenue and Madison Avenue, NYC Parade kicks off at 10 a.m LABOR FIGHTS BACK WHEN MANAGEMENT CAVES. RSVP: WGAEA.ST/LDP-2025

We're calling on members, friends & allies to join us to march to protect free speech at the New York City Labor Day Parade Saturday, September 6, 2025. It is clear that the only people who will protect workers are workers ourselves.

RSVP: wgaea.st/ldp-2025

Screenshot of a GoFundMe campaign reading Eater Isn't Essential Without Journalism

Our colleagues at Eater still need our help! If you can chip in, or if you know someone who can help, or if you just want to spread the word, we'll be so grateful!

www.gofundme.com/f/eater-isnt...

This is a brand new campaign, so yes, it is still active, and yes, as it says in the screenshot, it's being run by departing Eater union members.

Screenshot of a vox media union logo over the Eater logo. The heading reads, "Eater isn't essential without journalism."

Screenshot (condensed for Bluesky word limit): On August 8, without warning, Vox Media laid off 15 members of Eater, Punch, and Thrillist, the award-winning food, drink, and travel news and recommendation sites, while management celebrated Eater’s 20th anniversary. The cuts decimated local coverage, including Chicago, the country’s third-largest market. This is the second restructuring at Eater in less than 10 months. The cuts come not only one month after the Vox Media Union ratified its new collective bargaining agreement, but also two months after the James Beard Awards, where Eater and Punch earned four nominations and two wins. The firings came a week after Jim Bankoff claimed in an interview there would be no imminent layoffs. Eater says farewell to a cohort of award-winning and dedicated journalists who fought tooth and nail to keep the wall between editorial and advertising intact. We sound like a broken record, but we are once again grateful to have bargained for industry-leading severance language in our latest contract. This GoFundMe is organized by members of the Vox Media Union. All funds raised will directly benefit union members impacted by the August 7 layoffs, and will be distributed in equal shares to those who opt-in to receive funds. The organizers will be reaching out to those impacted in the coming days with details. Our union is committed to supporting our colleagues who were laid off, and will hold management accountable for how these layoffs were conducted. With these funds, we hope to ease the financial burden that these layoffs have placed on our colleagues some of who face mounting medical bills and are charged with being their family's primary caretakers. The Vox Media Union layoff fund is being overseen by a committee of Vox Media Union members, including Ashok Selvam, Jaya Saxena, and Amy McCarthy. The fund will operate transparently, with full accounting of all donations that are received and distributed.

Our Eater GoFundMe is up! We all know this has been a difficult year for Vox, but the folks at Eater have been extremely dedicated in their support for each of their colleagues, past and present. Let's support them now!!! #unionstrong #voxunion #1u

gofund.me/04932462

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Thank you guys as always. ❤️💔

🌺 thank you guys, solidarity forever 💪

the degradation / dismantling of Eater is such a damn shame. in a world of influencer- and bot-skewed restaurant ratings, googling "eater [city]" provided guidance from passionate locals with good taste; it was a cheat code for eating well wherever you traveled

Ugh. This much chaos and confusion cannot be good for any company, especially a media company.

Less than 3 months ago, Vox Media was celebrating Eater for having nabbed 6 nominations at the James Beard Media Awards!

Ashok Selvam received the 2025 Local Voice Award for his work at Eater Chicago. He was laid off today.

Eater layoffs statement Today, 15 members of the Vox Media Union working at Eater were notified without warning that their jobs were being eliminated as part of a major restructuring of the 20-year-old brand. This was especially shocking considering that Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff told Puck’s Dylan Byers just last week that he did not anticipate any impending layoffs at the company. But, of course, we’ve learned that we cannot trust Jim Bankoff’s word when it comes to layoffs. This is the second major round of layoffs at Eater this year, following a round earlier this year that decimated Eater’s award-winning cities network. To be abundantly clear: these layoffs are a gut-job, one that eliminates roughly a third of Eater’s union jobs. It is also a cowardly capitulation to the fallacious insistence that generative AI is the future of search and publishing. We are devastated that our colleagues have lost their jobs, and we are deeply worried about the future sustainability of Eater without them. Eater is currently in the midst of celebrating its 20th anniversary, and right now, there is not much to celebrate. We will have more information forthcoming about ways to support our laid-off colleagues in the coming days. Solidarity forever, The Vox Media Union Committees

Vox Media Union statement on today's devastating round of layoffs at Eater. We stand with all of our wonderful colleagues. #solidarityforever #unionstrong #1u

Vox Media Union (PS + Vox + Dodo): Contract Ratified Unanimously

After delivering a strike threat and negotiating until 5am, our members at @VoxMediaUnion.bsky.social have UNANIMOUSLY ratified a new union contract 🎉 Highlights from the contract include guaranteed general wage increases, protections from GAI, a new layoff process and improvements to PTO.

Lunch tasting extra good today for no particular reason @voxmediaunion.bsky.social

YOUR UNION LOVES YOU 🫶

🎉🎉🎉🎉

Thank you!

Thank you also to our amazing team and all the staff at the @wgaeast.bsky.social who have all worked so hard for us this bargaining season, and who support us in countless ways!

And thank you to all the other shops who stood with us these last few weeks! Solidarity is how we win! ✊🌺 #unionstrong

Thank you all SO MUCH for your support. Our incredible Bargaining Committee worked into the night for us and reached a Tentative Agreement at around 5am! 🙏💪🥳🎉

As of now there will be NO STRIKE! Please continue enjoying all our work, knowing you all helped us get here! #unionstrong #voxunion #1u

less than 2.5 hours to the strike. Other SBN fansites, join in solidarity!

thank you for the solidarity!

Pre-downloaded content should be fine! Just don't download any content, new or old, and don't stream any content from us during any potential strike. Thank you!

thank you all! Solidarity! 🌺

Thank you for subscribing! The longest strike in digital media history only lasted 13 days. We don't anticipate striking for longer than that (and ideally we won't have to strike at all), so assuming you've already paid your monthly fee, all you need to do is just save those articles for later!

thank *you* for the support!

I went to a bowling alley and @voxmediaunion.bsky.social was there

Our contract doesn't expire until midnight ET tonight. Our Bargaining Committee is working tirelessly until the end to try and *avoid* a strike.

This vote means that we as a unit have decided to strike if no new agreement is reached (and/or the existing contract doesn't get extended) by midnight.

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