Forbes editorial staff quit on the same day the company’s ’30 Under 30′ list was released

FIRST ON FOX– The Forbes Union, which represents the magazine’s editorial staff, walked off the job Tuesday in a pivotal day for the company.

The union issued a warning to management and planned its resignation on the same day as the release of Forbes’ well-known “30 Under 30” list, which includes 20 lists of 30 influential people under the age of 30 who are recognized for their achievements in various industries.

Members of the union, who are fighting for fair wages and reductions in force and redundancy protection, told Fox News Digital that the management has been at a standstill at the negotiating table for almost three years.

“CEO Mike Federle said at a recent town hall that management is eager to get a contract, but that appears to be a long way off. That’s because of his and management’s actions,” Andrea Murphy, unit chair and statistics editor for Forbes said. “We have been and will continue to be ready to get this contract done, including pay that recognizes the value we bring to Forbes.”

For example, management proposes 1% in annual raises, a salary floor of $60,000, a minimum raise of 5% for promotions, and no overtime or extra pay on weekends. In contrast, the union wants 8% annual raises, a $75,000 salary floor, union protections for everyone who is eligible, a 15% minimum raise for promotions and extra pay for weekends and overtime.

“Right now, Forbes is proposing a minimum salary of $60,000 for employees, people who start at Forbes,” Murphy said. “It’s just not a fair wage for the amount of work people do.”

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Forbes Union is also demanding that the company stop “unlawfully and unilaterally” pulling people out of the bargaining unit.

A Forbes Union spokesperson told Fox News Digital that management has falsely claimed that some Forbes Union members are “management” and as a result should not be part of the union. The union said the tactic is a common anti-union practice it is fighting through its unfair labor practices charge of management misclassifying members, in an effort to shrink Forbes Union.

A Forbes spokesperson told Fox News Digital that they are working diligently with the NewsGuild of NY to reach a collective agreement and have reached tentative agreements on eight proposals.

“While we respect their right to walk out, we are disappointed by the NewsGuild’s decision, especially when we have a bargaining session scheduled for tomorrow and a willingness to meet throughout the month,” the spokesman said. “In the meantime, Forbes continues to serve its audience and publish its content across platforms.”

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Murphy maintains that management has been dragging its feet and suspects it is a tactic used by companies to dampen enthusiasm for a union by “slow-walking” the contract fight.

“Of course they don’t tell us that when we’re at the negotiating table,” she added. “They claim they have done this in good faith all along.”

Forbes, in particular, has been on the verge of a sale for years. Most recently, Koch Inc.’s private equity arm was in talks to buy Forbes in partnership with another individual investor, Sources told Axios in September. Before that, the company considered a blank check merger in 2021.

Hank Tucker, who is a staff writer at Forbes and serves as vice president of the union, told Fox News Digital that he suspects the chance of a sale could influence management’s decision to slow down a potential contract.

“We’re also going out, not just for pay, but for good severance, good layoff protections, because I think everybody sees examples of when a new owner buys a business and makes some layoffs pretty quickly after taking control,” he said. “We want protection to fight that, and it looks like Forbes is trying to keep us out, maybe until a new owner comes in and can make those decisions for themselves about where to prioritize in the contract on their end. “

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But, Murphy emphasized, other media unions have not had to wait as long as they have for a first contract.

“It’s just disappointing when you have people in management like our editor-in-chief Randall Lane saying things like, ‘I want us to have the best contract in all of media,’ and then the company shows up and suggests 1% raises and a base salary of $60,000,” she said. “It’s not the best contract in the media.”

Murphy emphasized the timing of the layoff, which coincides with the launch of the company’s “30 Under 30” list to highlight the work it takes to publish the lists.

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“The Under 30 list is a really high-profile list for Forbes. It gets us a lot of attention,” she said. “But it basically takes the work of every single team in the newsroom, months and months of work to put a list like this together.”

“The scope is intense,” she added. “There’s not really one part of the newsroom that isn’t involved in this and so we wanted to go out on this day, which kind of highlights how much work it takes to do this level of journalism day in and day out and day in. We basically want to use some of the attention and spotlight that this roster gets every year and shine a little bit of that on our contract fight.”

The Forbes Union falls under the umbrella of the NewsGuild of New York, which represents nearly 6,000 media professionals and other employees at news organizations in the New York area, including The New York Times, The New Yorker and Thomson Reuters, among others.

“Forbes’ success with ’30 Under 30′ is a direct result of the hard work of our members,” said Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of NY. “It’s long past time for management to acknowledge that fact with a fair contract. “

Fox News Digital reached out to Forbes for comment.

Original article source: Forbes editorial staff quit on the same day the company’s ’30 Under 30′ list was released