The media crisis continues to grow in the country. On the same day that Business Insider reported significant staff cuts, Forbes workers also learned that their workforce would be reduced by 3%.
As Axios journalist Sarah Fisher learned, it was Forbes CEO Mike Federer who announced these layoffs, ensuring that the outlet "must remain vigilant in our current economic environment."
NEW: @forbes layoffs announced today, the same day its union announced a 3-day walkout.
— Unclear how many impacted yet
— CEO Mike Federer said in a note to staff that Forbes “must remain vigilant in our current economic environment.”— Sara Fischer (@sarafischer) January 25, 2024
Minutes later, the Forbes Union and The NewsGuild of New York confirmed the news. They claimed that they had not yet been given an exact figure of the number of people laid off, but they had been informed that it would be "less than 3%" of the total workforce.
.@nyguild / Forbes Union statement on today’s layoffs at @Forbes pic.twitter.com/ZJJ7q6raNm
— Forbes Union (@forbesunion) January 25, 2024
Attempt by Forbes board to avoid a strike
Along with this, both unions spike out against the way Forbes management acted. According to them, the timing of the announcement of the layoffs was intentional, as it coincided with the day on which the workers began a three-day strike in protest against the wave of layoffs that has been taking place in the last week.
The unions claim that the company did it with the intention of instilling fear and, therefore, preventing workers from joining the strike. This was stated by Andrea Murphy, president of the union and Forbes statistics editor, in a statement shared by The NewsGuild of New York:
It is yet another example of Forbes management’s union-busting. We see this behavior routinely at the bargaining table and in our workplace. It’s why we filed an unfair labor practice charge against the company Wednesday over their attempts at quashing union activity and discriminating against one of our members for union activity. We want the company to know, despite their efforts to intimidate us, that we are 100 percent not backing down.
