Forbes staff begins three-day strike

Forbes employees are striking for the first time, protesting the lack of progress in collective bargaining more than two years since voting to join a union, reports Josh Eidelson of Bloomberg News.

Eidelson reports, “Unionized employees, including reporters, editors, designers and videographers, plan to start a work stoppage at 9 a.m. New York time on Thursday, and remain on strike through Monday, according to the Communications Workers of America’s NewsGuild. Staff voted in July 2021 to join the guild, part of a larger wave of organizing and activism that’s swept the media industry over the past decade.

“Little progress has been made in contract talks since then, the Forbes union’s chair Andrea Murphy said. That includes responses to union proposals to preserve remote working and convert temps to permanent employees, she said.

“‘They are dragging their feet and slow-walking this whole process,’ said Murphy, statistics editor for the company.  ‘We’re hoping that it shows them that we are serious,’ she said of the strike.

“The union says workers are also striking over alleged union-busting by Forbes, which they allege illegally pressured an employee not to participate in workplace protests. The guild filed a complaint over the issue Wednesday with the US National Labor Relations Board.”

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