Vox Media employees with The Writers Guild of America East have ratified a new three-year collective bargaining agreement, which includes wage increases and protections against artificial intelligence.
The union’s deal, which was unanimously approved by the 250-member bargaining unit, covers employees at PopSugar, The Dodo, Thrillist, Vox.com, The Verge, Eater, Punch, SB Nation and Vox Media Podcast Network.
In the first year of the contract, employees making salaries under $106,000 will receive a 5% increase, while those making over that amount will receive a 4% increase. In years two and three, those increases will be 3.25% for salaries under $106,000 and 2.75% for salaries over that amount.
Additionally, there will be a new salary floor of $70,000 for overtime-exempt employees and $68,000 for overtime-eligible employees. Members at Thrillist and The Dodo will also receive backpay from April 2024 and May 2024, respectively.
The deal also includes protections against the use of digital replicas and ensures that there will be no layoffs solely from the use or implementation of generative AI and that any material generated by the technology will go through a standard editorial review process. The use of any generative AI material will include public disclosure of such tools.
There will also be advance notice of the actual implementation of any new tool or system that will meaningfully impact employees. Employees can then decline to be credited on content where generative AI was used.
Other highlights of the contract include a new layoff process that will give union employees two weeks of paid non-working notice, plus a minimum of 12 weeks of severance; an unlimited PTO policy, with encouragement to take at least 25 days off per year, up from 20 days; and 12 bereavement/pregnancy loss days, up from 10.
“Vox Media Union’s bargaining committee is so proud to have fought and won this contract that betters the lives of all of our members,” the bargaining committee said.
The deal comes after the union voted to authorize a strike if a deal was not reached by the time their previous contract expired on June 12. Just hours after the vote, the WGAE announced that a tentative agreement had been reached.
More than 3,000 WGAE members and labor allies had sent letters to Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff demanding a fair contract for the union.
