🚨FORBES UNION HAS WALKED OUT 🚨A super majority of our members have walked off the job for THREE DAYS in protest of
@Forbes
slow-walking contract negotiations and interference with union activity. We’re demonstrating the value of our labor and we are
#FedUpWithForbes
We, the journalists, reporters, editors, designers, videographers and social media editors at Forbes, have formed a union with the NewsGuild of New York and are asking
@Forbes
to voluntarily recognize the
#ForbesUnion
.
Read our full mission here:
It may be Saturday, but we’re walking out through Monday
#FedUpWithForbes
| ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ |
| DON’T |
| CROSS THE |
| PICKET LINE |
| _______|
(\__/) ||
(•ㅅ•) ||
/ づ
BREAKING: Medieval Times workers in California have won their union election. This is the second castle to unionize.
Workers told us they perform up to 21 shows a week, are routinely injured, and paid poverty wages.
Today,
@Forbes
is hosting an Equal Pay Day forum on the importance of pay equity. But a recent study we conducted found Forbes underpays its female journalists. Here are just some of the alarming statistics:
Today, weeks after the Forbes Union’s historic walkout, members learned—through checking paystubs—that management is retroactively docking our pay.
Instead of stopping the walkout and engaging with us on our concerns, management has chosen to punish members for speaking out.
🚨🚨 The Forbes Union is working to rule this week! That means we’re working our normal 40-hour workweek that we get paid for and not a minute more. Here’s why:
Despite more than 80% support for unionization, Forbes management told us this evening that they won’t voluntarily recognize our unit, and instead will force us to have an election.
🚨 Members of the Forbes Union are protesting today outside of the
#ForbesIconoclast
Summit.
@Forbes
has refused to bargain with us over basic hours and overtime proposals and won’t commit to a remote bargaining option, despite our remote workforce. We need a fair contract NOW 🚨
Just wrapped up our first bargaining session 🔥
Pro: We packed the meeting with more than half of the unit ✊
Con: Forbes hired an anti-Starbucks lawyer :/
The Forbes Union is deeply disturbed by the allegations raised by the Washington Post regarding the sale of the company and the hidden involvement of Magomed Musaev
A Kremlin-connected tycoon claims he is the buyer of Forbes, according to audio and video tapes. The U.S. billionaire organizing the deal says there is no Russian involvement.
Today, Forbes Union members return to work after our historic three-day walkout. Our eyes are on
@Forbes
management. Will they finally bargain with us in good faith?
#FedUpWithForbes
The Forbes Union knows that collective action gets results!! We demand a fair contract NOW ✊Thanks to
@804_local
and
@nbcnewsguild
and everyone who showed us support today
We filed an unfair labor practice charge against
@Forbes
for interference with union activity and discrimination of a union member. We are standing up against unlawful, union-busting tactics. We are
#FedUpWithForbes
WE DID IT! ✅
Today, we won our National Labor Relations Board election, affirming that our editorial unit has overwhelmingly voted to form a union with
@nyguild
. We’ve worked so hard to reach this historic day.
🧵1/5
At Forbes, strides towards diversity remain unclear. While management celebrates its actions toward creating a more diverse workplace, nearly a dozen people of color have left the editorial staff since 2017
We have been working for months to build this movement, and despite our more than 80% support for unionization, Forbes management declined to voluntarily recognize us. So we took to the polls where a whopping 90.5% of us voted YES.
Today,
@Forbes
launched the Forbes 400, a ranking of the richest Americans. As you read our members’ hard work, keep in mind the stark pay disparities in our newsroom. Management has done nothing to address these problems since we released our pay equity study three months ago
Forbes management keeps ignoring our complaints, so we brought a bagpiper to the Top Creators event. Seems like they finally heard us, because they called the cops on our peaceful protest! The shameless attempt to intimidate us didn't work, the officers stayed in their car.
It’s officially been 24 hours since the
#ForbesUnion
went public and we are overwhelmed by the kind words of encouragement and solidarity ✊
ICYMI, check out our mission here:
Guess what? It’s a GREAT day for Forbes management to come to the negotiating table.
Why?
It’s been 72 days since management met with the Forbes union to negotiate a contract.
(Thread 1/3)
Today, our members will be flyering at noon outside of
@Forbes
offices in Manhattan and then Jersey City. Join us! If you’re not in the area, print out your own and flyer your neighborhood!
📍 24 5th Ave, New York, NY
📍 499 Washington Blvd, Jersey City, NJ
We’re happy to hear Forbes’ annual revenue increased +140% and that the company will reportedly receive a $35M breakup fee over the failed deal (). That money should be used to give employees bonuses and raises, and to correct pay disparities.
Today is the last day of our three-day work-stoppage. We’ll wrap up with a rally, 2:30 p.m. ET at Forbes on Fifth, 24 5th Avenue, New York City. Come join us!
#FedUpWithForbes
Thank you
@axios
for reporting on the alarming pay disparities and racial inequality in our newsroom, which we discovered when compiling a pay equity study about our members (more on that soon)
SCOOP: Forbes union's 61 full-time white members make $94,360 on average, almost $15,000 more than its eight Black members and $7,000 more than its 10 Asian members, according to a study obtained by Axios.
.
@Forbes
reports that US employees won’t leave a job for a salary less than $78k. But 18% of our unit makes under than $64k, less than the salary floors at
@si_union
,
@InsiderUnion
and
@NYTimesGuild
. Why won’t Forbes practice what it preaches?
Attendees at today’s Forbes 30 Under 30 summit in Cleveland were greeted with these flyers! What a wonderful start to the event. We hope
@Mike_Federle
and
@RandallLane
—who still haven’t attended a single bargaining session—have a great time!
A supermajority of us have already made our decision, and this will unnecessarily stall our mission to make Forbes a more inclusive and equitable place to work.
‼️ The Forbes Union has published the full results of our Pay Equity Study, which revealed alarming disparities in compensation for women and people of color in our newsroom ‼️
Read the full report here:
Find the most glaring findings below ⬇️
Our CEO
@Mike_Federle
and Chief Content Officer
@RandallLane
are missing from the bargaining table! They haven’t attended a single session. So this weekend, we went to their hometowns to put up fliers to find them 👀🔎🔦
Today marks two years since our first bargaining session. In that time, we’ve made slow but steady progress—all thanks to our dedicated members who are up against a company which has shown no desire to negotiate with us in good faith.
We thought
@Forbes
was hosting a Pay Equity event tonight, even though women in the newsroom make less than men. But it looks like event details have been scrubbed from the website! We sure hope this isn’t related to us asking some speakers to drop out!
We knew this was a possibility when we took action. And while this sacrifice is well worth it to secure a a fair contract, not all of our members can afford it. Please donate to our GoFundMe to help struggling staffers
If Forbes offers a reasonable solution to reward our unit members for the extra work they put in during weeks like this, we’ll be ready and willing to do what’s needed. But we won’t do it for free.
THE CALL IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE. Forbes prides itself on being a leading business publication—even though it doesn’t practice what it preaches. Nearly 20% of our unit makes less than $64,000 a year, less than the salary floor at competing organizations
We’re asking
@mPinoe
and
@S10Bird
to pull out of Forbes’ Equal Pay Day forum tomorrow.
We informed the company of gender pay inequity at last year’s event, and produced a full study in July. Instead of fixing the problem, management has called us liars.
Our
#ForbesUnion
members spoke with
@CNN
to announce the news! More than 80% of our editorial staff have signed their union cards with the
@nyguild
✊ Read the article by
@kerrymflynn
here:
Back in May, we, the journalists, reporters, editors, designers, videographers and social media editors of Forbes, went public as
#ForbesUnion
in order to secure a sustainable future for our newsroom.
Here’s how YOU can support union members in our
#FedUpWithForbes
walkout:
🚨Don’t cross the digital pickout line!
🚨Sign this letter to management!
🚨Join us today in posting flyers in NYC and anywhere Forbes Union members live!
We know a union is the best way for our newsroom to build its voice. Everything we are demanding is already in line with Forbes’ values: integrity, innovation and respect. The real risk to Forbes would be failing to evolve and meet the needs of its workforce.
We were supposed to have a bargaining session this afternoon. That meeting was abruptly rejected in a last-minute email from Forbes’ legal counsel, after we requested the company provide a remote attendance option for an upcoming in-person session
Roughly a century ago, B.C. Forbes, who founded Forbes Magazine just before the 1918 pandemic, wrote: “It is when things go hardest, when life becomes most trying, that there is the greatest need for having a fixed goal.” In 2021, we find ourselves at another inflection point.
A wage structure with fair minimum salaries for every position and a salary floor of $64,000. Guaranteed 3% yearly raises. The average employee will see a raise of 13% by this April, with some of our most underpaid members getting bumps of 30, 40, even 66%.
MORE IN '24: (1 of 2) Today wraps up
@forbesunion
's three-day walkout and caps off seven coordinated days of worker actions. Nearly 9 percent of our local -- the largest in
@newsguild
with nearly 7,000 members -- walked off the job
Forbes:
- Calls us liars for publishing a study about pay disparities in the newsroom based on data they gave us
- Tries to hold a paid event about Pay Equity
- Postpones said event after we contact speakers letting them know the truth
- Makes the racial pay gap WORSE
🙃
What happened
@Forbes
? The web page for tonight’s Equal Pay Day Forum is down. Did panelists drop out? Is the event canceled? Are you finally going to make pay equity a priority in our newsroom?
We’re asking
@mPinoe
and
@S10Bird
to pull out of Forbes’ Equal Pay Day forum tomorrow.
We informed the company of gender pay inequity at last year’s event, and produced a full study in July. Instead of fixing the problem, management has called us liars.
🚨🚨BAD BARGAINING BEHAVIOR🚨🚨
Today is our first session since July. For three months, union members demanded a response to our editorial integrity proposal—which we put on table in March 2022.
But Forbes came to today’s meeting without a counter.
This is unacceptable.
SUCCESS!
@Forbes
management agreed to meet remotely for our next bargaining session.
We’re looking forward to discussing our first 15 proposals and presenting another batch.
Collective action gets results.
The
#ForbesUnion
is honored to read VP's words in our magazine and her take on how to create a stronger economy and working class. We believe unions are a great way. Can we count on your support
@VP
?
To be competitive and come out the pandemic stronger than before, we must reimagine economic opportunity. I wrote about how we can broaden access to capital and remove barriers to success so every American entrepreneur can launch and grow an enterprise.
Today, our bargaining committee and over 40 of our members were ready to begin expedited bargaining with
@TIME
management.
@TIME
management refused to meet with us.
Why are they afraid to face their employees?
Hi good morning hello! It’s been 73 days since Forbes management last met with our union!
Wouldn’t today be a great day to agree on conditions and dates for our next bargaining sessions?
🧵 1/4:
Happy Labor Day to all the members of the Forbes Union, the
@nyguild
,
@CWAUnion
and all others fighting for protections and better treatment and conditions, sending solidarity to workers everywhere ✊ ✊ ✊
We want our publication to outlive us, as it has past generations of incredible journalists who covered trailblazers. This goal requires us to take action, especially at a time when journalism is struggling across the country.
On the 2nd day of the
@forbesunion
Walk Out, we turn to the archives. B.C.
@Forbes
, the magazine’s founder, was supportive of workers’ rights and representation. A history lesson 🧵:
While a supermajority of the Forbes Union walked off the job for three days, chief content officer
@RandallLane
was on a skip trip in the Alps.
Nearly one in five members make less than $64,000.
#FedUpWithForbes
Hey
@mPinoe
! We know how much pay equity means to you. But did you know Forbes pays female newsroom staff $10K+ less than men in similar roles?
You’re set to speak at Forbes’ hypocritical Equal Pay Day forum tomorrow. We ask that you don’t cross the picket line, and pull out
Our unit was frustrated today when Forbes’ bargaining representatives sent a newsroom-wide Slack in which they refused—again—to offer a remote attendance option for in-person bargaining sessions, and accused members of spreading “misstatements and half-truths” about bargaining.
We were supposed to have a bargaining session this afternoon. That meeting was abruptly rejected in a last-minute email from Forbes’ legal counsel, after we requested the company provide a remote attendance option for an upcoming in-person session
Throughout the day we’ll be sharing testimonials from our unit about why we all think this fight for a fair contract is so important. 🍿👀
@chloesorvino
is up first!
.
@Forbes
has had two years to earnestly engage with us in contract talks. We won’t come back to work until Tuesday, unless management agrees the Guild’s proposals on:
🚨Remote Work
🚨Temporary Workers
🚨Editorial Integrity
🚨Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
#FedUpWithForbes
Nearly two-thirds of our members who have gone without a raise since July 2021 are women, and women who did get raises received an average of $5,000 less than their male colleagues.