After Buzzfeed reported that they were laying off 15% of their workforce, 220 workers, whispers spread across the company of the possibility of forming a union to combat the corporate culture. On Tuesday, this news came out into the open when a number of employees expressed their desire for Buzzfeed News to immediately recognize their union as legitimate.
Although Buzzfeed’s revenue increased by 18% over the course of 2018, this was not enough to prevent them from firing a good portion of their workforce. Their CEO, Jonah Peretti, suggested that increased revenue was not an absolute predictor of success, and as a result, they would be forced to lay off these employees.
These layoffs were influential in mobilizing company employees to begin a union. Rumors have reported that murmurs of a possible union may have begun in 2015 but were temporarily quashed when several employees were fired. As a result, after many employees realized that their livelihoods may be in significant danger, they decided to immediately begin their efforts in unionizing.
