MSNBC Layoffs Set to Impact 99 Union Staffers
As MSNBC continues to make major structural changes to its lineup, members of the union representing the cable network’s writers and producers say that 99 of their number are slated for cuts.
The Writers Guild of America East’s bargaining unit at MSNBC decried the “mass layoffs” on “at least nine different shows” in a statement on Tuesday. According to the guild, those shows include The ReidOut, Alex Wagner Tonight, The Weekend, Andrea Mitchell Reports, Ayman Mohyeldin Reports, Weekends with Jonathan Capehart, The Katie Phang Show, Jose Diaz-Balart Reports and Inside with Jen Psaki. “This devastating news comes after the slow, painful trickle of announcements regarding a near-total overhaul of the network’s broadcast line-up,” the group wrote.
The bargaining unit additionally alleged that the company has told employees who have been targeted for layoffs that they can reapply for their jobs, given that roles remain open at MSNBC. It called for an immediate cessation of the cuts. “The MSNBC Union demands the Company not lay off any of the employees it has slated to be laid off but rather reassign them as needed,” the group wrote. “In the event that any employees are not retained, we demand the Company follow the layoff provisions of the collective bargaining agreement that it entered into with the Union.”
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to MSNBC for comment.
If 99 workers are indeed laid off, that would make a sizable dent in the union. As of December 2023, when the MSNBC Union’s first contract was ratified, the bargaining unit numbered nearly 300 workers. Workers first voted to unionize with the Writers Guild of America East in a National Labor Relations Board vote in 2021.
Read the full statement from the bargaining unit below.
Over the past two days, we learned that MSNBC is starting mass layoffs of 99 of our union colleagues from at least nine different shows. This devastating news comes after the slow, painful trickle of announcements regarding a near-total overhaul of the network’s broadcast line-up.
Although the Company has acknowledged that there are plenty of job openings at MSNBC, it has cruelly insisted that the workers slated for layoff must reapply for their jobs to remain employed. The MSNBC Union demands the Company not lay off any of the employees it has slated to be laid off but rather reassign them as needed. In the event that any employees are not retained, we demand the Company follow the layoff provisions of the collective bargaining agreement that it entered into with the Union.
The news of layoffs comes against the backdrop of the President of the United States making direct threats against MSNBC, among other news outlets, and at a time when it has never been more crucial to have a fully staffed newsroom to cover a democracy under attack.
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