The Daily Kos Guild (DKG) and management (DKM) have reached a voluntary buyout package agreement. Our first step in negotiating cost-saving measures is to offer buyouts to Guild members who are willing and able to accept them, ostensibly reducing the need for involuntary layoffs. Our second step is negotiating other cost-saving measures after the complete buyout process.
These buyouts are being presented as voluntary, and were designed by DKG to be wholly voluntary. However, in effect, they are not—as long as DKM maintains the right to reject buyout requests at will. Denying buyout offers from employees willing to make the space for their colleagues to retain their positions not only impacts those who will eventually be laid off, and those who will voluntarily remain with Daily Kos but also impacts those who have mentally, emotionally, and financially prepared to depart from Daily Kos voluntarily.
RELATED STORY: Daily Kos Guild and Daily Kos Management agree on terms of a voluntary buyout package
Guild members who request buyouts are ready to move on to other opportunities and are in a financial position that enables them to create space for others who cannot afford to lose a salary and health care at this time.
Because our members are close, and because we fight for one another, we have all become acquainted with each other’s struggles—we all know that some people on staff have chronic illnesses, are sole earners, support extended families, are under mountains of student loan debt, and carry other burdens that would make being unemployed financially impossible and psychologically unsustainable.
For these reasons, we ask that the company accept the buyout requests presented to them. While we understand that DKG agreed to allow DKM to reject any buyout request, and are grateful that DKM agreed to provide rationales for those rejections, we hope management will consider that we—as a union and as individuals—are not making these decisions lightly. Those who want to leave should have their requests honored.
A majority of us voted to accept the company’s terms, believing DKM would do the right thing. And we know that any departure will necessarily leave some work searching for a worker. Suppose one of the departures of an employee who has requested a voluntary buyout creates an operational gap. In that case, we ask that Daily Kos consider filling that role with one of our remaining employees—many of us can step into new roles or be trained to fulfill different operational needs. This strategy would retain the highest number of employees who want to continue making Daily Kos their home and could encourage skill-building for these employees, which we believe will deepen their commitment to Daily Kos. Training existing staff costs less than hiring and training new employees. Ours is a faster solution that provides a sense of security for those who hope to stay with us at Daily Kos while recognizing the autonomy of our members who choose to leave.
As we have asked all along and continue to ask: Please, Daily Kos, act with your heart and not just your wallet.
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DKG represents 54 Daily Kos staff members and another 6 "disputed" positions, accounting for 68% of Daily Kos' total workforce. DKG is a Pacific Media Workers Guild member, a local of the NewsGuild/Communication Workers of America, and was certified as the bargaining unit of represented staff in 2022.
As a member of The NewsGuild/Communication Workers of America, we move in solidarity with all our union colleagues across the country and the larger worker rights movement.