© Do You Still Have A Job At BuzzFeed? You got: You’re being laid off. As you may know, the company is going through some organizational changes and your position no longer exists. Thank you for your contributions to the company. You may re-apply to the position of “freelancer” at your earliest convenience. Union, job security, and other old-fashioned concepts Bex Peterson Editor-in-Chief I was a grim week to be an aspiring journalist on Twitter. It seemed like nearly all the writers I follow were laid off or knew someone who was laid off. Aside from the great BuzzFeed purge there have also been layoffs at several other media outlets such as the Huffington Post and Into (a queer-centred digital magazine launched by Grindr which was shut down two weeks ago). Colleagues on Twitter and in my Facebook groups posted message after message saying they were out of work and searching for freelance gigs. As someone with hopes to more fully immerse myself in journalism and content creation once my days with the Other Press are over, it’s been a bitter taste of what my future Room 1020 - 700 Royal Ave. Douglas College New Westminster, BC, V3L 5B2 604-525-3542 Bex Peterson Editor-in-Chief M editor@theotherpress.ca James Moore Layout Manager M layout@theotherpress.ca Katie Czenczek News Editor © news@theotherpress.ca Jess Berget Opinions Editor M opinions@theotherpress.ca Greg Waldock Web Editor © webeditor@theotherpress.ca Caroline Ho Assistant Editor M assistant@theotherpress.ca D jo }e@ — » h might hold. The circumstances of these layoffs are questionable to say the least. BuzzFeed in particular has been hit with criticism after deciding not to pay out laid-off employees accrued paid time off (PTO), a practice that is so standard as to be expected in cases of lay-offs (and is required by law in California). BuzzFeed is not a unionized company; in fact, chief exec Jonah Peretti discouraged his employees from forming a union by allegedly telling employees that he’s “not anti-union [...] but doesn’t think unionization is right for BuzzFeed.” Unions are becoming something of a rare concept these days, as is job security. A lot of our workforce is falling into the “gig economy” category, especially among younger people looking to subsidize their more traditional paycheques with @ theotherpress.ca © editor@theotherpress.ca ¥ © /theotherpress f/douglasotherpress Lauren Kelly Graphics Manager © graphics@theotherpress.ca Sonam Kaloti Arts Editor M arts@theotherpress.ca Brittney MacDonald Life & Style Editor M lifeandstyle@theotherpress.ca Isabelle Orr Entertainment Editor © humour@theotherpress.ca Jacey Gibb Distribution Manager Meghan Lin Production Assistant @ ») © ia p | flexible work. There’s no healthcare plan for your SkipTheDishes delivery driver, no retirement package for the freelance writer sending pitches off to any online publication that will take their piece. It works out well for the people at the top of the pyramid—all the benefits of a workforce, without having to pay out benefits. Forming a union these days is tough. Amazon has become virtually synonymous with the concept of union-busting, as have some of the more Silicon Valley- style companies that have risen up over the years. Organized action is a scary thought to people who currently hold all the power. People have credited Nancy Pelosi's pressuring of Donald Trump for ending the disastrous US government shutdown this past month, but it’s likely Angela Ho Business Manager Cara Seccafien Illustrator Tania Arora Staff Reporter Naomi Ambrose Staff Writer Roshni Riar Staff Writer Billy Bui Staff Photographer Angela Ho Business Manager Jerrison Oracion Senior Columnist Cover layout by Lauren Kelly ene CRP lr Image via 'Do You Still Have A Job At BuzzFeed?' quiz on Buzzfeed.com that the organized “sickouts” and threats of strike action from overworked and unpaid aviation workers had a large impact on the administration’s decision as well, if not more so. It’s not always easy to promote organized action in the workplace. Things like collective bargaining and union regulations tend to make the higher-ups twitchy, and nervous CEOs tend to fire people. But if these layoffs have taught us anything, it’s that the importance of a union can't be understated. The more we call for unionization, the safer unionizing will be for all of us. Until next issue, Bex Peterson Bex Peterson The Other Press has been Douglas College’s student newspaper since 1976. Since 1978 we have been an autonomous publication, independent of the student union. We are a registered society under the Society Act of British Columbia, governed by an eight-person board of directors appointed by our staff. Our head office is located in the New Westminster campus. The Other Press is published weekly during the fall and winter semesters, and monthly during the summer. We receive our funding from a student levy collected through tutition fees every semester at registration, and from local and national advertising revenue. The Other Press is a member of the Canadian University Press (CUP), a syndicate of student newspapers that includes papers from all across Canada. 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