TRUST THE WORKERS: Editorial staff at Lifehacker, Mashable, and PCMag to rally in protest of company’s games on wages, AI

NEW YORK –  For months, unionized journalists at Lifehacker, Mashable, and PCMag have asked for wages that keep up with inflation and transparency on how AI would be used in their work.

Management at parent company Ziff Davis implied that the company would agree to the Guild’s proposal to provide raises retroactive to April 1, 2024, when the previous contract expired, but the company then refused retro pay at the bargaining table. Management also claims to align on the value of transparency, but they won’t agree on a notice period to share their plans for AI implementation. 

There’s a clear disconnect between the “just trust us” mentality and the reality of the company’s counters at the table. The journalists, who are represented by the Ziff Davis Creators Guild, a unit of the NewsGuild of New York, will hold a rally at 2 p.m. today at company headquarters in NYC to let management know that trust is earned and that their members’ voices will be heard. 

The 60-member Ziff Davis Creators Guild has been working under an expired contract since April 1. 

“We want management to live up to their commitment to rigorous journalism,” said Anna Lovine, unit chair of the Ziff Davis Creators Guild. “The best way to do that is stop giving us empty ‘trust us’ responses and really move on these important issues in our work, especially AI.”