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Armando Torres

@mandotorres.bsky.social

1046 Followers

99 Following

Supervising Syndication Editor @ IGN

  2. ignunion.bsky.social profile picture

    IGN Union @ignunion.bsky.social

    Ziff Davis and IGN routinely decide that work done by our laid off colleagues is not important. But inevitably, that crucial work falls onto those who remain.

    Not this time. Not anymore.

    FROM NOW UNTIL FEBRUARY 13TH IGN CREATORS GUILD IS GOING TO... DO OUR JOB! OVER THE LAST SEVERAL YEARS, IGN MANAGEMENT HAS GOTTEN AWAY WITH LAYING OFF OUR COWORKERS OVER AND OVER. MEANWHILE, MANY OF OUR COLLEAGUES HAVE LEFT THE COMPANY IN NO SMALL PART DUE TO BUYOUTS, OVERWORK, AND FEELING UNSUPPORTED, EACH TIME, THE COMPANY HAS REFUSED TO BACKFILL MANY ESSENTIAL ROLES, CLAIMING WE'RE ON A HIRING FREEZE, IT'S NOT IN THE BUDGET, OR THAT WE'RE GOING TO DO LESS WORK THIS TIME. AS A RESULT, IGNCG MEMBERS HAVE BEEN FORCED TO TAKE ON MORE OF THEIR FORMER COLLEAGUES' WORKLOADS. MANY OF US NOW WORK LONGER HOURS THAN WE USED TO. A LOT OF US RARELY TAKE LUNCH BREAKS. SOME OF US DO NOT TAKE ADEQUATE TIME OFF DUE TO THERE BEING NO ONE TO PICK UP THE SLACK. OTHERS OF US ARE STUCK DOING WORK WE WERE NEVER HIRED TO DO IN THE FIRST PLACE. UP TO THIS POINT, WE'VE ALL ACCEPTED THIS AS NORMAL, BECAUSE WE CARE DEEPLY ABOUT IGN AND THE WORK WE DO. BUT WITH SO MANY OF US STRUGGLING MORE AND MORE AS EACH NEW WAVE OF OUR COWORKERS ARE DEPRIVED OF A LIVELIHOOD, THIS CYCLE CAN'T CONTINUE. MANAGEMENT IS UNWILLING TO STOP IT, SO IT FALLS TO US. WITH THE LAYOFFS OF EIGHT OF OUR COWORKERS, IGNCG HAS NEGOTIATED A SIX-MONTH RECALL LIST. WHAT THAT MEANS IS THAT, FOR THE NEXT SIX MONTHS, IF IGN WANTS TO FILL ANY OF THOSE ELIMINATED ROLES AGAIN, THEY MUST REHIRE OUR LAID-OFF COLLEAGUES. WE WANT THEM TO HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET THEIR JOBS BACK IF THEY WANT THEM, AND IF NOT, WE WANT THOSE ROLES BACKFILLED TO EASE THE BURDEN ON THE REST OF US. SO STARTING TODAY, LENCE MEMBERS ARE COMMITTING TO DO OUR JOBS. NO MORE, NO LESS. WELL SHOW UP TO WORK ON TIME AND LEAVE ON TIME. WE'RE TAKING ALL OF OUR LUNCH TIME, EVERY DAY. IF WE WORK LATE, WE WILL FIRMLY ASK FOR OUR RIGHTFULLY EARNED COMP TIME. AND IF IGN WANTS OUR LAID-OFF COWORKERS' WORK TO GET DONE, THEY'LL HAVE TO REHIRE THEM TO DO IT INSTEAD OF FOISTING IT UPON US. HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT IGNCG IN ALL THIS? SHARE THIS POST, AND TELL IGN MANAGEMENT THAT Y…
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    Amelia Emberwing @thatwitchmia.bsky.social

    Guess it’s my turn to say that I was laid off at IGN. Real crummy birthday gift, to be honest, but my union fought like hell on my behalf and people came out of the woodwork to support me. Couldn’t be more moved by my colleagues & friends, and am devastated to lose a job and community I love. (1/3)

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    IGN Union @ignunion.bsky.social

    Today, IGN laid off eight extremely valuable members of our union and workforce via directive from our parent company, Ziff Davis. This, after two incredibly successful live events IGN Live and SDCC, and yet another corporate acquisition.

    Please take a moment to read and share our full statement:

    Today, IGN Entertainment announced that it would be laying off eight members of the IGN Creators Guild. This is 12% of our bargaining unit, and comes just days after our sister union, the Ziff Davis Creators Guild, underwent similar layoffs impacting 15% of their members. It also comes just months after our multibillion-dollar parent company, Ziff Davis, instituted a company-wide buyout that shrunk our unit numbers, with the express intent of avoiding future layoffs. And it comes just a little over one year after three of our members were laid off almost immediately after our union went public. The company has told us that the reason for this layoff stems from a Ziff Davis-mandate to cut costs despite several quarters in a row of year-over-year revenue increases, to which IGN Entertainment responded by coming for our members' jobs. This is perplexing to us, as we are told again and again that IGN Entertainment has had a tremendously successful year thus far thanks to their hard work. In just the last few months, our members have been absolutely essential to major events and livestreams, including San Diego ComicCon, Summer of Gaming, and IGN Live. Every single person impacted today was involved in and critical to the success of those events. Meanwhile, IGN Entertainment continues to spend money on costly acquisitions, only to turn around and gut those companies in the same way it is cutting away at IGN itself. For instance, last year, it acquired Gamer Network, and almost immediately laid off a number of staff critical to making those sites successful. The company has not responded to the union's questions about whether its budget for future acquisitions is being reconsidered as a cost-saving measure alongside these other apparently necessary personnel cuts. At a time when it is more necessary than ever to support its creators, IGN Entertainment is choosing to eliminate the individuals who ensure IGN remains competitive as generative AIthreatens our reach. We have been told that expert opinion pieces, original interviews, and work that leverages our staff's deep knowledge of gaming, tech, and entertainment are all essential to combating AI summarization and regurgitation of our work. Management has responded by cutting several individuals who do that exact work, as well as others whose job it is to ensure that these written and video pieces are published in a speedy manner — another component of combating AI we're told is critical. This continued cycle of repeated, aggressive cuts to our staff and being asked to do more with less, only for management to continue to spend on new business it isn't interested in sustaining cannot continue. We will enforce our interim agreement that guarantees better severance and other protections to laid off members, as well as demand additional support for those impacted. We will continue to bargain over our first contract with the aim of enshrining even better protections against further layoffs, working conditions continuously degraded by understaffing, and the encroachment of generative AI. And we won't stop fighting to ensure IGN remains the best destination for trustworthy, original, exciting, and creative work covering video games, entertainment, and tech. While IGN Entertainment management may not value us, we value one another and the incredible work we can do together. Behind the articles, videos, social posts, playlists, and maps of IGN are human beings, not just numbers on a spreadsheet to be pushed around when some number at the top isn't big enough. Without us, there is no IGN.
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    IGN Union @ignunion.bsky.social

    Our little union is getting a bit bigger!

    Today, we proposed the addition of our product, engineering, and Humble Bundle folks into our unit.

    Join us in welcoming our peers and asking IGN Entertainment Inc. management to voluntarily recognize their addition into our union!

    Our NEW mission statement (we're growing). The image also features the IGNCG logo with rainbow coloration on dark blue textured background. Logo created by Julia Rago. The IGNCG Mission statement exceeds the character limit of bsky's alt text. The first several paragraphs read: “IGN has a lot going on” might be the understatement of the century. At any given time, there are countless irons in countless fires as our teams continue to deliver multi-award winning original coverage of games, film and television, technology and more in both written and video spaces. This fact, as well as the awards, the prestige, and the hundreds of millions of monthly visitors, none of it exists without IGN’s incomparable staff. Together, we have navigated a pandemic, multiple entertainment strikes, massive live events seasons, surprising trailer leaks, and whatever other curveballs the multiple industries that we cover have thrown at us. Through it all we have delivered best-in-class articles, videos, guides, live-events, and more, banding together to ensure IGN remains a top player across industries. Now the IGN creative teams are banding together once more, this time to form the IGN Creators Guild. We are unionizing with the News Guild alongside our colleagues at the Ziff Davis Creators Guild, as well as other leaders in the online media space like the L.A. Times, The New Yorker, Vice, and Time. Of our many goals, we first and foremost want to see IGN grow and thrive as digital media continues to become more and more tumultuous. We have been an institution for over 25 years, and the creators of IGN want to see it continue for 25 more and beyond. But to do so, we need support. We need fair and competitive pay for all, including those who are asked to live and work in some of the most expensive cities in the United States; affordable health insurance; and better diversity, equity, and inclusion across the board. We need protection against layoffs amid a hectic media landscape, guarantees of reasonable compensation when those layoffs cannot be avoided, as well as protections against generative AI and similar technologies.
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