A.V. Club Staffers Quit After Management Demands They Move from Chicago to L.A. Without Cost-of-Living Raise

A union representing staff writers at the A.V. Club called the owner of the entertainment site’s parent company “cruel” after employees were reportedly asked to move to Los Angeles from Chicago without a cost-of-living increase.

G/O Media, which owns the A.V. Club, the Onion, Jezebel, and a number of other blogs asked employees for the site to relocate to Los Angeles so they can be closer to the industry they cover.

According to the Onion Union, G/O media asked long-serving staffers to uproot with little notice, and to do so without being compensated for the extra cost of living in Tinseltown.

UPDATE: The seven A.V. Club workers in Chicago have decided to take their union-contract-protected severances rather than move to L.A. without a cost-of-living adjustment. A statement from the union (1/X): pic.twitter.com/IOUwuR0TWn

— Onion Inc Union (@OnionIncUnion) January 18, 2022

In a viral Twitter statement on Tuesday, the union went off:

Early last month, the seven Chicago-based employees of The A.V. Club were informed by G/O Media they were being “invited” to either relocate to Los Angeles or lose their jobs. The employees were offered no increase in their salaries to compensate for the higher cost of living in L.A. They were given until January 15 (for those expected to move by March) and March 2 (for those expected to move by May) to decide. G/O Media refused to negotiate over the terms of the relocation or severance, except to allow departing employees to purchase their company laptops at a depreciated value. G/O also posted three of the employees’ jobs before the January 15 deadline.

The Onion Union, which represents employees at G/O Media’s other popular brands, reported the Midwest staffers will not being moving to L.A., and instead will take “union-contract-protected severances.”

The union said some staffers were willing and excited to move, but called out the company for expecting them to move without pay raises, which it called “not reasonable.”

The union concluded in its statement that the relocation invitation was empty:

It’s clear G/O’s “invitation” was never meant to be accepted. In a time when employers have become increasingly flexible about where their employees live and work, G/O Media forcing workers to relocate to one of the most expensive cities in the world without proper compensation—and during one of the pandemic’s worst surges—is mind-boggling at best; at worst, it is shortsighted and cruel.

The Los Angeles Times reported earlier this week that one of the Chicago employees who was invited to move was actually writing an article for the A.V. Club when she discovered her own job was posted online — in California.

“At first I was like, ‘Is this a mistake?’” said A.V. Club senior writer Katie Rife. “That is something that I have never experienced in my professional career … and I gotta say it was pretty disheartening.”

G/O Media spokesman Mark Neschis said in a statement, “This relocation will bring the A.V. Club closer to the industry it covers, allowing the site to grow its entertainment relationships while providing more access to important events and talent.”