More than 400 union employees at 29 Hearst Magazine publications including Cosmopolitan, Elle, Esquire, Harper’s Bazaar and Good Housekeeping are ready to hit the picket lines if the Writers Guild of America East and the company fail to agree on a “fair contract” renewal by Friday, Feb. 13.
The WGAE Council said it authorized a strike for the 410-member Hearst Magazines unit should “management fail to reach a fair contract” on Friday, the last scheduled day of bargaining. The union has engaged in more than two months of negotiations with Hearst Magazine, during which the guild agreed to continue talks past the previous contract’s Jan. 31, 2026, expiration date. According to WGA East, the company’s management “failed to meet the workers’ reasonable demands for job protections and sustainable careers during a dire time in journalism. Management has refused to bargain on reasonable in-office expectations and offered zero protections against AI.”
A Hearst Magazines spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
More than 85% of Hearst Magazines Union members signed a strike pledge, according to WGA East. In addition, more than 2,400 union members and supporters of the Hearst Magazines Union have written letters to management urging them to agree to a fair contract for WGAE members that “addresses their reasonable demands with meaningful protections.”
If a strike is called, WGA East will issue a directive to its members to immediately stop any current, new or future bargaining unit work at Hearst Magazines for the duration of the strike. The strike authorization vote follows Hearst Magazines Union’s Feb. 3 walkout and rallies at Hearst Tower in New York City and at Hearst offices in L.A., Easton, Pa., Ann Arbor, Mich., and Birmingham, Ala.
The WGA East-affiliated Hearst Magazines Union, established in 2019, includes workers at the following publications: Autoweek, Best Products, Bicycling, Car and Driver, Cosmopolitan, Country Living, Delish, Elle, Elle Decor, Esquire, Food Network Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazaar, HGTV Magazine, Hot Rod, House Beautiful, Men’s Health, MotorTrend, Oprah Daily, The Pioneer Woman, Popular Mechanics, Prevention, Road & Track, Runner’s World, Seventeen, Town & Country, Veranda, Woman’s Day and Women’s Health.
In addition to Hearst Magazines, the WGA East’s Online Media Sector reps employees at companies including Bustle Digital Group, Civic News Group, Committee to Protect Journalists, Fast Company and Inc., Financial Times Specialist, Future PLC, Gizmodo Media USA, Jalopnik at Static Media, HuffPost, Jewish Currents, NowThis, Onion Inc., Salon, Slate, Talking Points Memo, The Intercept, The Root, Vox Media and Vice.
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