A union representing employees of ActBlue, the nonprofit software firm which enables Democratic candidates and entities to fundraise, asserted on Monday that the company is falling short of “progressive values” as several of their members were affected by recent layoffs.
ActBlue dismissed 17% of staff members, the majority of whom were in nontechnical roles, and offered the departing employees eight weeks of pay and benefits. ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones, who started in her position earlier this year, said in a statement that the headcount reduction will help the company serve users “as sustainably and effectively as possible during the 2024 cycle and beyond” as executives seek to control costs.
ActBlue Union, one of the two collective bargaining entities under which the company’s employees are organized, balked at the dismissals in a statement on social media. “Layoffs unfairly punish union employees who are both not responsible for the current financial difficulties,” the group said. “We are disappointed in the mismanagement that has gotten us here.”
The statement from ActBlue Union noted that 32 of the 54 dismissed employees were members of their organization. They blamed leadership for neglecting to take “pay cuts or stipend freezes,” claiming they prioritized “executive profit over rank and file workers’ livelihoods,” meaning that ActBlue is not living up to its own “progressive ideals.”
ActBlue, which does not endorse individual candidates, enabled donors to make a combined $3.5 billion in campaign contributions during the 2022 midterm elections. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Joe Biden used the ActBlue platform to facilitate donations amid their respective runs for the White House in 2016 and 2020.
ActBlue responded to the accusations in a statement affirming that the company has a “deep respect for unions,” including the two unions at ActBlue, and remains “committed to working with them on these changes in a productive manner.”
Several other companies in the technology and media sectors have decreased headcounts in recent months to reduce costs and respond to the current economic tumult. NPR recently canceled four podcasts amid its payroll reductions, while employees of the show “Louder Than A Riot” similarly insinuated that executives were failing to embrace their desire to protect racial minorities and “queer” voices.
Employees at large technology companies have not been immune from the layoffs: Amazon has dismissed more than 27,000 employees in moves to become more efficient, while Meta dismissed 10,000 employees and ceased efforts to fill 5,000 available positions after decreasing its headcount by more than 11,000 workers earlier this year. More than 130,000 workers have been laid off from technology firms so far in 2023, according to a report from Crunchbase, even after companies nixed about 93,000 positions last year.
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Beyond the technology and media sectors, other industries have faced pressure from unions as they navigate an economy characterized by persistent inflation, supply chain bottlenecks, and labor shortages.