WGA East-Represented Gimlet & Parcast Employees Blast Parent Company Spotify In Wake Of Layoffs

deadline.com:

WGA East-represented writers, editors and producers at Spotify’s Gimlet and Parcast podcasts are blasting their parent company for having created “chaos instead of treating employees with the dignity and respect they deserve” when it announced on Thursday that it would cancel 11 podcasts and eliminate about 5% of its podcast employees. “Yesterday, Spotify blindsided both Gimlet Union and Parcast Union with at least 38 layoffs across their studios,” the bargaining units said in a joint statement. “Spotify has said in the press that these layoffs constitute less than 5% of people working on original podcasts.

That number is misleading. The reality is that each bargaining unit, organized with the Writers Guild of America East, has lost about 30% of its members.

These aren’t small cuts, they are massive restructurings. RELATED: Spotify Names New Heads Of Gimlet, Parcast Podcast Studios Amid Cancellations “Each shop has lost seasoned producers, writers, and editors.

Many of those laid off were longtime employees – people who helped build our studios from the ground up, and who saw them through a global pandemic.