More than 300 employees for Vox Media staged an official walkout Thursday, hoping to shut down the site and pressure Vox Media to sign a labor contract with the Vox Media Union.

In a Thursday morning tweet, the Vox Media Union wrote that they were "not showing up to work today" because they were unable to agree on wage scales, guaranteed wages, better severance packages, and more subcontracting work. Pictures followed of empty desks in the New York Vox Media Office.



Today‘s our last scheduled day of bargaining.@voxmediainc is still apart from us on:

- competitive wage scales

- strong guaranteed raises

- better severance

- subcontracting work



We’ve decided we’re not showing up to work today until we resolve these issues. — Vox Media Union (@vox_union) June 6, 2019

The Vox Media Union has walked out today. Here’s what it looks like in the New York office. pic.twitter.com/erPp4fW1nw — Vox Media Union (@vox_union) June 6, 2019

This strike has also seen active encouragement from many senior Vox writers and an active encouragement to avoid clicking Vox social media links to drive down internet traffic. In one since-deleted tweet, senior contributor and Vox co-founder Matt Yglesias posted a screenshot of a tweet from Vox.com with instructions to "not click on scab tweets." This has backfired, leading to more traffic from those who oppose the site. He also re-tweeted a tweet from Sen. Bernie Sanders, who "[stands] in solidarity" with the workers on the strike.



I stand in solidarity with @vox_union (@WGAEast) fighting for a fair contract. https://t.co/BzJx96YOB9 — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 6, 2019

Other writers, including Vox senior politics reporter Jane Coaston, Eater Senior Producer James Barry, and others have also voiced their displeasure with the contract dispute. Both tagged Vox Media Chairman and CEO Jim Bankoff in their tweets, explaining their anger over the dispute.



.@bankoff This could mean one of two things. Either there are just four qualified black senior writers in the whole of America (which seems highly unlikely!) or offering hilariously low pay to hard-working journalists is not a terrific recruiting strategy. — Jane Coaston (@cjane87) June 5, 2019





@Bankoff I wanted to again say how proud I am of the work I've done at Eater. But I wanted to make sure you understood why @voxmediainc needs to give @vox_union a fair contract now. pic.twitter.com/UeACxRHFRF — James Barry (@JamesMBarry) June 5, 2019

I stand in solidarity with @vox_union (@WGAEast) fighting for a fair contract. https://t.co/BzJx96YOB9 — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 6, 2019



This comes after some controversy over the site after Vox correspondent Carlos Maza made a serious push against Steven Crowder from YouTube. The host of popular conservative show "Louder with Crowder" was accused by Maza of harassment. Maza claimed Crowder harassed him for being gay and Latino. Maza posted a video on Twitter with examples of Crowder's harassment. Crowder referred to Maza as a "lispy queer" or the "token gay Latino," among other things. Maza asked for YouTube to take his content down. YouTube refused to take down the content but will demonetize Crowder's account.



Since I started working at Vox, Steven Crowder has been making video after video "debunking" Strikethrough. Every single video has included repeated, overt attacks on my sexual orientation and ethnicity. Here's a sample: pic.twitter.com/UReCcQ2Elj — Carlos Maza (@gaywonk) May 31, 2019

Vox Media was originally founded as SportsBlog Inc. before rebranding to Vox Media in 2011. Vox Media currently owns six other websites including SB Nation, The Verge , and Eater, among others.