From the moment Daily Kos management (DKM) announced layoffs on January 12, everyone on staff understood that Daily Kos was facing hard times—and that financial sacrifices needed to be made.

Sixteen employees submitted requests for a voluntary buyout, after the Daily Kos Guild (DKG) and DKM entered an agreement on February 10.

Since then, Management has chosen to treat Daily Kos staff in a cruel and unconscionable manner. Their conduct violates the spirit of any agreement, when a progressive company would have more humanely engaged its employees.

We are requesting that you contact Daily Kos President Will Rockafellow and founder Markos Moulitsas and demand that they treat these workers with respect.

After the negotiated buyout agreement on February 10 (whose terms were favorable thanks to pressure from the Guild and public support from the community), the following occurred:

• The agreement gave workers up to one week to request a voluntary buyout, but then management waited four days to communicate any buyout request procedure. The process they set up changed some terms of the agreement, and neglected to mention important legal rights workers have in a buyout process. Despite the delay, employees were told that all buyout requests must be submitted three days later by 4:00 pm.

• The agreement allowed management up to two weeks to accept or reject all buyout requests, and required them to give each good faith consideration. After 16 employees requested a buyout, management accepted eight and rejected eight within less than two hours—giving the impression that management already knew who they were planning to lay off. The Guild had previously asked for such information, to no avail.

• The agreement called for a one-week process after buyouts were accepted when the Guild and DKM would negotiate further cost-saving measures. Because management accepted & rejected all buy-out requests within two hours, DKM insisted that they would end the negotiations over additional cost-saving measures on Friday, February 24–and that any additional budgetary shortfalls would be met by DKM implementing involuntary layoffs on Monday, February 27.

• When the Guild and DKM met to discuss further cost-savings on February 22, the Guild learned—for the very first time—that the "people cost" numbers Management had provided for us to offer savings only counted salaries, and not benefits. The Guild was given inaccurate cost-saving measures when proposing voluntary buyouts, causing DKM to suddenly move the goalposts on them right before a tight deadline.

• On Saturday, February 25—two days before DKM's insisted goal of starting layoffs—a number of Daily Kos employees discovered they had been laid off with zero notice from Management. They were cut out of their email accounts, Slack access, and had their vacation PTO set to zero. This information can only mean that DKM took the administrative steps to begin layoffs on Friday, February 24, when they were still expected to be in negotiation with DKG on cost saving measures to avert layoffs.

We all understand Daily Kos must make painful cuts and some staff reductions are inevitable. That is why sixteen employees requested voluntary buyouts, to provide the necessary savings for the company and provide shelter for other staff less able to weather a layoff.

But the cruelty of Management's behavior shows that they never intended to treat the Guild as eager partners in the solution. In his response to the controversy, founder Markos Moulitsas said the following about the difference between the Daily Kos Guild and management:

Their job is to look out for themselves. That’s it. And that’s good! We voluntarily recognized the union, because that’s great!

Our job is to look out for the health of the company, take care of our staff, make sure it fulfills its mission, serve our audience, serve our community, and serve our clients. It requires a holistic, big-picture view that yes, requires painful sacrifices at times. We have to weigh every decision on how it impacts every part of what we do.

Markos, the Guild does care about the health of the company. We understand very well that without Daily Kos, none of us have jobs. And we choose to work for this company because it's a labor of love that allows us to fight every day for a more progressive America.

That is why the Guild offered cost-saving measures, and sixteen employees offered to fall on their swords by taking a voluntary buyout. We understand that this is not a pleasant process for you, but the way management has chosen to deal with us is insulting and inhumane.

We wish to be treated with respect, as we help you navigate a difficult process.

Write a letter to founder Markos Moulitsas and President Will Rockafellow: We expect better from a progressive company like Daily Kos.