One day after a group of more than 200 employees at Sesame Workshop – a nonprofit group that produces the long-running children’s show “Sesame Street” – announced that they planned to form a union, the nonprofit reportedly announced layoffs.
“Unfortunately, Sesame Workshop is not immune to the current economic challenges inherent to the drastically changing media landscape,” said a message apparently from Sherrie Westin, president and CEO of Sesame Workshop, shared by Semafor editor Max Tani on X this Wednesday. “Combined with the end of our current distribution deal and the policy changes affecting our federal funding, we’re confronted with a perfect storm. These factors, among others have left us with a significant budget gap that we must solve for as we head into the next fiscal year.”
A day before, a press release from the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) announced that employees at Sesame Workshop were seeking to unionize with OPEIU Local 153. Among the more than 200 employees referenced by OPEIU were early childhood education experts, fundraisers, facilities staff, producers and paralegals. They wanted to unionize to “ensure that employees can participate in decisions that impact them, including those related to job security and fair pay,” said the union.
“In the coming weeks, employees look forward to sitting down with Sesame Workshop management to begin negotiating a first contract,” said the press release.
“Sesame Street” first aired in 1969, according to Britannica. Back then, it aired on the National Educational Television network, which then became the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in 1970. Since its debut, the show has aired continually and it is now one of the longest-running shows in American history. It has won over 100 Emmy awards and it is watched by children all over the world.
“In 2016 the show began running all of its new episodes on the cable channel HBO, with PBS getting the rights to air them nine months later,” Britannica added.
As news of the planned unionizing and layoffs came out this week, the show’s future is in limbo, The Hollywood Reporter said. Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of HBO, opted last year not to renew its deal with Sesame Workshop for new episodes and the nonprofit now has to find a new home for the show on either TV or a streaming service.
“Without a distribution deal in place, the finances of the company are likely to be challenged, especially with production on the upcoming season 56 still set to begin next month,” said The Hollywood Reporter.
A spokesperson for Sesame Workshop told the outlet that production of the new season is still set to begin in April and the nonprofit remains “as committed as ever to bringing Sesame Street to children and families for decades to come.”
“Given that our largest single expense is people and benefits, we must downsize significantly and make what we hope will be temporary changes to our benefits and bonus program,” said the letter to staff, also cited by NPR. “These changes are necessary to ensure that the Workshop is poised to continue to deliver on its mission for years to come, but that does not make the human impact of these reductions any less painful.”