GoKawiilis features writer with five years of experience covering the companies that shape technology and the people who use their tools.
Wikipedia is one of the last bastions of trust on the internet. But last week, volunteer editors and contributors were alarmed to hear that a small but important team of engineers at the nonprofit that supports it had been laid off. The layoffs didn’t just threaten to sever an important link between the Wikimedia Foundation and its community — they also raised concerns that the WMF was engaging in union-busting. After days of heated discussion, some Wikipedians are ready to support a strike. What that even looks like on a platform where creators mostly aren’t being paid is a different question.
On May 20th, the WMF said it was disbanding the Community Tech team, a group of five engineers and one manager who are among WMF’s paid staff. The team was a bridge between the foundation and Wikipedia’s army of volunteers. The team developed tools and features that contributors use every day: things like plagiarism detectors, dark mode, or chart and graph tools. Editors and former foundation employees describe it as an approachable group — somewhere volunteers could turn if they needed help, or to have their voice heard.
Even so, this system could get backlogged. The WMF acknowledged that the process of responding to community requests for features and tools was not working perfectly, and said that having a centralized team was “leading to frequent bottlenecks and delays.” So going forward, that work would be distributed among multiple teams instead of through a centralized Community Tech team.
“Why aren’t you backtracking like hell right now?”
The reaction from the community was immediate and negative. Longtime contributors demanded the reinstatement of team and changes to the way the wishlist, a log of new features and tools the community requests, was run. Others suspected an ulterior motive. In recent months, Wikimedia staff had announced their intent to unionize, and some suggested the foundation was specifically laying off staff involved in the union drive. The breakup of the Community Tech team was also not the first instance of shocking, sudden departures. The union Wiki Workers United, which has not yet been recognized, declined a request for an interview.
Jimmy Wales, a cofounder of Wikipedia, argued with contributors on the site’s discussion pages, saying it was “time to get serious about meeting community needs,” and assuring volunteers that there would still be dedicated staff working on the wishlist. Volunteers did not find it comforting.
“If it’s not about the money, it’s not about the union, why aren’t you backtracking like hell right now?” says Hannah Clover, an editor and former Wikimedian of the Year. “Even Jimmy is trying to pass this off as somehow listening to the community, and that’s infuriating.”
In an email to The Verge, Nadee Gunasena, chief of staff at the Wikimedia Foundation, said that the restructuring was based on internal assessments dating back to September 2025. Gunasena said the restructuring will ensure that volunteer requests will be fulfilled by a variety of teams with expertise in different areas, and that it will seek to place the six Community Tech employees in other roles; if none are found, they’ll be laid off next month. Gunasena also denied that WMF has terminated any staff for union activities. If union supporters recruit enough staff to call for a vote — which hasn’t yet been requested — “we respect the rights of all eligible staff to vote, and if the majority of eligible staff vote in favor of representation, we will proceed to negotiate in good faith,” Gunasena said.
The relationship between the Wikimedia Foundation and the volunteers that maintain Wikipedia had been improving consistently, says Femke Nijsse, a volunteer contributor — until the layoffs. Now, Nijsse says, it feels like the relationship is moving in the opposite direction.
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