The Lab and Operations staff at Reviewed, part of the USA Today Network, voted unanimously yesterday to be represented by the Boston Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA Local 31245. The Reviewed Lab and Operations Workers Union consists of the full-time laboratory testing team and the building operations and logistics workers at Reviewed’s Cambridge, MA offices.
The division of the Reviewed Workers’ Union into two separate units was the product of an anti-union campaign conducted by management aimed at protracting the unit certification process and undermining the unity of their workers. The unanimous victory today, and landslide victory of the Reviewed Editorial Workers Union last week, demonstrates that those efforts have failed, and that Reviewed’s staff will continue to stand united, even in the face of voter challenges, targeted restructuring, and a series of dubiously legal mid-election captive audience meetings which prompted the workers to file an unfair labor practice charge against Gannett.
“It has been a long road to get here,” said lab manager and eleven-year Reviewed employee Jon Chan, “but seeing the election results today made it all worth it. This unanimous outcome is proof that our interest in each other’s wellbeing at work is more powerful than any corporate interest in short-term profit.”
Reviewed’s lab and operations workers include lab managers, test technicians, operations and logistics coordinators, who contribute to product testing, shipping and receiving, and support the editorial staff across divisions. The Reviewed Union’s organizing effort went public with an NLRB election petition in December, 2022, and the separate Lab and Operations unit petition was filed a few weeks later.
The announcement of their union effort was accompanied by a mission statement calling attention to a number of demands shared by members of Reviewed’s staff, from just-cause for terminations to the redress of current substandard wages and more, issues they blame for the high employee turnover Reviewed saw in 2021-22.
Beckett Dubay, a product test technician, said, “I’m so excited to see, through the results of the election, that my coworkers and I are overwhelmingly committed to making Reviewed the best possible place to work. The costs of living continue to increase, and I’ve heard so many stories from colleagues who haven’t received fair raises or COLAs that could help account for that. I worry about being priced out of living in the Boston area, where our office is located. None of us can do our best work when we are struggling to get by, so I’m looking forward to working with my coworkers to bargain a fair contract with Gannett.”
The Reviewed Lab and Operations Workers Union joins 48 other unionized Gannett shops around the country ready to fight for a fair and equitable contract for Reviewed and for every Gannett shop.