For immediate release: Aug. 19, 2024
Contact: Jen Sheehan, jen@nyguid.org, 610-573-0740
After nearly two years of bargaining, unionized journalists at the LexisNexis-owned newsroom are ready to walk off the job in September
NEW YORK – Unionized editorial workers at LexisNexis-owned Law360 have put management on notice that they will walk off the job on an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike in September unless there’s real progress in rectifying the harm caused by the company’s unlawful tactics and at the bargaining table.
Law360 Union — which is represented by The NewsGuild of New York — has been preparing to strike since taking a formal authorization vote in February. Contract negotiations between the union, which represents about 250 workers, and LexisNexis began on Nov. 17, 2022. The union’s current contract expired on Dec. 31, 2022.
The union’s bargaining team has spent the months since the strike authorization vote making every effort to negotiate with management but has been met time and time again with stall tactics and disrespect. The company’s unlawful tactics, including mid-contract layoffs and unilateral changes to healthcare plans, forced the union to file ULP charges with the National Labor Relations Board and have made bargaining harder.
Violating U.S. labor law, Law360 management laid off 10% of its Guild-represented newsroom staff, announcing layoff plans hours after LexisNexis officials congratulated themselves on earning record profits in 2023. The NY Guild is challenging the layoffs at the National Labor Relations Board as a violation of the company’s obligation to maintain the status quo of the expired collective bargaining agreement.
Management is pushing to claw back many aspects of the expired contract, including eliminating guaranteed annual wage increases, doing away with a cap on healthcare costs and dramatically weakening job security protections for unionized editorial workers. Management is also refusing to increase the family leave benefit — currently at six weeks — to industry standards. Law360’s own parent company, RELX, offers 14 weeks. In addition, management is seeking to further economically maroon their workforce by seeking salary minimums that range from $11,250 to $21,000 lower than worker-proposed minimums.
Workers across the newsroom are sick and tired of the management’s constant delays and will not tolerate the disrespect they’ve encountered at the bargaining table. Their September strike deadline is ahead of one of the busiest times for Law360 staff, the start of the U.S. Supreme Court session in October.
“We have truly made every effort, but we are ready to strike,” said Hailey Konnath, a reporter for Law360 and unit chair for the union. “It’s now up to management and Harmon to make the right decision, remedy the ULPs and negotiate a fair contract.”
Established in 2016, Law360 Union’s members are no strangers to powerful collective actions, having set the standard for many TNG-CWA unions and sparking a wave of new organizing across the country.
“Ever since the newsroom at Law360 Union first organized in 2016, our members have demonstrated that they know the value of their labor, ” said Susan DeCarava, president of The NewsGuild of New York “We are sick of their unlawful actions and ready to collectively fight and win a fair contract with good raises and affordable health care from a company that has seen record profits, thanks to our labor. Unless management agrees to remedy its ULPs and changes its tune at the bargaining table, a strike is inevitable.”
Follow the latest from Law360 Union at: https://twitter.com/law360union.
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ABOUT THE NEWSGUILD OF NEW YORK
The NewsGuild of New York, Local 31003 of the Communications Workers of America, is a labor union representing nearly 6,000 media professionals and other employees at New York area news organizations, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, ProPublica, Thomson Reuters, The Nation, The New York Daily News, TIME, PEOPLE, Wirecutter, and The Daily Beast. The NewsGuild of New York advocates for journalists to have a voice in the newsroom, for press freedom, for inclusive and diverse workplaces, and for just cause, no exceptions, for all media professionals.