Tired of being without a voice in their workplace, a group of Bloomberg
News employees and the Newspaper Guild of New York recently launched a Web site
to help U.S. employees at the news and information company form a union.
In OurBloomberg.com, Bloomberg employees cite their concerns about the
deterioration of their company – cuts in pay, benefits and profit-sharing,
long hours, mysterious dismissals and disrespect by their managers – since the
departure of founder Michael Bloomberg, who became mayor of New York in 2002.
They also explain how their colleagues can gain a voice in their future by
choosing the Guild as their union.
“These are dedicated employees who care deeply about their company and
the quality of its services,” said New York Guild President Barry Lipton.
“They simply want to ensure that they are treated with dignity and compensated
as the professionals they are. That’s where we come in. This is our
business.”
The New York Guild, Local 31003 of the Communications Workers of America,
represents 3,800 employees at 21 media companies, including The New York Times,
Time Inc., Standard & Poor’s and a U.S. division of London-based Reuters
Group, a key Bloomberg competitor.
OurBloomberg.com is a cyberspace outgrowth of a leafleting blitz Guild
members conducted more than a year ago outside Bloomberg offices in New York and
New Jersey. One of its key features is a link that enables Bloomberg employees
across the country to download a Guild membership application form, which they
can then mail in. It also lets Bloomberg employees compare their salaries and
workweeks that typically exceed 50 hours with those of Guild-represented
employees, who mostly work 35 hours a week.
Bloomberg News is part of closely held Bloomberg LP, which sells
real-time information and market data to banks, brokerages, fund managers and
the media worldwide. Michael Bloomberg launched the company in 1981 and still
owns the majority stake in it.
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04/16/04