April 15, 2008

The Next Era Begins

Guild Welcomes Thomson Workers

Thomson’s acquisition of Reuters becomes final on April 17, nearly a year after the plan was announced. This means you’ll have new business cards, a new e-mail address – and some new colleagues. There are plenty of things we don’t know about how the two big companies will work together, but one thing we can do to ease the transition is welcome workers from Thomson in the United States. They’re just as anxious as some of us are about what the future will hold. Get to know them, and let them know how valuable the Guild has been at Reuters. It’s no secret we’d like them in our union. It just makes sense for everybody. And the sooner the Thomson folks join, the more protection they’ll have.

What Might Change – And What Won’t

You’ve probably seen the various “Tips & Tools” dispatches from management on the integration of the Reuters and Thomson. They’ve ranged from changes in instant messaging to new screen savers to big banners expected to be festooned at the entrances of our bigger U.S. offices. There was a particularly meaty version of “Tips & Tools” on April 11 that detailed how “performance management” will figure in the joined company. You can see it on the Reuters intranet at:

 http://www.ime.reuters.com/dailybriefing/dbarchive.asp?brief=4526.

This brief talks about “objective setting” and “development planning” – sounds a lot like our current job appraisal process, right? The new system is supposed to include “objective setting, creating a development plan, conducting a mid-year check-in, gathering feedback and completing a final review.”

We’re all for management letting our members know how they’re doing. But if this process has anything to do with discipline – as we recently found the current Reuters process does – then that has to be negotiated with the Guild. And at this point, it hasn’t been. We’ll be watching to see what path “performance management” will take.   

Reuters’ Quotas Violate

Labor Law, Guild Charges

It’s one thing to give employees “objectives” or “targets” as an academic exercise in the performance appraisal process. It’s another thing to discipline employees who fail to meet those targets. One is legal for an employer of unionized workers to do unilaterally, the other isn’t. We think Reuters managers crossed the line recently when they cited failing to meet those objectives in a disciplinary letter that went to one employee and a termination letter that went to another.

The Guild this week filed an unfair labor practice charge against Reuters, accusing the company of imposing production quotas without first negotiating them with the Guild.  Like pay and benefits, quotas are a term and condition of employment that the law requires employers to bargain with unions. The “objectives” that started appearing on employees’ appraisals in recent years became quotas when management used failing to meet them as a basis for discipline in two cases, the Guild charged. The National Labor Relations Board will investigate the charge and decide whether it has merit.

Elections at The Newspaper Guild

You’ll have the chance to vote soon on leadership of The Newspaper Guild sector of the Communications Workers of America, our parent union, in a rare contested election between Linda Foley, the incumbent president, and challenger Bernie Lunzer, now the secretary-treasurer. To learn about the candidates and their running-mates, see their Web sites: Lunzer’s www.astrongerguild.org and Foley’s www.teamguild.org. 

Election notices and sample ballots were mailed earlier in April, and our apologies to those who got more than one copy – we know that’s not how you want your dues spent. The multiple mailing was caused by a clerical error, which has been fixed.

In the next few days, you should be receiving a ballot at your home address, along with a postage-paid, addressed envelope. Your ballot needs to be received – not post-marked – at the New York Local’s special post office box by Tuesday, April 29, so please take a few minutes to vote and send it back as soon as you can.

It’s important. Here’s why:

Reuters has gotten a lot of attention from The Newspaper Guild in the last year or so (and previously) because the Guild’s leaders know our members are active and engaged. If we fail to show we’re involved by not even bothering to vote, those leaders might figure we don’t care enough to deserve their attention. And with all the uncertainties of the new Thomson Reuters era, the time to have strong national Guild support is now.

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