INSIDER WORKERS SET FRIDAY DEADLINE FOR STRIKE

INSIDER WORKERS SET FRIDAY DEADLINE FOR STRIKE 

Deadline announced for open-ended ULP strike to protest management’s anti-union tactics, including illegally changing  workers’ healthcare and a proposal to lay off 20% of bargaining unit

NEW YORK – Insider Union announced today that union members will strike if management does not remedy its outstanding Unfair Labor Practices and reach a fair contract with them by 11:59 pm ET, Thursday, June 1. The workers set the deadline in response to the company’s refusal to undo illegal changes it made to their health care and management’s intransigence in contract negotiations. Members are also demanding a fair resolution to a proposed layoff that would reduce the unionized newsroom by 20 percent. The nearly 300 members of the Insider Union are represented by The NewsGuild of New York.

Members of the Insider Union have been fighting for a first contract for more than two years, demanding the company bargain in good faith and reach a fair agreement on wages and lower health insurance costs. 

Instead, management has tried to undermine the union at every turn. Last year, company leadership illegally forced Guild members to spend more on healthcare while significantly reducing their coverage. 

In November 2022, the Guild filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge against Insider with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that the company unlawfully changed workers’ health care coverage. In May 2023, the NLRB found merit with the union’s ULP and is issuing a complaint against the company.  

Workers are also protesting the company’s proposed layoffs of 60 union members – 20 percent of the bargaining unit. Four days after management announced the proposed layoffs in April, members of the Insider Union held a one-day walkout, with more than 250 members walking off the job and dozens picketing the company’s Financial District headquarters in New York City.

In April 2021, more than 300 employees at ​​Insider announced they had formed a union of workers across editorial, including reporters, editors, video producers, and designers. Insider Union was officially certified by the National Labor Relations Board the following June after workers voted 241-14 in favor of unionization.

“We have tried repeatedly to bargain in good faith with Insider management, only to have Insider’s leadership throw the union-busting playbook at us at every turn. We have reached our last straw. I’m proud to go on strike to demand a real seat at the table and a contract that values our labor. We will stand together until we get what we deserve,” said Insider Union steward Libby Torres. 

“It is past time for Insider management to fix the problem it created by unlawfully increasing our members’ healthcare costs and diminishing their coverage,” said Susan DeCarava, President of The NewsGuild of New York. “Since Insider insists layoffs are necessary to cut costs, I am hopeful that Insider Editor In Chief Nich Carlson will decide to reach an agreement with us instead of spending resources he claims the company does not have on fighting his own workers.”

Follow the Insider union on Twitter: @InsiderUnion.