LAW360 UNION: ‘WE HAVE LOST FAITH IN YOUR ABILITY’

Letter outlines numerous leadership failures including blatant disrespect at the bargaining table, unlawful layoffs of 10% of the newsroom without reason and a lack of any clear editorial vision.

NEW YORK – Unionized journalists at Law360 say Vice President of Legal News at LexisNexis Teresa Harmon has been a failure at the helm of the legal newsite, citing numerous serious issues including recent unlawful and purposeless layoffs, disrespectful bargaining tactics and a lack of any clear editorial vision for the news operation. 

Members of Law360 Union, represented by the NewsGuild of New York, presented management with the no confidence letter, signed by a majority of the union, at Wednesday’s bargaining session.

“We, the Law360 Union, are profoundly dismayed and disillusioned with your leadership as the Vice President of Legal News at LexisNexis. This letter is an expression of our Vote of No Confidence, taken because we have lost faith in your ability to manage in a way that allows this company to succeed and fosters a healthy workplace environment,” the letter says. 

The union’s current contract expired on Dec. 31, 2022, and negotiations have been ongoing since then to finalize a new collective bargaining agreement.

From the letter: “During bargaining, you and your leadership team have repeatedly disrespected the employees that make Law360 what it is — us, the Law360 Union — with needless delays, antagonistic hardball tactics and offers that undervalue our hard work. The Law360 Union has asked, in a nutshell, to bring our salaries in line with historic inflation and to bring our benefits a step closer to those of our competitors. Management has responded with a series of insulting lowball counteroffers and a surprise healthcare proposal that amounts to an effective pay cut. This is unacceptable.”

In February, LexisNexis executives congratulated themselves on the company achieving its highest revenue growth in decades. The same day, Harmon and the leadership team  announced they would lay off 26 members of the Law360 Union. 

Changes to workplace terms and conditions, including layoffs, after a contract has expired must be negotiated and agreed to by the Guild. Failure to maintain the workplace status quo is a violation of labor law and is the basis of an unfair labor practice charge filed by The NewsGuild of New York on behalf of Law360 Union. 

“These layoffs were handled in an extremely callous fashion, capped off by management badly botching our laid off members’ COBRA healthcare benefits while they struggled to find new jobs,” the letter says.

Along with slashing staff, Harmon has failed to articulate a clear editorial vision for Law360, other than dropping meaningless buzzwords like “deep news,” the letter asserts.

“We remain hopeful that we can move forward with the company in a mutually beneficial manner but a major course correction is necessary to repair the trust that has been lost,” the letter says. 

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