ICYMI: Reuters' Guild Workers Vote Unanimously to Ratify New Contract Agreement with Company

01/05/2023

For immediate release: January 3, 2023 

 

ICYMI: REUTERS’ GUILD WORKERS VOTE UNANIMOUSLY TO RATIFY NEW CONTRACT AGREEMENT WITH COMPANY

The 3-year collective bargaining agreement includes $5k bonuses and 10.5% wage hikes, among other benefits

NATIONAL — Reuters journalists, photographers, videographers, copy editors, producers and technicians, part of the Reuters Guild represented by The NewsGuild of New York, voted unanimously to ratify their new contract with the company, Reuters America LLC, on December 28, 2022. 

This agreement comes one month after 81% of Reuters Guild members voted in favor of authorizing a strike and a few months after nearly the entire bargaining unit called a one-day strike in the first walk out in decades at the company. 

Some of the biggest wins in the contract are around wages, including 4% guaranteed general raises for 2023 and an immediate $5,000 bonus per worker to make up for the lack of raises during the two-year period in which the contract expired. The newly-ratified contract also includes 3% per year guaranteed general wage increases for 2024 and 2025, plus minimum guarantees for additional discretionary increases determined by management, bringing the total of wage increases to at least 10.5% over the life of the 3-year contract. 

Other substantial wins include a remote work agreement that allows most staff to work from home three days a week in the new year; increases paid parental leave from 12 to 16 weeks; a new benefit of two weeks paid caregiver leave; and increases in bereavement leave from seven to 10 days for immediate family members and from one to three days for non-immediate family. 

Reuters Guild members fought hard to win a ban on non-disclosure agreements to silence harassment or discrimination victims. The contract also commits Reuters to industry-leading diversity goals for recruitment, ensures gender-transitioning colleagues are able to do so in a supportive atmosphere, and confirms that workers can turn down assignments or refuse to work in locations if they reasonably believe their safety could be at risk, including due to a public health emergency.

The collective bargaining agreement will be active through December 2025. 

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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, Thomson Reuters, The Nation, BuzzFeed 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.




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