TIME UNION RATIFIES HISTORIC CONTRACT WITH COMPANY

For immediate release: August 16, 2022

TIME UNION RATIFIES HISTORIC CONTRACT WITH COMPANY

The agreement is the first to cover all TIME editorial employees including print and digital employees of TIME and TIME for Kids.

The vote to ratify the union’s new contract was unanimous. 

NEW YORK — TIME Union workers have voted unanimously to ratify a new contract, a historic agreement that covers all TIME editorial employees without any divisions among the print and digital sides of TIME or TIME for Kids. The deal was finalized on July 21, 2022, and ratified Monday, August 15, 2022. 

The union of more than 80 employees is represented by The NewsGuild of New York. The TIME digital and TIME for Kids workers organized in 2019, joining their print editorial colleagues who have been unionized for 80 years. 

The agreement sets a salary floor of $60,000—a figure that will rise to $63,000 on March 1, 2023—and has some of the strongest equity, diversity, and inclusion language in the journalism industry. These provisions will help ensure that TIME is able to hire and support a diverse staff from a variety of backgrounds. 

The newly bargained salary minimums for each job covered by the union reflect the value of the work done in every position at TIME. Clear career paths now outline steps for advancement across the newsroom.

This new contract is the first Guild contract to secure language protecting reproductive and gender-affirming health care. The contract further protects the workers’ paid time off and retirement benefits, and limits increases to their medical premiums and deductibles. Its provisions also ban the use of NDAs in cases of sexual harassment or discrimination.

The workers also won protections around editorial standards: the agreement sets up an editorial standards committee, includes rules against using arbitrary metrics for discipline, and features guardrails that keep the editorial/business divide strong. 

“As I said at our May rally, our solidarity is our strength and our unity is unbreakable,” says Jennifer Schiavone, TIME Union secretary. “We have won the best contract TIME Union has seen in decades, which is a testament to each and every one of our members. All of us standing side by side is what got us to where we are.”

Following the agreement, the NewsGuild of New York and TIME released the following statement: 

“Today, TIME and the NewsGuild are proud to share that we have agreed on our new Collective Bargaining Agreement. We are pleased to have established the new foundation for our partnership premised on trust, collaboration and journalistic excellence. We look forward to working together to help TIME flourish into its centennial and beyond."

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