Union wins battle with Hearst
Hearst has landed in a labor mess despite being one of the few major media companies to not resort to furloughs, layoffs or salary reductions tied to the coronavirus pandemic.
A union seeking to represent about 3,000 editorial employees at Hearst Magazines won a major battle when the National Labor Relations Board rejected the company’s petition to have the union split into six different bargaining units.
NLRB ruled on Friday that full-time and regular part-time editorial, video, design and social-media staff employed at the 29 Hearst brands share a “community of interest” and should therefore be part of one bargaining unit of the Writers Guild of America, East.
Hearst had refused to offer voluntary recognition of the WGAE as the bargaining unit and instead urged there should be six different units that would have included brands focused on areas like “health & lifestyle,” “home & family,” “enthusiasts,” and automobiles, as well as separate units for Alabama employees and editorial operations.
Despite labor tensions, the Hearst Chief Executive Steve Swartz told employees in its magazine, newspaper and TV divisions last month that they would be spared cuts and were getting a 1 percent raise due to the extra work they were performing during the pandemic.
The WGAE had stunned management last November when after a months-long campaign it said that an “overwhelming majority” of the editorial employees said that they wanted to be represented by the union, which marked the first time employees had opted to unionize.
“Collective bargaining is more essential than ever in these difficult times,” said Lowell Peterson, Executive Director of the Writers Guild of America, East. “The employees in the Hearst unit have already made their choice clear: They want to join with the WGAE and bargain with management.”
Hearst Magazines President Troy Young did not return a call seeking comment.
The NLRB’s ruling said that the company must turn over contact information on all 3,000 employees by Wednesday, and both sides are hashing out how best to conduct the vote amid the pandemic.