Media Briefing: Publishers and media unions are still haggling over office-return plans heading into the summer

By Tim Peterson

In this week’s Media Briefing, senior media reporter Sara Guaglione reports on how unions at some major media companies are pushing back against publishers’ return to office mandates, with The New York Times Guild seemingly netting a victory on Wednesday.

Returning to the negotiating table
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Returning to the negotiating table

The key hits:

Media unions at The New York Times, Hearst, NBC News and Dotdash Meredith continue to push for work-from-home flexibility and against return-to-office mandates.
The unions claim management needs to negotiate the terms of these policies before they can be enacted.
These publishers reiterated their commitment to the health and safety of their employees, and many claimed that perceived return to office mandates are not the case.

The New York Times notified employees yesterday that its mandatory office return set for June had been put on pause. The announcement could be seen as a (temporary) victory for the Times’ union, which is among the media unions that are pushing back against media companies’ return to office mandates. And it seems to be at another turning point for New York City: health officials there established a “high Covid alert” for the area on Tuesday, but did not go so far as put another mask mandate in place.

The unions, which are represented by the NewsGuild of New York and the Writers Guild of America, East, claim that management at these publishers must first negotiate the terms of a mandatory return to office policy with the unions before they can be implemented. Management at these companies, on the other hand, reiterated their commitment to employees’ health and safety and work flexibility.

Back in January, Digiday reported on the return to in-person work shaping up to be the latest battleground for media unions. Four months later, this still seems to be the case at a number of unions, as members continue to negotiate on issues such as RTO mandates and extending work-from-home flexibility, and companies urge employees to come back into the office this summer.

The New York Times

Like the other media unions, The New York Times Guild, which is affiliated with the NewsGuild, took to Twitter to push back against The Times’ mandatory return to office set for June 6. The union carried out a social media campaign against this decision, with members tweeting the same message on April 21: “The @nytimes is pressuring us to return to the office in June. But RTO must be agreed on with @NYTimesGuild as part of our contract. I hope management comes to the table today ready to fairly negotiate on all the issues that matter to us, including wages, benefits and RTO.”

On Wednesday afternoon, The Times sent a note to staff announcing a pause to its return to office plan, due to “the city’s guidance and the advice of our health experts,” according to a copy of the memo that a Times spokesperson …read more

Source:: Digiday