“WE WILL NOT unilaterally change the terms and conditions of employment,” some of the messages at the realize reads.
The agreement with the NLRB marks the most recent building in the acrimonious hard work disputes between Washingtonian proprietor Cathy Merrill and her mag’s union as they input the 18th month of contract negotiations.
In May 2021, Merrill enraged staff with an op-ed in The Washington Post calling for a post-pandemic go back to the place of job and caution that remote staffers may finally end up as contractors or be “let go.” In reaction, the staff went on a one-day publishing strike and later, unionized below the Baltimore-Washington NewsGuild.
In October of that 12 months, control notified staff they had been required to reside in D.C., Maryland or Virginia. (“It is important that all of our employees live in the region we cover,” an electronic mail knowledgeable them on the time, including that the corporate wasn’t provided to take care of making ready tax paperwork for more than one further-flung states.) The NewsGuild protested that this amounted to an unlawful try to violate “status quo” regulations towards converting the phrases of employment whilst in the center of contract negotiations.
In a observation after the NLRB agreement, Merrill defended the now-rescinded residency rule.
“We are a small local business covering local news and events and we believe that having a strong Washington presence is core to our mission,” she wrote. “It gives our brand honesty, credibility and trustworthiness.”
Merrill had additionally clashed with staff closing 12 months over a covid precaution requiring staff to stick out of the place of job for 5 days after touring: She sought after to overturn the guideline whilst staff sought after to care for it.
“She was clearly sort of exercised about getting this rule change pushed through,” Andrew Beaujon, a Washingtonian senior editor and member of an inside committee on covid coverage, stated.
In an electronic mail to Beaujon closing spring, Merrill argued that it didn’t make sense for the mag to stay someone who had attended a contemporary journalism convention in St. Louis out of the place of job, whilst having no identical rule for staffers who attended huge occasions in the Washington space that had been additionally conducive to the unfold of covid.
Beaujon resigned from the covid committee, and the five-day rule was once rescinded. Now it’s been reinstated as a part of the NLRB agreement, with the mag promising to inform staff in writing if the guideline is rolled again once more.
Washingtonian settled the case lower than every week earlier than the NLRB listening to was once meant to convene on May 24. For staffers, the agreement marks a win for the mag’s nascent hard work efforts.
“I didn’t know too much about ‘status quo’ before this, but I’ve really become a fan of it,” Beaujon stated.