AI and Other Policies

Does the current Guild contract provide employee protection from AI?

• No.
• The Guild proposed AI language in the last round of bargaining, but withdrew it after the Post made clear we did not want to include AI-related protections in the agreement.
• The current Guild contract has a strong management rights clause that gives The Post the right to make decisions about AI, including the right “to manage, operate, and/or change business systems, platforms and technology” and “to manage, operate and/or change procedures and technology for employees to use The Post’s facilities and systems.”

Does the current Guild contract prevent layoffs?

• No.
• The current Guild contract allows The Post to decide, in its discretion, to lay off employees at any time, including determining the number of employees to lay off and the work areas affected by layoffs.
• Employees don’t always understand the “protections” that unions like the Guild negotiate into contracts for layoffs. Primarily, they seek “last-in-first-out” seniority rules, meaning the most recently-hired employees are laid off before more senior employees, regardless of skills, talent or abilities. The current Guild agreement allows The Post to exempt up to 30% of employees in an affected job classification in an affected work area from seniority-based layoff for any reason that The Post deems essential to its operations.  
• The Post has always offered severance to employees who are laid off, whether represented or non-represented, even without a labor contract – just as The Post has done in recent layoffs in Engineering. These layoffs included severance benefits exceeding the amounts required by the Guild agreement.

Does the current Guild contract give the Guild a say in company decisions and policies?

• The Guild does not make company decisions or policies – The Post does.
• In the most recent negotiations, the Guild agreed to a management rights clause that gives The Post “the exclusive right to manage and operate the business, to direct and control the work force, and to make any and all decisions affecting the business” and includes a non-exclusive list of rights that range from the right to make decisions about technology and work assignments to the right to lay off employees and subcontract work.
• The Guild can request The Post to “meet and confer” about the impact of its decisions and policies on unit employees, but the decisions are The Post’s – and the Guild cannot challenge those actions in arbitration or demand to bargain over them during the contract term.