Seat at the table

We’ve also received some questions about whether unionization would give our tech employees a “seat at the table” when it comes to company decisions. As we have noted before, if a union is elected, The Post and the Tech Guild would engage in collective bargaining negotiations over wages, hours and working conditions for employees in the unit.  While we can’t predict where those discussions would lead, we can share that maintaining operational flexibility has long been of critical importance to the Post.

• While The Post will bargain in good faith with the Tech Guild, we have no interest in ceding management rights and operational control. The current Guild agreement with the Post shows how The Post has negotiated to protect those rights.

• The current Guild agreement provides The Post with broad management rights over its operations. The contract is available on GuidePost, and we are linking to it here so employees can review this language for themselves.

• Article II of the agreement provides The Post with broad work assignment flexibility, providing that “[i]It is the intent of the parties to construe this Agreement as fundamentally altering the nature of work assignments and to allow the Publisher in his or her discretion to assign Guild-covered employees to perform whatever work the Publisher deems appropriate in connection with any print, web, multimedia or other projects, partnerships or activities in which The Post directly or indirectly participates, presently or in the future, whether such projects, partnerships or activities are known or unknown as of the execution of this Agreement.”  These broad work assignment rights are not subject to arbitration with the Guild under the contract.

• Article II also includes an extensive management rights clause that the Guild agreed to in the most recent round of negotiations with The Post. This includes, among other things, the right to determine work assignments, determine the size of the workforce, change job titles, duties and responsibilities of employees, to reorganize and restructure its operations, to subcontract work, and to lay off employees.

I believe you already have a seat at the table, and encourage you to continue to do so by having 1:1s with your managers, sharing feedback with me and other senior leaders, participating in Pulse surveys and taking advantage of our open doors — all of these channels are designed to elevate your voice so please leverage them if you don’t already.