Emma Cueto, a Law360 senior reporter and bargaining committee member, spoke with Jon Schleuss of the News Guild of New York about its recent negotiations with its parent company LexisNexis and its strike.
Here is an excerpt:
I heard there was a moment when a top editor complained to y’all and said you were having too much fun on the picket line. Was that true?
It was late at night on Monday night. Or it was Tuesday morning at that point. This was the day before we resolved the strike. Everyone was tired. We came back with a response and management wasn’t happy. They had been hoping to resolve the strike that night. Our feeling was that there was good momentum, but we couldn’t get it done by that morning. It made more sense to get rested and come back the next day. They really didn’t like that. They wanted us to keep working. I don’t know if that was some subconscious thing, like if they told us to keep working we should because they’re the bosses.
It became a combative exchange primarily with their attorney. Then the editor-in-chief made a comment that she thought we wanted to go out on strike this whole time.
That couldn’t have been further from the truth. Going on strike was difficult and scary for people, including the bargaining committee, who also did not get paid.
She made a comment about everyone on the picket line having fun. Something like, “It seems like everyone is having a great time. I don’t get it. Everyone can just come back to work.”
It was a surprising moment. It was very late and I’m sure that if she were maybe in a better frame of mind she would have spoken better. But it spoke to the disconnect sometimes between us and management.
From our perspective we were out here fighting for salaries that kept up with inflation. For healthcare that’s affordable to people and their families. Fighting to ensure that people are able to maintain their quality of life.
And that was something we were willing to make a financial sacrifice for. It’s nice to see your coworkers and feel like you’re part of something and feel solidarity. It’s just not something any of us would do for fun.
We did it for very serious reasons.
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