Council tells Reuters to lay off union busting attempts

Sixteen members of the New York City Council have sent a letter to executives at the news agency Reuters urging them to treats its unionized Newspaper Guild employees fairly.

David Freedlander of the New York Observer writes, “‘We are deeply troubled by Thomson Reuters’ apparent attempt to break the union representing more than 420 of its employees and its treatment of union members,’ the council members write. ‘In addition to possibly violating federal labor law, your company has resorted to the rarely used aggressive tactics of halting the collection of union dues and refusing to arbitrate disputes. At the same time, it has dramatically cut employees’ compensation and more than doubled their healthcare costs.’

“The letter comes after the National Labor Relations Board advised Thomson Reuters that it will charge the company with violating federal labor laws by illegally imposing rules that cut pay and benefits of employees. The council members also note that Thomson Reuters chairman David Thomson was ranked as the richest person in his home country of Canada by Forbes Magazine, and that the company has received taxpayer subsidies from New Yorkers.

“The NLRB has alleged that the company has violated federal labor law by restricting employees rights to discuss their working conditions on Twitter and for attempting to strip the union of its collective bargaining rights.”

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